Empowered Patient Podcast

JP Milon is CEO of Paris-based Quantum Genomics, a company developing a treatment for patients with hypertension that is resistant to currently available medications.  Over-represented in populations with resistant hypertension, minorities often suffer severe complications as a result of having perpetual high blood pressure.  JP discusses firibastat, Quantum Genomic's experimental drug which works by acting on the part of the brain that lowers blood pressure and could potentially help these under-served patients. #hypertension  #cardiology  #treatmentresistance #biotech Quantum Genomics  

Anders Rabbe, CEO, Isofol Medical discusses the developments of new therapies for patients with advanced colorectal cancer, a devastating disease with limited treatment options.  Isofol is developing arfolitixorin to increase the efficacy of standard of care chemotherapy and is actively enrolling patients in a global Phase 3 clinical trial. #CRC #ColonCancer #ColorectalCancer #FightCRC #FightCancer Isofol Medical

Tony Winders, founder, The Winders Group, reports back from the recent CES show where he spent time investigating the accessibility, digital health and fitness wearables offerings.  He came away with great insights about how large consumer packaged goods companies are entering the market with products designed for consumers of all ages driven by artificial intelligence and lessons learned from early developers of smart Internet connected devices. @TonyWinders #CES2019 The Winders Group

Masha and Claire founders of Tasty High Chef are gourmet personal chefs and event planners in San Diego.  They are developing cannabis infused meals from fresh, nutritious food to address a wide variety of needs of medical cannabis users as well as to create cannabis infused dining experiences for special occasions for recreational users over 21.  This is a story of Masha's passion for using delicious food as medicine and Claire's experience as a medical researcher to create a wow experience. TastyHighChef.com

Kirby Brady, Director Research, San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. shares recent research about the abundance of healthcare and pharmaceutical companies, research institutions, medical device developers, and artificial intelligence and big data experts that have made San Diego a world-renowned hub of precision health.  The report also reveals the number of start-ups that have been created to translate basic research into functional digital health solutions. @SDRegionalEDC PrecisionHealthSD.com  

Jesús Martin-Garcia, CEO, GeNeuro discusses the need for new treatment approaches for multiple sclerosis (MS), a long lasting, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that affects 2.5 million people worldwide.  GeNeuro is developing a potential new approach for treating disease progression, the largest unmet medical need in MS, by seeking to block mechanisms suspected of driving neurodegeneration. #MultipleSclerosis  #MS  $GNRO GeNeuro.com

Dr. Patrik De Haes, CEO, Oxurion discusses the need for new treatments for diabetic eye disease, a leading cause of blindness in people of working age worldwide.  About half of patients living with diabetic eye disease respond poorly or do not respond at all to the current standard of care.  Oxurion is working to advance its clinical development and is partnering with advocacy groups around the world to increase patients' access to potential therapies. @Oxurion Oxurion.com

Elad Kedar, CEO, Orasis discusses CSF-1, the company's corrective eye drop being developed for the treatment of presbyopia as an alternative to reading glasses.  Presbyopia, the inability to focus on near objects, is common after the age of 40 and affects more than 1.8 billion people worldwide.  While glasses have been used for hundreds of years to correct vision, ophthalmologists are excited about these innovative eye drops that will change eye care. Orasis-Pharma.com   

Dr. Chorom Pak, President and CEO, LynxBio was a finalist in the John G. Watson Quick Pitch Competition presented by the Tech Coast Angels and the San Diego Venture Group.  She talks about using an advanced approach to diagnosing cancer by using a standard-of-care biopsy to create a living model of a patient's cancer, including the patient's own microenvironment, to rapidly identify effective treatment options. @lynxbio @TCASanDiego @SDVG Lynx Biosciences

Shiv Shukla, Founder and CEO, NeuraLace Medical is a healthcare entrepreneur with a passion for finding a new treatment for managing chronic neuropathic pain and the winner of the John G. Watson Quick Pitch Competition presented by the Tech Coast Angels and San Diego Venture Group.  Their Axon Therapy is currently being tested with the VA where patients receive recurring non-invasive treatments that have dramatically reduced the need for opioids for chronic pain. #QuickPitch18 @TCASanDiego @SDVG NeuraLace Medical 

Alex Ovadia, CEO, Check-Cap discusses C-Scan® the first and only preparation-free screening method for the prevention of colorectal cancer (CRC) through the detection of pre-cancerous polyps.  This patient-friendly screening method uses an ingestible x-ray capsule and has the potential to dramatically increase screening adherence and reduce the overall incidence of CRC. @CheckCap_ Check-Cap

