Empowered Patient Podcast

Tomer Shussman, CEO of OneStep, is combining in-person physical therapy and in-person care with remote care to provide more accessible healthcare, improve clinical outcomes, and enable clinicians to generate additional revenue streams.  The OneStep smartphone app continuously monitors how patients move and analyzes over 40 different gait parameters. Working with providers, such as physical therapy clinics and orthopedic surgeons, OneStep has entered into the orthotic and prosthetic fields, translating these parameters into actual clinical insights. Tomer explains, "So the main two or three things we've launched in the last year was one, a fall risk model. So we are now able to tell the user whether they are at a fall risk. I think we're the first ones in the world that have a model that makes sense in the sense that we're not just telling you, "Hey. you are at a high risk of falling," but we're telling you, "The system has recognized that some of your gait parameters have shifted in a way that is associated with a higher risk of falling. So we see that you're taking 10% narrower steps and 15% shorter steps. You're spending a bit too much time on your left leg, and this all has been associated with a fall risk." "We have developed similar programs for amputees in the field of prosthetics, supporting the fine-tuning of the prosthetics and making sure they're installed properly. We've done similar things for upper body and lower back pain, where providers use OneStep to help triage patients and understand which patients can be transitioned to remote care and which patients can't. This is what OneStep has been focused on in the last year." @DigitalOneStep #OneStep #GaitAnalysis #FallRiskAssessment #HealthTech #RTM #ChoosePT #PhysicalTherapy #Telehealth #HealthCareInnovation #Prosthetics #Amputees onestep.co Download the transcript here  

Angie Franks is the CEO of ABOUT Healthcare, focusing on care orchestration for patients needing acute, post-acute, and transitional care. ABOUT works with healthcare systems to use technology to replace many phone calls and manual work to allow for a smoother process of identifying appropriate and available facilities. This approach also impacts networks of referral sources, making it easier for health systems to build stronger relationships with consistent processes and standards. Angie explains, "When we're talking about a physician seeking the right setting of care for the patient, that process is filled with friction. It's filled with friction because when they're calling and contacting a facility, calling an inpatient facility to see if they can accept another patient, the people that are answering those calls don't have the information that they need at their fingertips to be able to make the decision." "When we come in and help health systems put in place the right technology, what we're doing is changing the workflow. We put in place some best practices in terms of operational processes. Then we enable that with technology to structure a decision-making process so that the people that receive that call have all of the information they need to be able to make a decision and execute on that decision. This takes what can be a multi-hour process and turn that into something that is 15 to 30 minutes." @ABOUT_est2005 #ABOUTHealth #CareOrchestration #PatientFlow #PatientOutcomes #CareNavigation #PatientTransfers #PatientAccess  abouthealthcare.com Download the transcript here

Lauren Ohlsson is the lead of industry solutions for pharmaceutical and healthcare at VDX.tv, which partners with pharmaceutical marketing teams, healthcare advertisers, and media agencies to create video content that drives engagement with patients and healthcare personnel. They create custom interactive video ad units seen across Connected TVs, desktop computers, and mobile devices and targeted to the desired patients or providers. Using QR codes on CTV and OTT ads allows viewers to scan the code to get additional information quickly. Lauren explains, "One of the specific propositions we add is that we focus on CTV and then extend that reach to the household after that. It's a unique way to start these conversations around the household because often there are caretakers, family members, and a lot of people involved in medical decisions, so that's one of the facets of what VDX.tv can do." "We can do everything by targeting medical professionals by their NPI numbers. So if there's a specific chart list of doctors or medical professionals to reach, we can help do that. And then, we can target by conditions, so whether or not somebody has the probability of potentially having a medical condition, we can also reach them."   "The environment is unique because we can target potential and prospective patients and healthcare providers via CTV. And then, to have the conversation with the household, we're able to follow up on desktops. So if you're engaging in health content, we'll take health.com, for example, you can see our ads, our video ads, in that environment as well, and then the same on a mobile device."  "We know in pharma, the marketing teams are very focused on an omnichannel approach. We have an advantage in that we can reach people on their TVs, and then also on their mobile and desktop devices to make sure that we're distributing appropriate content to the right audiences." #VDXtv #DTCAds #HCPAds #HealthCarePersonnelAds #CTV #OTT #PharmaceuticalAds #HealthcareAds #MobileAds #PatientEngagement VDX.tv  Download the transcript here

