Empowered Patient Podcast

Dr. Teresa Girolami, Founder and CEO, BelRed Internal Medicine and Co-Founder Sound Health Solutions is an internist in Washington State and on the staff at Evergreen Hospital, the first hospital in the US to identify the COVID-19 virus. She points out lessons learned about the use of ventilators, the value of testing, caring for those with mild COVID-19 symptoms, recognizing how obesity puts patients at a significantly higher risk of dying from COVID-19, and keeping safety features in place to continue to limit spreading of disease. #COVID19 #pandemic #coronavirus BelRedIM.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Jonathan Javitt, Founder, Chairman and CEO, NeuroRx talks about drawing on their work developing novel therapeutics for bipolar depression and respiratory disease to focus on a therapy, aviptadil also known as ZYESAMI, for critical COVID-19 especially those with advanced comorbidities. This peptide hormone VIP enters the alveolar type II rare cell in the lung and blocks the replication of the SARs-CoV-2 virus and the production of inflammatory cytokines. Available through the FDA Expanded Access protocol, this drug is showing a nine-fold difference in survival and recovery from respiratory failure compared to patients with best available standard of care. @neurorxpharma #aviptadil #RLF-100 #ZYESAMI #coronavirus #COVID19 #drugdevelopment #pandemic $NRXP NeuroRxPharma.com Download the transcript here

Lillian Phelps, Senior Director of Product Management, Availity shines light on the new HHS rules about price transparency for hospitals and health plans. These organizations now need to publish their standard rates as well as their contracted rates along with pricing for bundled services for over 70 specific services. As the nation's largest health information network, Availity works with providers and health plans to enable real-time generation of understandable data for patients and healthcare providers to inform better medical decisions. @availity #pricetransparency Availity.com Download the transcript here

Ian Chan, CEO, Abpro is developing a drug which is a COVID-19 neutralizing antibody that has demonstrated strong binding affinity for COVID-19 in a Phase 2/3 global trial. Using the Diverse Immune Platform, an advanced antibody discovery platform, Abpro is drawing on years of successful work developing neutralizing monoclonal antibody therapies for treating traditionally difficult to access cancers, eye disease and autoimmune diseases.  In addition to vaccines, COVID-19 therapeutics are essential for keeping the disease from progressing particularly for those most at risk. @abpro #COVID19 #antibodytherapies #monoclonalantibodies Abpro.com Download the transcript here

Hope Johnson, Administrator Perioperative Services, Lehigh Valley Health Network has deployed the Vocera Ease app to facilitate updates for family members about patient progress in surgery.  Since they began implementing this solution in 2017, LVNH was prepared for the increased restrictions from COVID-19 on the ability of doctors and nurses to communicate about patient status.  In addition to using this app for surgery patients, value is also being seen in situations requiring lengthy procedures or for patients in intensive care. @lvhn #Vocera #COVID19 LVHN.org Download the transcript here

Joseph Sardano, Founder and CEO, Sensus Healthcare presents compelling data on the effectiveness of a non-surgical alternative to Mohs surgery for treating skin cancer and keloids.  Using Superficial Radiation Therapy otherwise known as photon radiotherapy, the Sensus SRT system allows for non-invasive treatments without leaving a scar.  In the age of COVID-19, dermatologists are finding this an excellent alternative to surgery particularly to treat those over 65 with pre-existing conditions. @Sensushealth  #skincancer  #Keloid  #Mohs #SRT #COVID19 Sensushealthcare.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Saran Saund, Chief Business Officer, Oncotelic Therapeutics is an immuno-oncology company dedicated to developing RNA cancer therapies for melanoma and pancreatic cancer using their nano molecular therapy platform.  Using AI they recently screened several of their own molecules and ethnobotanicals for COVID-19.  As a result Oncotelic has developed a compound based on an ancient ayurvedic artemisinin-based therapy using the active ingredient from the plant artemisia, also known as sweet wormwood. The tablet formulation of ARTIVeda would allow for efficient distribution to a global audience at a fraction of the cost of current therapies like Remdesivir. #Oncotelic #COVID19 #COVIDTherapies #ARTIVeda Oncotelic.com Download the transcript here

