Empowered Patient Podcast

Dr. Joshua Schiffman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Peel Therapeutics and has taken the understanding of the natural resistance to cancer by elephants to develop PEEL-224 to attack tumors. Using a plant toxin and modifying existing approaches, Peel has created a drug that increases the amount of the drug that gets to the cancer cells with reduced side effects.

Joshua explains, "Peel is actually the Hebrew word for elephant. So that's why we call ourselves Peel Therapeutics. My Co-Founder, Dr. Avi Schroeder, is from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Israel. While we were working on the elephant drug, we realized, you know what, it's more than just elephants. Looking around nature, we understand that evolution has had hundreds of millions of years to perfect, in some cases, perfect cancer-fighting protein or peptide or anti-inflammatory molecule. Our lead drug, which we call PEEL-224, actually works really well targeting the DNA repair mechanism in cancer cells."

"This DNA repair mechanism is called topoisomerase 1. And by blocking it, we're able to actually ensure that cancer cells essentially self-destruct. At Peel, we say that we like to engineer nature better than evolution intended. So, in the case of PEEL-224, we've taken this plant toxin, it's called camptothecin. It comes from an ancient Chinese tree called the Happy Tree, and we've modified it so that it can avoid chemoresistance. So, in other words, you give this drug to the patient, which goes to the tumor, and the tumor cell can't spit it out anymore. And we're seeing remarkable early results in mice and now have begun a clinical trial."

@peel_tx #PeelTherapeutics #PeopleofPeel #Cancer #Inflammation #PEEL224 #Nature #Biotech #NaturesMoleculesIntoMedicine

peeltx.com

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Dr. Joshua Schiffman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Peel Therapeutics and has taken the understanding of the natural resistance to cancer by elephants to develop PEEL-224 to attack tumors. Using a plant toxin and modifying existing approaches, Peel has created a drug that increases the amount of the drug that gets to the cancer cells with reduced side effects.

Joshua explains, "Peel is actually the Hebrew word for elephant. So that's why we call ourselves Peel Therapeutics. My Co-Founder, Dr. Avi Schroeder, is from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Israel. While we were working on the elephant drug, we realized, you know what, it's more than just elephants. Looking around nature, we understand that evolution has had hundreds of millions of years to perfect, in some cases, perfect cancer-fighting protein or peptide or anti-inflammatory molecule. Our lead drug, which we call PEEL-224, actually works really well targeting the DNA repair mechanism in cancer cells."

"This DNA repair mechanism is called topoisomerase 1. And by blocking it, we're able to actually ensure that cancer cells essentially self-destruct. At Peel, we say that we like to engineer nature better than evolution intended. So, in the case of PEEL-224, we've taken this plant toxin, it's called camptothecin. It comes from an ancient Chinese tree called the Happy Tree, and we've modified it so that it can avoid chemoresistance. So, in other words, you give this drug to the patient, which goes to the tumor, and the tumor cell can't spit it out anymore. And we're seeing remarkable early results in mice and now have begun a clinical trial."

@peel_tx #PeelTherapeutics #PeopleofPeel #Cancer #Inflammation #PEEL224 #Nature #Biotech #NaturesMoleculesIntoMedicine

peeltx.com

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Cristina Varner is the life science Practice Leader at Newfront, a technology-focused insurance broker. While digital health and telemedicine companies have robust technology infrastructure, they tend to be less medically focused and unaware of insurance requirements to cover bodily injury, financial injury, data breaches, cyber liability, and state regulatory requirements. Wearables and data collected by them are adding issues of privacy, security, and data accuracy.

Cristina elaborates, "I'm not going to say I'm surprised because a lot of the founders of these companies come from technology backgrounds, from tech companies. And so insurance just is not, and risk management is just not top of mind for many of them. And so we're not surprised. They're moving very quickly. I think when COVID came to be, digital health definitely exploded. And during the COVID period is when we started to recognize where some companies were lacking in risk management infrastructure. And I think that many of the companies we see now are much better positioned from a risk management perspective and also are more aware."

"There are more customers and patients with wearables that are recognizing that their privacy and their security are important. I don't think historically, a lot of owners of wearables ever really considered those types of concerns. But now there's a lot more scrutiny in this area. And the other issue that comes up in tandem with privacy and security is data accuracy. If your data is not accurate on your wearable, for example, and it allows a patient to make a decision based on inaccurate data, which can result again in potential bodily injury to the patient."

@NewfrontHQ #DigitalHealth #Telemedicine #Insurance #Wearables #RiskInsurance

Newfront.com

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Cristina Varner is the life science Practice Leader at Newfront, a technology-focused insurance broker. While digital health and telemedicine companies have robust technology infrastructure, they tend to be less medically focused and unaware of insurance requirements to cover bodily injury, financial injury, data breaches, cyber liability, and state regulatory requirements. Wearables and data collected by them are adding issues of privacy, security, and data accuracy.

