Empowered Patient Podcast

Maina Bhaman, Partner, Capital Funds, Sofinnova Partners has a long record as a successful healthcare investor in oncology, hearing, cardiovascular and cell and gene therapy. She talks about their recent investments in Myricx Pharma, a startup from Imperial College and the Francis Crick Institute in London focused on inhibiting the NMT enzyme to kill MYC-driven cancer cells and Catamaran Bio focusing on CAR-NK cells to kill solid tumors by addressing the tumor microenvironment. #SofinnovaPartners #Biotech #Funding #CARNK #Cancer SofinnovaPartners.com Download the transcript here

Edouard Gasser, CEO, Tilak Healthcare comes from the video gaming industry and is applying his knowledge about engaging mobile game players to an audience of those suffering from eye diseases of aging like AMD, age-related macular disease, or diabetic retinopathy.  Using the OdySight game prescribed by an ophthalmologist, patients are tracked to determine changes in vision through a medical module and puzzle game with data going back to the physician and patient with calls to action when necessary. @TilakHealthcare #TilakHealthcare #OdySight #techforgood #ophthalmology Tilakhealthcare.com Download the transcript here

Adam Sabloff, CEO and Founder, VirtualHealth works with health plans and care managers to facilitate strong relationships with patients covered by Medicare and Medicaid. The HELIOS® care management platform aggregates data across the healthcare continuum to create a centralized patient record allowing for interventions and preventative actions in the most complex populations of the underserved, underprivileged and elderly people with multiple chronic conditions. COVID-19 has accelerated the use of digital health tools to improve outcomes for patients and reduce costs for healthcare providers. @VirtualHealth_  #CareManagment #HealthTech  #SDOH #healthequity #proactivehealthcare #COVID19 VirtualHealth.com Download the transcript here

Dr. Charles Keller, Scientific Director, Children's Cancer Therapy Development Institute is working with a diverse team in this non-profit biotech to make all childhood cancers universally survivable.  Filling the preclinical gap, cc-TDI is moving drugs for pediatric brain tumors and muscle cancers into national clinical trials. Charles also sheds light on the incentives and obligations legislated in the Creating Hope Act that insures childhood cancers though rare, are given the same consideration for study as adult cancers.  @cctdilab #childhoodcancer #pediatriccancer #cancer #braintumor cc-TDI.org Download the transcript here

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