Empowered Patient Podcast

David Nichols, CEO of Orthobond aims to address the unmet need of medical device infection and contamination due to bacteria preventing devices from bonding to the bone or tissue. Orthobond's solution is the Ostaguard technology, which uses a molecule with a positive charge to attract and rupture bacteria. The technology is effective against common strains of bacteria and is primarily needed in the operating room, where medical devices can be exposed to bacteria before being implanted. This mechanical approach to fighting bacteria does not require a drug that can potentially create a superbug.  David explains, "Our bodies have great immune systems, and normally, it takes tens of millions of bacteria to cause an infection. However, numerous studies show that in the presence of an implant, a hip or a knee, or a pacemaker, it could take as few as 200 bacteria to cause an infection. When an implant goes in the body, it seems to overwhelm the immune system and can’t eradicate that bacteria from your body. It takes

Anupam Girdhar, CEO of medical and life sciences at Ascential Technologies, provides contract manufacturing services primarily to Fortune 100 companies, focusing on solving the most complex drug development and manufacturing challenges. By aligning with customers early on to understand the scope and risks of a project, Ascential can save time and money when bringing drugs and medical devices to market. At the same time, Anupam reminds us that innovation and inefficiency are part of the process for those trying to explore the unknown. Anupam explains, "This is where I enjoy some of the interactions we have with our customers, because if you think about fundamentally what the industry is trying to do, it is about democratizing care to the patients. We are all in the business of serving them and improving patients’ lives. A lot of these challenges that we encounter are mostly in the areas of, how do we provide access to more and more patients, as well as, how do we lower the cost fundamentally for both the comp

Dr. Abu Abraham, Chief Medical Officer at Cloudbreak Pharma,  discusses the disease burden and gaps in care for patients with Pterygium, also known as Surfer's eye. Pterygium is an ocular surface disorder that creates a growth on the eye's surface that can cause vision problems. The condition is more prevalent in individuals over 40, but it can also affect younger populations exposed to risk factors from spending time outside in the sun and being exposed to UV light. Cloudbreak Pharma is developing CBT-001, an investigational therapy, a multi-kinase inhibitor administered as an eye drop that aims to stop the progression of Pterygium. Abu explains, "Pterygium is a relatively common condition. It’s an ocular surface disorder. It’s a growth. The word Pterygium derives from the Greek pteryx, which means wedge-shaped. This growth is also a wedge shape that grows from the mucous membrane that overlies the white portion of a person’s eye and grows in the direction of the cornea. The cornea itself is a curved structu

Fadi Micaelian, CEO of Sparkdit, teaches machines to think like humans by understanding trade-offs. AI is not good at finding nuance and capturing trade-offs, which is where Sparkdit comes in. They have developed a technology that can teach computers to make trade-offs like humans and put humans at the center of the technology rather than replacing them. Incorporating AI into patient-centered decision formats can revolutionize healthcare, improve the way doctors interact with patients, and address issues like ageism, sexism, and racism. Fadi explains, "We have been working in AI for years. And AI is magnificent when the data is in abundance. However, we felt that AI fell short in a series of areas, and the main one is to teach machines to think like humans. Because AI, at the end of the day, does not think like humans. AI thinks like neurons. But we humans think very differently. Our thinking is universal. Whether you are an Eskimo, or you are in Paris, or you are in Russia, or whether you’re in South Afric

Sofia Elizondo, COO and Co-Founder of Brightseed, discusses the company's focus on bioactives and their potential to improve health outcomes. Bioactives are small molecules found in nature, such as plants, fungi, or bacteria, that activate human biological receptors and positively affect the body. Brightseed uses its AI platform, Forager, to identify and commercialize these bioactive compounds in foods, supplements, and over-the-counter medicine. As part of the food is medicine movement, Brightseed's goal is to make these superfoods more accessible to a broader population.   Sofia explains, "To bring us back to the source, caffeine is a small molecule. It’s a natural chemical that a seed produces. And so we take these coffee seeds, grind them up, and then extract the caffeine and other tasty flavors with water every morning." "When we take a sip of our coffee, it’s actually very well understood what happens with caffeine. We absorb it in our stomach lining. The caffeine molecule goes into our bloodstream, g