Avanish Vellanki, Co-Founder and CEO, Rain Therapeutics talks about developing targeted therapies for patients across a range of cancers.  Their lead program tarloxotinib is currently being developed for non-small cell lung cancer patients with EGFR/Exon 20 mutations.  Avanish fills us in on what makes tarloxotinib so unique, how it has the potential to help patients who currently have no viable treatment options and the future of precision medicine in treating cancers. @Rain_Thera Rain Therapeutics

Joanne Jarrett MD is a retired family physician, blogger, mom, wife and entrepreneur and talks with me about her provocative blog post Three Ways We May Be Teaching Our Kids To Be Liars.  Joanne points out that dishonesty is a misguided short-cut when attempting to avoid hurt feelings and that kids need to learn to balance kindness and social grace with authentic response to actions.  This includes telling the truth about bullying, medical conditions, and life style choices in conversations about socially acceptable behavior versus accuracy of feelings. CozyClothesBlog.com

Gilead Raday, COO, RedHill Biopharma discusses development of the next generation of effective therapies for gastrointestinal disorders and cancer that affect millions of people worldwide.  This includes treatment for H. pylori infections which can cause ulcers and gastric cancer, the first-ever therapy for Crohn's disease that targets the hypothesized bacterial cause of the disorder, and additional therapies for IBS-D and gastroenteritis. @RedHillBio RedHill Biopharma  

Vik Panda, VP Marketing, Adherium talks about their Hailie sensors which allow patients and doctors to track use of inhalers and help manage chronic respiratory illnesses like asthma and COPD.  With a smart case for the inhaler and a mobile app, patients get alerts, nudges and data to help them adhere to a plan to keep rescue inhaler use to a minimum.  Vik also shares additional insights about human behavior, what drives people to remember to take their medications and how technology can support medication adherence. @GetHailie HailieAdherium 

Ryan Lanclos, Director of Public Safety Industries, Esri talks about how drone data is changing the way first responders are able to prioritize resources in the event of a hurricane or other disaster.  Small drones are allowing safer analysis of damage with the ability to feed the real time data into predictive models that are able to create maps and visualizations that can help public safety officials and citizens to take action and think about options for recovery. @esri Esri

Dr. Anish Bhatnagar,  CEO of Soleno Therapeutics, discusses Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic disease that among other difficult symptoms, most markedly renders patients perpetually starving because of a dysfunctional neural pathway in the brain. This state, otherwise known as hyperphagia, can bring patients to the brink of severe sickness from overeating despite bring full, or from eating garbage, spoiled food, or sometimes even inedible objects. Anish talks about the hardships that this disease inflicts on its patients and its patients’ loved ones raising them, and about DCCR, the experimental treatment his company is developing to address this significantly unmet need for patients struggling with PWS. #Prader-Willi #PWS #SolenoTx #SLNO #RareDisease #DCCR Soleno Therapeutics

Dr. Niels Riedemann, Co-founder and CEO of InflaRx, discusses the pervasive problem of inflammation in a host of diseases, and how InflaRx is tackling this problem with their clinical-stage antibody therapy, IFX-1. InflaRx believes that they have found the key to addressing inflammation across a range of diseases, in the form of a molecule in the blood, complement factor C5a. Their main focus is on using IFX-1, a monoclonal antibody, to block C5a and prevent its action in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), a devastating autoimmune disorder that manifests on the skin, to reduce inflammatory lesions and potentially prove an ability of IFX-1 to work in different inflammatory conditions. #inflammation #InflaRx #complementsystem #HS #immunology #IFX1 InflaRx.com

Greg Duncan, CEO, Celtaxsys tells us about the work the company is doing to help reduce pulmonary exacerbations in patients with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a rare genetic life-threatening disease that affects over 70,000 people worldwide. Pulmonary exacerbations are sudden, severe respiratory events that ultimately lead to lung function decline. Celtaxsys’ lead candidate, once-daily anti-inflammatory acebilustat, which the company is currently progressing to Phase 3 development, has the potential to prevent lung function decline by reducing the frequency of pulmonary exacerbations. #cysticfibrosis #CFresearch #RareDisease #CFAware #acebilustat Celtaxsys.com  

Suma M. Krishnan, Founder and COO, Krystal Biotech discusses their approach to treating rare genetic skin diseases that lack any truly effective treatments.  Krystal is developing the first ever topically applied gene therapy for the rare disease epidermolysis, a genetic condition characterized by extremely fragile skin that leads to devastating physical developments.  Krystal is looking to apply their novel gene therapy to treat a wide range of skin conditions for those of all ages. #RareDisease #EpidermolysisBullosa #Ichthyosis #GeneTherapy #Dermatology #FightEB #IchthyosisAwareness Krystal Biotech