Shane Bishop, the Founder and Chief Pharmacy Officer of Custom Health, aims for true medication adherence by providing multiple drugs in multi-dose strips in a manner that strongly encourages patients to stick with their medication regimen. Pharmacists and clinicians communicating with patients on a regular basis using a digital device gain a better understanding of side effects and other reasons people are not taking their medicine.  A fully integrated medication management system makes an enormous difference in the quality of life, particularly for complex patients who require a wide variety of drugs. Shane elaborates, "Now, where we differentiate ourselves from others that are trying to accomplish the same type of thing to drive medication adherence through different packaging formats, we have a medication dispensing device that sits in a patient home where it drives medication adherence by beeping, whistling and flashing at the time of administration." "The patient touches the screen and out pops one of those multi-dose strip packages and relays that information live back to our pharmacies in our network, the pharmacies we own and operate, and our clinical pharmacist team where we have up to 500 clinical pharmacists at any given time to look at the data. We also drive patient-reported outcome data." "Our device also connects to the peripheral devices via Bluetooth connection. We can actually look at the vital information driven from glucometers, blood pressure monitors, and weight scales."  #CustomHealth #HealthCare #DigitalHealth #MedicationAdherence #Pharmacy #HomeBasedCare #Technology customhealth.com Download the transcript here

Maria Zannes, Founder and CEO of bioAffinity Technologies, has developed a noninvasive diagnostic test to screen for early-stage lung cancer. The test uses porphyrin to label cells to find cell populations with cancer cells. Using mucus from the lungs, this is a second test for people who are at high risk, giving them a chance to avoid more invasive procedures to determine their risk level and if they have lung cancer. Maria explains, "The combination of being able to determine that cancer is present in the lungs with our test, coupled with the noninvasive nature of the test itself really spoke to me. Having a test for early detection of lung cancer where the treatment can be so much more effective and people can live so much longer and healthier lives is compelling." "It's very simple for the patient and the doctor. The patient would go in, let's say they had a positive low-dose CT, they weren't sure, and the physician would then give the patient a small box. It's a 5x5 box with a little collection cup inside. We have a patient coach, an individual who calls the patient, and helps them to provide a sample, often early in the morning. People out of a shower start to cough up a little bit of mucus." "The results tell the physician whether the patient is at high risk or has lung cancer or does not, but also gives them a numerical score, so the physician himself or herself has a little bit more to go on than just a yes or no answer." @bioAffinity #LungCancer #CancerDiagnostic #Medtech #Biotech #CancerTreatment #CancerDiagnosis  bioaffinitytech.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Robert Risinger is the Chief Medical Officer for Neuroscience at BioXcel Therapeutics, identifying molecules that have off-target indications to address unmet neurological diseases. The initial focus is on acute agitation and the molecules that will address this agitation in patients with bipolar and schizophrenia.  Their fast-acting sublingual film formulation is an advancement over the current regime of intramuscular injections.  The drug is also being studied for agitation related to Alzheimer's disease and at-home use to reduce the number of people who go to the emergency room for untreated agitation.  Rob explains, "For example, the medication, the active pharmaceutical ingredient dexmedetomidine, was used, for years, as an IV anesthetic. At very high doses, it can produce a level of sleep or sedation so patients can undergo surgery and medical procedures. But our algorithms identified the fact that this may affect the core causal mechanism, this kind of fight or flight reaction, that we believe is responsible for causing agitation in humans and, specifically, in patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia." "The molecule itself has physical-chemical properties that allow it to get into the body quickly. We can use, essentially, very, very low doses compared to what is typically given for anesthesia purposes. So we tested this out systematically and came up with a new form and formulation, a sublingual film with mucoadhesive properties. And that allows us to diminish the agitation in patients experiencing these symptoms. The molecule itself has physical-chemical properties that allow it to get into the body quickly. We can use, essentially, very, very low doses compared to what is typically given for anesthesia purposes. So we tested this out systematically and came up with a new form and formulation, a sublingual film with mucoadhesive properties. And that allows us to diminish the agitation in patients experiencing these symptoms." @BioXcel #Neuroscience #Schizophrenia #BipolarDisorder #AlzheimersDisease #Agitation #AcuteAgitation bioXcelTherapeutics.com Download the transcript here  