Luke Piggott, principal scientist at Debiopharm, has a unique business model in the drug discovery and development to commercialization landscape. Focusing on rare cancers, they license drugs from smaller biotechs and conduct clinical trials before out-licensing them to larger pharmaceutical companies with marketing capabilities. The use of AI is expanding biomarker discovery and the identification of potential novel mechanisms for targeted therapies.  Novel-novel combinations are being explored to provide therapies with more selective profiles with fewer side effects. Luke explains, "Rare cancers is an interesting area. I mean, it’s never an easy one to be developing in the space of rare cancers. With a business model like ours, we have the opportunity to take some of these assets that perhaps are not as, shall we say, financially attractive to investors because of the smaller market opportunity. As a privately owned company, we have the ability to develop these kinds of drugs and move them ahead with soli

Tiara Green, President of Accessia Health, provides financial assistance for copayments, physician visits, durable medical equipment, radiology testing, and travel expenses to support individuals with rare and chronic healthcare conditions who cannot afford their care. They also offer educational services to help patients navigate the healthcare system and make informed decisions about their healthcare. They are reaching out to patients through physicians, pharmacies, patient advocacy organizations, and faith-based and community-based organizations. Accessia Health aims to improve overall healthcare outcomes by using online tools to reduce emergency room visits and help patients adhere to treatment plans.   Tiara explains, "Accessia Health is a national nonprofit organization. We’re a patient assistance organization that supports individuals with rare and chronic healthcare conditions. I think we all have been impacted or have been in the healthcare system to receive care, and we know that the cost of care

Roger Rivera, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at Mente Suave Psychiatry, discusses the different types of bipolar disorder, the potential causes of the disease, available treatment options, and the importance of early detection and management. Roger emphasizes the need for a comprehensive approach to care and highlights the impact of bipolar disorder on patients' lives and society as a whole. While there are currently no biological markers for bipolar disorder, ongoing research and initiatives, including the use of AI, show promise in improving diagnosis and treatment.   Roger explains, "So rather than bipolar disorder, it should probably be called bipolar disorders just because of the different manifestations that it has. One of those manifestations could be manic episodes. Manic episodes could be described as just expansive mood, inflated self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, more targeted flight of ideas, and all these other things, which have a very strong correlation with functional impai

Punit Dhillon, Chairman and CEO of Skye Bioscience, focuses on anti-obesity and developing a drug that targets the cannabinoid receptor 1, which plays a role in signaling the body to store fat. The next generation of CB1 inhibition moves from a centrally mediated pathway to targeting CB1 receptors outside the brain. Deploying the endocannabinoid system, their lead drug candidate targets the major organs where CB1 receptors reside in fat tissue to increase mitochondrial activity and burn more fat.  Punit explains, "Skye is focused on exploring research modulating different therapeutic targets via the endocannabinoid system. Our research has narrowed in on the CB1 receptor, where we’re modulating it by focusing on this pathway of inhibition. There’s a big body of evidence, actually existing validation of this cannabinoid receptor 1 being a really important target to reduce caloric food intake and increase energy expenditure. It’s been a really important target for weight loss because of its particular relevance

Joe Ferra, CEO of Elevation Oncology, highlights the unmet needs in gastric cancer and the potential of targeting Claudins, proteins involved in cell adhesion. The current competitive landscape of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) confirms the promise of a targeted therapy that delivers a cytotoxic drug directly to cancer cells. Targeting Claudin 18.2 with an ADC approach offers an opportunity to treat a broader range of tumors expressing a lower level of Claudin 18.2 than those currently treated by CAR-T therapy. This approach is being investigated as a single-agent drug with promise for use in combination for gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer and esophageal cancer. Joe explains, "As you likely know, in the continuum of cancer drugs, you have chemotherapy on one end that indiscriminately kills everything it touches. On the other end, you have uber-targeted therapies looking at specific drivers of what’s driving that specific tumor. In our case at Elevation Oncology, we’re focused on what we like to call selec