Cristina elaborates, "I'm not going to say I'm surprised because a lot of the founders of these companies come from technology backgrounds, from tech companies. And so insurance just is not, and risk management is just not top of mind for many of them. And so we're not surprised. They're moving very quickly. I think when COVID came to be, digital health definitely exploded. And during the COVID period is when we started to recognize where some companies were lacking in risk management infrastructure. And I think that many of the companies we see now are much better positioned from a risk management perspective and also are more aware."

"There are more customers and patients with wearables that are recognizing that their privacy and their security are important. I don't think historically, a lot of owners of wearables ever really considered those types of concerns. But now there's a lot more scrutiny in this area. And the other issue that comes up in tandem with privacy and security is data accuracy. If your data is not accurate on your wearable, for example, and it allows a patient to make a decision based on inaccurate data, which can result again in potential bodily injury to the patient."

@NewfrontHQ #DigitalHealth #Telemedicine #Insurance #Wearables #RiskInsurance

Newfront.com

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Seli Fakorzi, Director of Mental Health Operations at TimelyCare, and Gaurang Choksi, CEO and Founder of Violet, join me to discuss their partnership to bring comprehensive healthcare to college students from all socioeconomic backgrounds, genders, ethnicities, and physical abilities. Training healthcare providers with the tools to understand different communities allows clinicians to learn new ways to be more inclusive and build trusted relationships with patients.

Seli explains, "Providing quality, equitable access to care is a foundational mission for Timely. We are aware that students from underserved and underrepresented populations many times possess unique barriers to care, and that has made seeking help increasingly difficult. Breaking down those barriers in as many areas as possible has been our goal. Forming this relationship and partnership with Violet will help in those areas."

Gaurang elaborates, "I'll briefly share exactly how we get to understand how a clinician is doing, and then I'll share more about how we educate. At Violet, when a clinician joins us, we go through a process called benchmarking their cultural competence. We take a look at five pillars of information, including who is that specific person, what communities their family or they belong to, we look at what are the communities they feel really confident serving. That's a clinical measure called self-efficacy that we've pulled in."

"Then we also look at what are the communities they want to work with, the communities they've studied about and the communities they have worked with, using claims data and their voices. Then using all this information, we get to have clarity on is that specific provider doing well working with the BIPOC or LGBQ or TGNC communities."

#TimelyCare #JoinViolet #Healthcare #VirtualCare #LGBTQHealth #TGNCHealth #BIPOCHealth #MentalHealth #HealthDisparities #HealthEquity #MinorityMentalHealth

timelycare.com joinviolet.com

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Seli Fakorzi, Director of Mental Health Operations at TimelyCare, and Gaurang Choksi, CEO and Founder of Violet, join me to discuss their partnership to bring comprehensive healthcare to college students from all socioeconomic backgrounds, genders, ethnicities, and physical abilities. Training healthcare providers with the tools to understand different communities allows clinicians to learn new ways to be more inclusive and build trusted relationships with patients.

Seli explains, "Providing quality, equitable access to care is a foundational mission for Timely. We are aware that students from underserved and underrepresented populations many times possess unique barriers to care, and that has made seeking help increasingly difficult. Breaking down those barriers in as many areas as possible has been our goal. Forming this relationship and partnership with Violet will help in those areas."

Gaurang elaborates, "I'll briefly share exactly how we get to understand how a clinician is doing, and then I'll share more about how we educate. At Violet, when a clinician joins us, we go through a process called benchmarking their cultural competence. We take a look at five pillars of information, including who is that specific person, what communities their family or they belong to, we look at what are the communities they feel really confident serving. That's a clinical measure called self-efficacy that we've pulled in."

"Then we also look at what are the communities they want to work with, the communities they've studied about and the communities they have worked with, using claims data and their voices. Then using all this information, we get to have clarity on is that specific provider doing well working with the BIPOC or LGBQ or TGNC communities."

#TimelyCare #JoinViolet #Healthcare #VirtualCare #LGBTQHealth #TGNCHealth #BIPOCHealth #MentalHealth #HealthDisparities #HealthEquity #MinorityMentalHealth

timelycare.com joinviolet.com

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Michael Axt, the Chief Member Empowerment Officer at Zelis, is focused on helping healthcare payers and clinicians provide more information to patients about expected costs for procedures and visits to providers and hospitals. A recent survey conducted with Hanover Research revealed insights about patients' challenges in understanding healthcare billing and correcting errors. Driven by the move to transparency, Zelis acquired Sapphire to offer the Sapphire Digital solution to enable patients to better understand insurance benefits and the correct amount the patient owes.

Michael explains, "We found some interesting insights. Over 40 percent of the consumers in our study indicated that they were significantly frustrated in trying to find the right person to resolve an error. So they might have found an error, but they didn't know how to do anything about it. For those individuals, it took a month or more for nearly half of our respondents. For 70 percent of them they spent over two hours of their own time trying to work to correct this."

"To the extent that there's greater clarity for the member or the patients in understanding the bill and what they owe, they're more likely to pay it more promptly. So we all know that cash flow is a challenge, and collections on patient liabilities are frankly atrociously low in the healthcare space."

