Empowered Patient Podcast

Christian Lillis, the Executive Director of the Peggy Lillis Foundation -PLF - is on a mission to raise awareness about the highly contagious disease Clostridium difficile and to get C. diff recognized as a nationally notifiable disease. The Foundation also provides a nutrition and lifestyle guide to give patients the ability to know what to eat to prevent recurrence and help prevent C. diff and other infections.

Chris explains, "We've had some polls done that show about a third of Americans have heard of C. diff. They've heard the term. That doesn't necessarily mean that they understand it. Just because we hear a lot of things doesn't mean we have great knowledge about them. So, I'll address just a little bit about the disease itself, so people have a sense of it. C. diff is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in healthcare settings. There are about half a million infections every year, and at this point, there are about 25 to 30,000 deaths each year. And something that I find remarkable is that in 2011, C. diff was considered the 17th leading cause of death for people 65 years and older. So, it has a huge impact, causing a lot of harm, a lot of death."

"The guide contains a wealth of information about foods that you can probably tolerate during an acute infection, as well as the foods that promote a healthy gut microbiome. That includes a lot of probiotic-rich foods, fiber-rich foods, and prebiotic-rich foods. And then something that we're particularly excited about is that the guide contains 30 recipes that are grouped into what is most likely to be tolerated and what foods will help restore the microbiome. And all of those recipes were developed or adapted by people who have battled C. diff based on what they found most helpful."

#PeggyFoundation #Cdiff #ClostridiumDifficile #Microbiome #PatientAdvocacy #CdiffAwarenessMonth

peggyfoundation.org

Listen to the podcast here

Christian Lillis is the Executive Director of the Peggy Lillis Foundation -PLF - is on a mission to raise awareness about the highly contagious disease Clostridium difficile and to get C. diff recognized as a nationally notifiable disease. The Foundation is also providing a nutrition and lifestyle guide to give patients the ability to know what to eat to prevent recurrence and help prevent C. diff and other infections.

Chris explains, "We've had some polls done that show about a third of Americans have heard of C. diff. They've heard the term. That doesn't necessarily mean that they understand it. Just because we hear a lot of things doesn't mean we have great knowledge about them. So, I'll address just a little bit about the disease itself, so people have a sense of it. C. diff is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in healthcare settings. There are about half a million infections every year, and at this point, there are about 25 to 30,000 deaths each year. And something that I find remarkable is that in 2011, C. diff was considered the 17th leading cause of death for people 65 years and older. So, it has a huge impact, causing a lot of harm, a lot of death."

"The guide contains a wealth of information about foods that you can probably tolerate during an acute infection, as well as the foods that promote a healthy gut microbiome. That includes a lot of probiotic-rich foods, fiber-rich foods, and prebiotic-rich foods. And then something that we're particularly excited about is that the guide contains 30 recipes that are grouped into what is most likely to be tolerated and what foods will help restore the microbiome. And all of those recipes were developed or adapted by people who have battled C. diff based on what they found most helpful."

#PeggyFoundation #Cdiff #ClostridiumDifficile #Microbiome #PatientAdvocacy #CdiffAwarenessMonth

peggyfoundation.org

Download the transcript here

Jim Pursley is the President of Hinge Health, which offers a digital musculoskeletal solution to help individuals alleviate pain, avoid surgery, and reduce the need for opioids for acute and chronic pain. Hinge is also shining a light on those struggling with neurological and mental health challenges and how those conditions are exacerbating chronic pain and driving abuse of opioids.

Jim elaborates, "We have developed a solution that offers virtual physical therapy. It's the elegant integration of hardware, software, and clinical services delivered by exceptional clinicians, physical therapists, health coaches, orthopedic surgeons, dieticians, registered nurses, et cetera. We use sensor technology and advanced computer vision, as well as the Hinge Health software, to deliver physical therapy remotely and virtually in the convenience of somebody's home or wherever they find most convenient."

"Low-income populations, for example, are 40% more likely to use opioids for MSK pain relief than high-income groups. At the same time, 25% of people earning less than $30,000 a year rely on opioids for pain or relief, compared to just 17% of people making over $90,000 a year. So, it gives you some sense if you're living in rural America, if you're in a lower income bracket, people of color, just lack of accessibility to clinically validated alternatives, lead people to opioids. So first and foremost, we have to address the accessibility issue and close that accessibility gap for those at-risk populations."

@HingeHealth #MSK #Musculoskeletal #DigitalHealth #AcutePain #ChronicPain #PainRelief #OpioidCrisis #NationalRuralHealthDay

hingehealth.com

Listen to the podcast here

Jim Pursley is the President of Hinge Health, which offers a digital musculoskeletal solution to help individuals alleviate pain, avoid surgery, and reduce the need for opioids for acute and chronic pain. Hinge is also shining a light on those struggling with neurological and mental health challenges and how those conditions are exacerbating chronic pain and driving abuse of opioids.