Dr. Steve Goldberg, physician and Senior Clinical Advisor at DecisionRx, and Dr. Jamie Wilkey, pharmacist and expert on medication therapy optimization, explain that medications are the fourth leading cause of death in the country. They emphasize the need to consider genetic information and pharmacogenomics to design personalized medication plans to improve health outcomes.  The DecisionRx solution is integrated into the pharmacist's workflow to improve medication safety, reduce avoidable costs, and enhance communication with providers, pharmacists, and patients. Steven explains, "Our goal is to help people get more benefits from the medications that they use. A couple of starting facts. The US spends about $500 billion-plus a year on medication, and sadly, there are hundreds of thousands of ER visits, hospitalizations, and deaths that occur to people attributable to medications. There are a number of reasons for it, but relative to what we do, it is often triggered by people having genetics that make them

Ryne Natzke is the Chief Revenue Officer for TrustCommerce, a Sphere company that facilitates electronic payments in the healthcare industry, helping ensure security and compliance in transactions between patients and providers. Healthcare payments present unique challenges, as patients have varying preferences and are impacted by economic factors on their ability to make healthcare payments. TrustCommerce aims to make the payment process easier for patients by integrating with electronic health record systems and patient billing systems, reducing friction in healthcare payments and providing patients with more options and transparency in pricing. Ryne explains, "Some people like paying online, and some people pay in person. There are payment plans. So what we do with our technology and our partnerships with EHRs like Epic and patient billing systems is help make sure that they can facilitate those patient financial experiences across the board and have that happen within systems they’re already using. So w

Dr. Andrew Dold, Co-Founder of RevMed, a B2B marketplace for hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) to address the problem of slow-moving or expiring inventory. This medical marketplace allows facilities to recoup lost revenue by listing medical devices for sale and offers purchasing options for smaller facilities. RevMed serves as a middleman, facilitating the interaction between facilities without taking custody of any items. The marketplace has an extensive database of millions of different SKUs and items, which are updated weekly. The goal of RevMed is to decrease the price of healthcare by getting as many facilities as possible to adopt the platform.  Andrew elaborates, "So, full disclosure, this problem came into light during my fellowship at NYU. I did a sports medicine fellowship a few years ago in New York City, and it simply started with me interacting with one of the representatives, the orthopedic representatives at my hospital. I wanted to get a few suture anchors to practice tying kno

Ed Esquenazi, Founder and CEO of Sirenas, is exploring the chemistry of marine organisms to accelerate drug discovery. Marine-based scientific elements are still poorly understood but have the potential to produce unique and useful compounds for drug development. There are stark differences between land-based organisms and marine-based organisms, which have evolved for much longer and, therefore, offer more diverse and complex chemistry. Using AI and machine learning, Sirenas has identified cancer-killing agents, anti-infective agents, and anti-inflammatory compounds from marine organisms and is developing marine-based personal care products.  Ed explains, "We go out into the ocean, collect samples, we bring them back. We understand the different chemistry being produced in these organisms, identify and catalog it very carefully using instrumentation, and then figure out how that chemistry might impact biological systems, all with the goal of accelerating drug discovery. So the goal is to make the chemistry f

Kim Perry, Chief Growth Officer at emtelligent, focuses on using medical AI in the prior authorization process to structure unstructured medical text in patient records, making whole record healthcare possible. AI can be used to extract relevant information from faxed or PDF medical records, saving time and improving efficiency over existing manual processes. For payers, there is potential for medical AI to address other processes such as risk adjustment, care management, quality measures, and payment integrity in an environment still lacking interoperability and reliant on highly trained humans.  Kim explains, "For prior authorization in particular, well over 50% of our prior authorizations here in this country are manual. And that means once a prior authorization is submitted for a request for a procedure or a specialty drug, it's a cue for a clinician to review. And part of that review process is to pull a patient's record." "Unfortunately, because of the lack of interoperability in the healthcare ecosyst