Alain Moussy, Co-Founder and CEO, AB Science has applied their lead compound Masitinib to target mast cells and macrophage, also known when presenting with CNS as microglia, from the innate immune system to treat Lou Gehrig's disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, tumors, and pancreatic cancer.  Now AB Science is turning their attention to fighting the cytokine storm in COVID-19 patients by targeting and blocking mast cells and macrophages which are known to contribute to the inflammation. #masitinib #PancreaticCancer #COVID19 #Alzheimers AB-Science.com Download the transcript here

Dr. David Solomon, CEO, Pharnext is deploying their innovative drug discovery platform that uses genetic data, big data and AI to determine combinations that are novel and non-obvious to find treatments for rare diseases.  With a focus on Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a rare neurologic peripheral neuropathy with no current treatments, Pharnext is seeing their drug PXT3003 stabilize patients with CMT1A, strengthen nerve transduction and also cause significant clinical improvement. @pharnext #pharnext #drugdiscovery #CMT #PXT3003 Pharnext.com Download the transcript here

Sean Tucker, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Vaxart is on a mission to expand the choices for a COVID-19 vaccine by producing an effective oral vaccine in tablet form which would allow for more efficient distribution and ease of administering particularly to needle-adverse people. Building on experience developing an oral tablet for an influenza vaccine, Vaxart has created a technology to trick the immune system in the intestine to recognize the protein as something that needed to mount immune response and then develop memory so that it works as a vaccine. #Vaxart #COVIDVaccine #COVIDTabletVaccine #COVIDORalVaccine #PillVaccineAgainstPandemic #warmCOVIDVaccine Vaxart.com Download the transcript here

Luke Wilson VP Constella Intelligence talks about the digital risk protection space and the increasing attacks on healthcare networks in large part due to opportunities created for cyber criminals by COVID-19. With a lack of awareness about the need for good cyber hygiene and the explosion of new online activities, hospitals and other large healthcare institutions are seeing ransomware and nefarious online activities growing at an alarming rate.  This interview was recorded right before 4iQ and ALTO joined to form Constella Intelligence. @ConstellaIntel #COVID19 #cybercrime #digitalrisk #digitalhygiene ConstellaIntelligence.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Jim Woody, CEO, 180 Life Sciences is one of four world-renowned scientists that have come together to form 180 LS to focus on treating inflammation, fibrosis and pain. Jim discusses the company's lead clinical program using anti-TNF to treat Dupuytren's contracture, a fibrotic disease of the hand. With a goal of preventing the fibrosis, Jim is drawing on his early invention of the first anti-TNF drug that worked in rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and psoriasis with an eye to preventing frozen shoulder as well. #fibrosis #inflammation #Dupuytren #antiTNF 180LifeSciences.com Download the transcript here    

Dr. Robert Cobuzzi, CEO, Diffusion Pharmaceuticals describes the evolution of the thinking about treating hypoxia and low oxygen conditions caused by a variety of diseases and conditions.  With modified crocetin derived from the spice saffron harvested from Crocus sativus, Diffusion has come up with a compound Trans-Sodium Crocetinate --TSC--to treat hypoxic conditions related to peripheral artery disease, blockages of peripheral arteries, brain cancer and other types of solid tumors, strokes and respiratory diseases like COVID-19. @diffusionpharma #crocetinate #TSC #hypoxia #hypoxic #lowoxygen #COVID19 Diffusionpharma.com Download the transcript here  

Dr. Joan Kapusnik-Uner, Vice President Clinical Content, First Databank is an expert on drug labeling and is concerned about opioid misuse and overdoses. She talks about the significance of the AMA recommendation that having an opioid reversal medication called Naloxone be available for all patients prescribed opioid pain relievers in order to really reduce opioid deaths particularly in this time of COVID-19. FIrst Databank has recently published an auxiliary label that goes on an opioid prescription that says the patient should ask the pharmacist about getting Naloxone. @FDB_US #COVID19 #OpioidEpidemic #OpioidCrisis #Opioids #Naloxone #NaloxoneSavesLives #Overdose #OverdoseAware #MedSafety #DrugSafety FDBHealth.com Download the transcript here.