Jim elaborates, "We have developed a solution that offers virtual physical therapy. It's the elegant integration of hardware, software, and clinical services delivered by exceptional clinicians, physical therapists, health coaches, orthopedic surgeons, dieticians, registered nurses, et cetera. We use sensor technology and advanced computer vision, as well as the Hinge Health software, to deliver physical therapy remotely and virtually in the convenience of somebody's home or wherever they find most convenient."

"Low-income populations, for example, are 40% more likely to use opioids for MSK pain relief than high-income groups. At the same time, 25% of people earning less than $30,000 a year rely on opioids for pain or relief, compared to just 17% of people making over $90,000 a year. So, it gives you some sense if you're living in rural America, if you're in a lower income bracket, people of color, just lack of accessibility to clinically validated alternatives, lead people to opioids. So first and foremost, we have to address the accessibility issue and close that accessibility gap for those at-risk populations."

@HingeHealth #MSK #Musculoskeletal #DigitalHealth #AcutePain #ChronicPain #PainRelief #OpioidCrisis #NationalRuralHealthDay

hingehealth.com

Download the transcript here

Dr. Arthur Suckow is the Co-Founder and CEO of DTx Pharma, in search of an approach to administering sRNA therapeutics using a solution of fatty acids, which every cell in the body has a mechanism to take up. Leveraging those mechanisms, receptors, and transporters, the DTx concept is to trick the cells into bringing the sRNA molecules in so they can repress the expression of disease-causing genes.

Arthur explains, "Well, the one that everyone is familiar with now because it's on the front page of the news almost every day are mRNA modalities where you put a gene essentially back into cells. The poster child for that is putting the spike protein in to generate a vaccine response. But that's not what we do. We actually inhibit the expression of disease-causing genes. When you have an extra copy or a mutant protein that mucks up cellular function, we try to inhibit the expression of those genes. And those are called sRNA or antisense therapeutics. We specifically focus on the flavor called siRNA as our kind of modality of choice."

"The bigger challenge and the challenge that DTx is trying to take on is to enable this class of therapeutics beyond the liver to other tissues. We focus on the peripheral nervous system, muscle, brain, etc. Where they're most effective from a disease perspective is if you have expression of a gene or the expression of a mutation. We usually think dominant gain of function is kind of our bread and butter. So those kinds of lesions are where these are particularly effective."

@DTxPharma #RNATherapeutics #mRNA #siRNA #sRNA #FattyAcidMolecules #DominantGainofFunction #RareDisease #CharcotMarieTooth #SanDiego

dtxpharma.com

Listen to the podcast here

Dr. Arthur Suckow is the Co-Founder and CEO of DTx Pharma, in search of an approach to administering sRNA therapeutics using a solution of fatty acids, which every cell in the body has a mechanism to take up. Leveraging those mechanisms, receptors, and transporters, the DTx concept is to trick the cells into bringing the sRNA molecules in so they can repress the expression of disease-causing genes.

Arthur explains, "Well, the one that everyone is familiar with now because it's on the front page of the news almost every day are mRNA modalities where you put a gene essentially back into cells. The poster child for that is putting the spike protein in to generate a vaccine response. But that's not what we do. We actually inhibit the expression of disease-causing genes. When you have an extra copy or a mutant protein that mucks up cellular function, we try to inhibit the expression of those genes. And those are called sRNA or antisense therapeutics. We specifically focus on the flavor called siRNA as our kind of modality of choice."

"The bigger challenge and the challenge that DTx is trying to take on is to enable this class of therapeutics beyond the liver to other tissues. We focus on the peripheral nervous system, muscle, brain, etc. Where they're most effective from a disease perspective is if you have expression of a gene or the expression of a mutation. We usually think dominant gain of function is kind of our bread and butter. So those kinds of lesions are where these are particularly effective."

@DTxPharma #RNATherapeutics #mRNA #siRNA #sRNA #FattyAcidMolecules #DominantGainofFunction #RareDisease #CharcotMarieTooth #SanDiego

dtxpharma.com

Download the transcript here

Dr. Carl Cameron is the Chief Medical Officer at MVP Health Care, a health services company in the northeast, developing innovative solutions for Medicare enrollees to help them get the care they need by thinking of patients as consumers. Using Care Guides, MVP is solving problems and clarifying benefits for consumers to keep them healthy and out of the hospital.

Carl explains, "One thing we did in trying to understand the customers, the potential customers of the health plan, is we tried to put our biases behind us. We then tried to think in advance about what the customers' needs were. We went out, and we did a large survey of over 1,000 potential customers to really try to understand, for a health plan that they were going to join, or potentially going to join, what are the most important things that they would consider, and what were their fears about changing health plans."