Nolan Townsend, CEO of Lexeo Therapeutics, and Jen Farmer, CEO of FARA, the Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance, are working together to better understand and treat Friedreich's Ataxia. This rare genetic condition includes cardiomyopathy and scoliosis. Lexeo Therapeutics is studying gene therapy as a potential treatment for the cardiovascular component of the disease. The Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA) plays a role in funding research, understanding the natural history of the disease, and advocating for treatments. Nolan explains, "For most patients in Friedreich’s ataxia, cardiovascular disease becomes a very challenging component of the pathology, and it is what’s called a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy phenocopy. So, it mimics hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is a thickening of the heart wall. And that typically progresses as well, which, for many patients, ends up being the cause of mortality associated with the disease. This pathology does appear to be amenable to treatment approaches li

Dr. Craig Joseph, Chief Medical Officer at Nordic Global, highlights the concerns and challenges healthcare professionals face when using health IT and the clinician burnout related to the administrative burdens of electronic health records.  He addresses the obstacles to integrating IT into healthcare workflows, including cost, risk aversion, and resource limitations. He identifies areas where AI can have an immediate impact in reducing errors and biases. Craig elaborates, "In the past, we lived in a paper-based world, so it was pretty flexible. You could fill out a form or not fill out a form. You could give as much detail or as little detail. Often, especially physicians really couldn't read what they were writing anyway, so it was less important. All of that's changed now in the last 15 or 20 years since the advent of electronic health records." "What we've seen with large language models, like Chat GPT and other modern AIs, is the ability to do a lot of things with voice now, to be able to communicate di

Mike Kelly, CEO of NervGen Pharma, discusses the company's vision to build a startup biotech focused on repairing the central nervous system, helping patients regain function, not just slowing progression. Their first product, NVG-291, is currently in clinical trials for spinal cord injury. The drug candidate aims to promote natural repair by targeting molecules called CSPGs that inhibit nerve growth and repair. NerveGen is also developing NVG-300 for other indications such as stroke, ALS, MS, and Alzheimer's. He draws parallels between his previous experience developing the Narcan Nasal Spray for opioid overdose and the unmet medical need in spinal cord injury. Mike explains, "We are a company focusing on a group of products, more like a platform, that will enable the nervous system to repair itself. So the vision is to build a startup biotech focused in CNS and to get our first product over the line in spinal cord injury." "There are no drugs available. So this is something that happens in an instant and s

Matt Cronin, Founding Partner of House of Kaizen, discusses how patients' changing healthcare expectations are shaped by their experiences with products and services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. Consumers now expect a longer-term relationship and personalized experiences with their healthcare providers. House of Kaizen emphasizes the importance of building better customer experiences in health and wellness to improve health outcomes and create more value for businesses. In the age of AI, the importance of trust and brand reputation is paramount. Healthcare providers, as the trusted source of information and a filter for web-based searches, play a crucial role in this landscape.  Matt elaborates, "We're a specialized consulting firm for recurring revenue products and services. We build loyalty and advocacy for better lifetime value through customer experience optimization. We do this for all kinds of businesses that operate on a recurring revenue model, which includes many products and services in the h

Dr. Mollie Leoni, Executive Vice President for Clinical Development of Kura Oncology, discusses the company's ziftomenib program, a menin inhibitor for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The company initially allowed all AML patients to participate in the clinical study, but later found that specific subtypes, such as those with NPM1 mutation or KMT2A rearrangement, were more likely to respond to the menin inhibitor. They also discovered other subtypes that were responsive, expanding the potential patient population. Understanding the role of menin and menin inhibitors in addressing abnormal gene expression and promoting healthy cell development opens the door to potential combination therapy, where menin inhibitors could be layered onto existing treatments for various cancers related to menin independence. Mollie explains, "In oncology, we have gotten good at treating the end state, but cancer has many, many causes with a common final endpoint to the way the cells look. So, it's many, many different diseases al