"For the health insurance companies and payers, there are options as well. Obliviously improving the member experience helps to improve retention and reduce churn in the plans. Also, if they're bringing tools that help to accelerate payment to the provider, it has opportunities for them to improve their relationships with their provider networks, which is a huge strategic asset for the health insurance companies."

@ZelisHealthcare #Healthcare #PaymentIntegrity #HealthcareCosts #ConsumerBilling #PriceTransparency #HealthcareBilling #MedicalBillingErrors

zelis.com

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Michael Axt, the Chief Member Empowerment Officer at Zelis, is focused on helping healthcare payers and clinicians provide more information to patients about expected costs for procedures and visits to providers and hospitals. A recent survey conducted with Hanover Research revealed insights about patients' challenges in understanding healthcare billing and correcting errors. Driven by the move to transparency, Zelis acquired Sapphire to offer the Sapphire Digital solution to enable patients to better understand insurance benefits and the correct amount the patient owes.

Michael explains, "We found some interesting insights. Over 40 percent of the consumers in our study indicated that they were significantly frustrated in trying to find the right person to resolve an error. So they might have found an error, but they didn't know how to do anything about it. For those individuals, it took a month or more for nearly half of our respondents. For 70 percent of them they spent over two hours of their own time trying to work to correct this."

"To the extent that there's greater clarity for the member or the patients in understanding the bill and what they owe, they're more likely to pay it more promptly. So we all know that cash flow is a challenge, and collections on patient liabilities are frankly atrociously low in the healthcare space."

"For the health insurance companies and payers, there are options as well. Obliviously improving the member experience helps to improve retention and reduce churn in the plans. Also, if they're bringing tools that help to accelerate payment to the provider, it has opportunities for them to improve their relationships with their provider networks, which is a huge strategic asset for the health insurance companies."

@ZelisHealthcare #Healthcare #PaymentIntegrity #HealthcareCosts #ConsumerBilling #PriceTransparency #HealthcareBilling #MedicalBillingErrors

zelis.com

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Patricia Panzarino, otherwise known as Pidgie, was born with spinal muscular atrophy, SMA, a severe progressive neuromuscular disease. As a singer and songwriter and one of the oldest women living with SMA, Pidgie is celebrating the release of her new album, Just Breathe. Her experience of successfully taking Evrysdi from Genentech has given her more energy and enthusiasm.

Pidgie elaborates, "They didn't know as much when I was born. I was six months old and did not achieve the milestone of crawling properly. My mom took me to the doctor. I had an older sister who had it as well. She was 12 years older than me, so they said, "Here we go again." They called it Amyotonia back then. But as far as a solid diagnosis of blood tests and DNA and stuff, truthfully, that was three years ago. But SMA used to be diagnosed clinically. So I knew I had it, but it was a different way to diagnose it."

"Before the medication, you're talking 61 years of lifestyle—great parents kept me active. My father adapted things for me to participate more fully. For example, we had a boat that you could sleep on with a flying bridge, and he took a Hoyer lift that you use to transfer, put it on the flying bridge, and hoisted me up, so I could pilot this 31-foot boat. I was kept very active, taking vitamins and eating healthily. I never really did drugs or got really into alcohol. I just tried to keep a healthy balance and positivity until the medication. Now I'm still doing all of that because that really helps. You can't take it and just party and not eat well and stay up late and not sleep."

#PidgieMusic #Pidgie #SpinalMuscularAtrophy #SMA #NeuromuscularDisease #Evrysdi

PidgieMusic.com

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Patricia Panzarino, otherwise known as Pidgie, was born with spinal muscular atrophy, SMA, a severe progressive neuromuscular disease. As a singer and songwriter and one of the oldest women living with SMA, Pidgie is celebrating the release of her new album, Just Breathe. Her experience of successfully taking Evrysdi from Genentech has given her more energy and enthusiasm.

Pidgie elaborates, "They didn't know as much when I was born. I was six months old and did not achieve the milestone of crawling properly. My mom took me to the doctor. I had an older sister who had it as well. She was 12 years older than me, so they said, "Here we go again." They called it Amyotonia back then. But as far as a solid diagnosis of blood tests and DNA and stuff, truthfully, that was three years ago. But SMA used to be diagnosed clinically. So I knew I had it, but it was a different way to diagnose it."

"Before the medication, you're talking 61 years of lifestyle—great parents kept me active. My father adapted things for me to participate more fully. For example, we had a boat that you could sleep on with a flying bridge, and he took a Hoyer lift that you use to transfer, put it on the flying bridge, and hoisted me up, so I could pilot this 31-foot boat. I was kept very active, taking vitamins and eating healthily. I never really did drugs or got really into alcohol. I just tried to keep a healthy balance and positivity until the medication. Now I'm still doing all of that because that really helps. You can't take it and just party and not eat well and stay up late and not sleep."

#PidgieMusic #Pidgie #SpinalMuscularAtrophy #SMA #NeuromuscularDisease #Evrysdi

PidgieMusic.com

Download the transcript here