"Through our Care Guide, we proactively call each customer and connect with each customer ahead of time to encourage them right from the outstart. Before you even join the plan, you have these great benefits that are available to you. We want you to have them, and we want to help you get them."

"It's reinforced by many of the doctors that we've worked with in Vermont through UVMHN that support the plan and are working with us to have this wonderful experience for the customers."

@MVPHealthCare #CareManagement #Medicare #MedicareAdvantage #SeniorHealth #COVIDBooster

mvphealthcare.com

Listen to the podcast here

Dr. Carl Cameron is the Chief Medical Officer at MVP Health Care, a health services company in the northeast, developing innovative solutions for Medicare enrollees to help them get the care they need by thinking of patients as consumers. Using Care Guides, MVP is solving problems and clarifying benefits for consumers to keep them healthy and out of the hospital.

Carl explains, "One thing we did in trying to understand the customers, the potential customers of the health plan, is we tried to put our biases behind us. We then tried to think in advance about what the customers' needs were. We went out, and we did a large survey of over 1,000 potential customers to really try to understand, for a health plan that they were going to join, or potentially going to join, what are the most important things that they would consider, and what were their fears about changing health plans."

"Through our Care Guide, we proactively call each customer and connect with each customer ahead of time to encourage them right from the outstart. Before you even join the plan, you have these great benefits that are available to you. We want you to have them, and we want to help you get them."

"It's reinforced by many of the doctors that we've worked with in Vermont through UVMHN that support the plan and are working with us to have this wonderful experience for the customers."

@MVPHealthCare #CareManagement #Medicare #MedicareAdvantage #SeniorHealth #COVIDBooster

mvphealthcare.com

Download the transcript here

Dr. Ray Lee is the CEO of Teclison, focused on overcoming the limitations of existing immunotherapy for treating liver cancer in part caused by the fact that the liver is a highly immunotolerant organ. The key is to make the tumor a low-oxygen environment and delivering a drug that only works on the tumor.

Ray elaborates, "First, let me explain what the TATE represents. It stands for the Trans-arterial TEC-001 Embolization. TEC-001 is the pipeline compound we've been trying to develop. This compound is a so-called prodrug. In other words, by itself, it has a low activity. But once in the low-oxygen environment, the drug is going to be activated. What we're trying to develop is to create a very innovative way to convert the tumor into an environment with low oxygen. And this low-oxygen environment is exclusive within the tumor but not in the normal liver nor in the systemic organs."

"So once they have this catheter in place, they will inject our drugs, the TEC-001, directly through the catheter into the tumor and then follow by the embolization. And what I mean by embolization is injecting a special kind of material, like a block in the tumor vessel, and cutting off the blood flow. So that means the tumor is no longer able to receive any blood, so they are not getting enough nutrients or oxygen, which makes the tumor be in a very low-oxygen environment. And that is how our drug is going to be almost immediately activated within the tumor after the embolization procedure, and that's how it works."

#Teclison #LiverCancer #Cancer #SolidTumors #Immunotherapy #CancerImmunotherapy #LiverMetastasis #LungCancer #ColorectalCancer

Teclison.com

Listen to the podcast here

Dr. Ray Lee is the CEO of Teclison, focused on overcoming the limitations of existing immunotherapy for treating liver cancer in part caused by the fact that the liver is a highly immunotolerant organ. The key is to make the tumor a low-oxygen environment and delivering a drug that only works on the tumor.

Ray elaborates, "First, let me explain what the TATE represents. It stands for the Trans-arterial TEC-001 Embolization. TEC-001 is the pipeline compound we've been trying to develop. This compound is a so-called prodrug. In other words, by itself, it has a low activity. But once in the low-oxygen environment, the drug is going to be activated. What we're trying to develop is to create a very innovative way to convert the tumor into an environment with low oxygen. And this low-oxygen environment is exclusive within the tumor but not in the normal liver nor in the systemic organs."

"So once they have this catheter in place, they will inject our drugs, the TEC-001, directly through the catheter into the tumor and then follow by the embolization. And what I mean by embolization is injecting a special kind of material, like a block in the tumor vessel, and cutting off the blood flow. So that means the tumor is no longer able to receive any blood, so they are not getting enough nutrients or oxygen, which makes the tumor be in a very low-oxygen environment. And that is how our drug is going to be almost immediately activated within the tumor after the embolization procedure, and that's how it works."

#Teclison #LiverCancer #Cancer #SolidTumors #Immunotherapy #CancerImmunotherapy #LiverMetastasis #LungCancer #ColorectalCancer

Teclison.com

Download the transcript here