Bob Hutchens, President and CEO, StemBioSys talks about their work building a set of tools that are being used around the world by pharmaceutical companies in early-stage drug discovery. CELLvo and CELLvo Matrix Plus are technologies that grow cells from amniotic fluid from natural births and reverse-engineer them into pluripotent stem cells. Overcoming challenges of turning these cells into cardiomyocyte cells researchers are able to more quickly and accurately determine drug safety on mature adult cardiomyocyte. This technology can produce more accurate readings than animal models and more quickly produce cells that are a strong predictor of drug efficacy and drug safety. @StemBioSys #StemBioSys #CellvoMatrixPlus #DrugToxicityScreening #Stemcells StemBioSys.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Caroline DeFilippo, practicing internist and associate medical director, CareMount Medical addresses the need for healthcare professionals to have end-of-life conversations with patients sooner than later.  With tips for practitioners, Caroline addresses the need to see the whole patient not just the body parts and how palliative care conversations are becoming more necessary with the impact of COVID-19 on seniors as well as those who think that they are never going to die. @caremountmed #endoflife #hospice #COVID19 Caremountmedical.com Download the transcript here

Cathy Kuhn PharmD, Director of Strategy Consulting, Updox has a deep understanding of the communications needs of pharmacists, healthcare providers, and patients and what issues can be addressed by moving from paper to digital. Updox is creating a secure virtual care online environment to encourage the reduction of reliance on paper forms and faxes, a shift which is gaining more wide-spread acceptance particularly in the age of COVID-19. @Updox #pharmacists #Pharmacy #PharmacistsProvideCare #digitalhealth #telehealth #COVID19 Updox.com Download the transcript here

Daniel O'Connor, CEO, OncoSec Immunotherapies describes their intratumoral therapy where the drug is injected directly into tumors instead of a systemic treatment thereby avoiding toxicities while also seeing tumors shrink that are not being directly treated, the abscopal effect. OncoSec is using electroporation to deliver interleukin-12 into cells. IL-12 is considered to be one of the most potent cytokines to fight cancer and their drug TAVO is being tested in conjunction with KEYTRUDA to help patients with melanoma not responding to current treatments. @oncosec #oncology #cancer #interleukin-12 #IL-12 #melanoma #breastcancer #TAVO #immunotherapy $ONCS OncoSec.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Bill Audeh, medical oncologist and Chief Medical Officer, Agendia left his 30 year career of medical practice treating breast cancer patients to join Agendia because of the exciting opportunities for precision medicine to treat breast cancer. With technology that allows for genomic testing of the cancer tumors, it can be determined how likely it is that the cancer could spread and identifies what's driving the cancer's growth.  With this data, physicians can be informed about the best treatment for each individual patient. @agendia #precisionmedicine #genomictesting #breastcancer Agendia.com Download the transcript here

Catherine Rivier, Co-Founder Sentia Medical is an expert on stressors and the impact physical, emotional, and infectious or inflammatory stressors have on the brain and the body. Her research along with her late husband at the Salk Institute in San Diego led to the discovery of the main stress hormone CRF. Sentia is now developing astressins - compounds that will counter some of the effects of stressor on the body.  Their focus is treating irritable bowel syndrome, a key stressor-induced gastrointestinal disease. #SentiaMedical #IBS #CRF #stressors SentiaMedical.com Download the transcript here