Neal Koller is the CEO of Alphyn Biologics, which focuses on improving therapy for skin diseases. Their first topical drug treats both atopic dermatitis and atopic dermatitis with secondary infection. The goal is to treat the recognized immune component of the disease and the bacterial component. Those most affected by this disease are ages 2 to 11 though it is a lifelong recurring problem with only a multi-drug treatment regimen available. Neal explains, "I think we've got three advantages. First, the plant material that we're using is the microbial and small molecule defense liquid of the plant, and so it's got a number of different bioactive compounds. One advantage for us is in our drug product, we have multiple bioactive compounds, which target a disease, in our case, atopic dermatitis, in different ways. So we have multiple ways we can attack and treat the disease. That's unique and different, having multiple ways, versus a standard drug generally only has one bioactive compound and one way to treat a disease." "The second advantage is that by using the plant-derived material in the way in which we're using it, we've had a faster path, and faster progress through our work to get to human clinical trials. That's primarily because our material, our drug substance, has a very, very strong safety profile." "Then the third advantage so far, unless, of course, the FDA changes this, is that because our drug product is plant-derived, there isn't a generic drug approval path. You, at the moment, still can't go into the lab, mix up some chemistry experiments, keep it simple, and say, "My chemistry is similar to Alphyn's chemistry, so please give me approval." #AlphynBiologics #AtopicDermatitis #Dermatology #SkinDisease AlphynBiologics.com Download the transcript here

Brett Furst, President of HHS Technology Group, is carrying on the mission of efforts started at the beginning of the COVID outbreak to collaboratively share data to provide insights to those doing research, drug development, and addressing the impact of the pandemic on vulnerable populations. Maintaining this world's largest COVID database, HTG allows research on complex social determinants of health and how to address health equity.  Brett explains, "So we were proud to take it on and be chosen by the consortium. Today we have the largest COVID research database in the world, with over 65 billion records. It touches almost 100% of our population in the United States. We're looking at all encounters from claims and clinical data, but also other more important for predictive modeling like social determinant data. We're trying to be more thoughtful about what's the next thing that's going to hit us out of the blue. We cannot be caught so flat-footed as we were in 2020." "There are concerns about long-term effects on those with Alzheimer's or other types of dementia, COPD, and breathing. I think what we all learned during this collaborative is that it didn't deflate everybody's competitive advantage and that sometimes regulations and rules can keep the market from actually advancing." @HHSTechnologyGroup #HHSTechGroup #HealthTech #HealthCare #COVID #LongCOVID #Pandemic #HealthData #HealthEquity #SDOH  hhstechgroup.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Allen Davidoff is the Founder and CEO of XORTX Therapeutics, testing the benefit of a therapeutic for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, a rare progressive kidney disease with a clear genetic connection. Evidence suggests that lowering the activity of the xanthine oxidase enzyme in the kidney and lowering uric acid production via this enzyme is critical to developing a therapy that can benefit these patients. Allen explains, "In terms of real therapies that slow the progression of kidney disease, there are very few. And so, to take the example of the rare disease, autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, one drug is currently approved. It was approved in 2018, that's a drug called tolvaptan, but it's only really used in about 5% of individuals. So that leaves this rare disease population largely underserved despite the fact that there's an approved drug." "The drug that we're developing is oxypurinol. It is a xanthine oxidase inhibitor that has been studied extensively over a number of years. It is arguably the single best-tolerated xanthine oxidase inhibitor that's never been to market. We've started with that drug and reformulated it in a proprietary way to deliver it so that it will reach circulating blood concentrations that can inhibit the xanthine oxidase enzyme by 90% or more." @XORTXinc #ADPKD #PKD #ProgressiveKidneyDisease #KidneyHealth #RareDisease XORTX.com Download the transcript here

Lisa Yanez is the CEO of Aerami Therapeutics, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the rare cardiopulmonary disease pulmonary arterial hypertension. Early studies show that using this smart breath-activated inhalation delivery system to administer AER901, inhaled Imatinib reduces side effects and requires less frequent administration by those suffering from PAH. Lisa explains, "Our company is focused on a rare disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension. There was a drug that was an oral drug that was studied before, but due to the side effects, that trial ceased. That said, if you look at the efficacy of that drug, it was one of the best-performing drugs ever for these patients. It didn't just help with symptoms. It also helped the underlying cause of the disease. What our company has decided to do is take a very intelligent inhaled patient-proven device and couple it with this product to generate the best of both worlds. What we're trying to do is helping patients live longer, but our mission is also helping patients live better." "One of the reasons I've fallen in love with this particular condition is because it mostly impacts women of childbearing age. They go about two years not knowing what's wrong with them. They have shortness of breath, they have a lot of fatigue, they're very dizzy, and sometimes they pass out. They go to all these different doctors, and typically it does take two years, and people think they're crazy." "Then, once they're diagnosed, there are 15 approved therapies. Even then, there's only a five to seven-year time span in terms of survival. And so, there's a lot more that needs to be done with these particular patients." @AeramiTx #Aerami #Cardiopulmonary #RareDisease #PulmonaryArterialHypertension #PulmonaryHypertension #PAH #PH #HeartDisease #LungDisease #AER901 #InhaledTherapeutics #AER601  aerami.com Download the transcript here