Empowered Patient Podcast

Javier Szwarcberg, CEO of Spruce Biosciences, is developing a compound to address the needs of patients with classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia, CAH, a rare disease first diagnosed at birth. Only recently have companies started to explore innovative therapies to improve the standard of care discovered in the early 1960s. Currently, patients manage their conditions with glucocorticoids but often suffer from steroid-related complications.

Javier explains, "What we're trying to do with our drug is to treat the disease. The compound is a small molecule that binds to a receptor in the pituitary and blocks the release of a hormone called ACTH or adrenal corticotropin hormone. By blocking that hormone, you reduce the amount, the stimulation on the adrenals, and the buildup of precursors that are going to lead to a hyperandrogenic state. So our drug treats the disease. Patients, of course, will still need to get steroids daily to supplement the missing cortisol. But the CAH piece of the disease will be well managed. That's the hope."

"The whole pharmaceutical industry and academic community are starting to pay more attention to rare diseases. And back when I started my career in industry, it was all about addressing the totality of a population with, say, hypertension or diabetes or cancer, for that matter. Now there's a realization that companies ought to be more thoughtful, and research ought to be more thoughtful and address the needs of a subset of patients with rare diseases with more kinds of patient-targeted therapies."

@Spruce_Bio #RareDisease #CAH #CongenitalAdrenalHyperplasia #Glucocorticoids

SpruceBiosciences.com

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Javier Szwarcberg, CEO of Spruce Biosciences, is developing a compound to address the needs of patients with classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia, CAH, a rare disease first diagnosed at birth. Only recently have companies started to explore innovative therapies to improve the standard of care discovered in the early 1960s. Currently, patients manage their conditions with glucocorticoids but often suffer from steroid-related complications.

Javier explains, "What we're trying to do with our drug is to treat the disease. The compound is a small molecule that binds to a receptor in the pituitary and blocks the release of a hormone called ACTH or adrenal corticotropin hormone. By blocking that hormone, you reduce the amount, the stimulation on the adrenals, and the buildup of precursors that are going to lead to a hyperandrogenic state. So our drug treats the disease. Patients, of course, will still need to get steroids daily to supplement the missing cortisol. But the CAH piece of the disease will be well managed. That's the hope."

"The whole pharmaceutical industry and academic community are starting to pay more attention to rare diseases. And back when I started my career in industry, it was all about addressing the totality of a population with, say, hypertension or diabetes or cancer, for that matter. Now there's a realization that companies ought to be more thoughtful, and research ought to be more thoughtful and address the needs of a subset of patients with rare diseases with more kinds of patient-targeted therapies."

@Spruce_Bio #RareDisease #CAH #CongenitalAdrenalHyperplasia #Glucocorticoids

SpruceBiosciences.com

Listen to the podcast here

Richard Hague is the CEO and President of PolarityTE, creating a paste-like substance containing multicellular skin segments that can be spread on the patient's wound bed and engrafts into the wound. This stimulates healing from the inside out with wounds created by diabetic foot ulcer and venous leg ulcer.

Richard elaborates, "We're very excited about our SkinTE platform. It's a very unique and novel approach for treating wounds. The goal here is to use the patient's own cells so that there's no risk of rejection of any kind, no introduction of anything foreign to the body."

"The first thing that happens is a physician takes a very small, full thickness harvest from the patient's body, usually somewhere in the proximal calf area. So this is healthy tissue. It's a small harvest that's easily stitched up and closed. And that tissue is sent back to our facility in Salt Lake City. We have a proprietary process for processing that skin that allows us to utilize all aspects of that harvest. So we're using all layers of the cells and all the extracellular material that's in that full thickness skin."

@PolarityTE #PolarityTE #SkinTE #DiabeticFootUlcers #Diabetes #PressureUlcers

PolarityTE.com

Listen to the podcast here

Richard Hague is the CEO and President of PolarityTE, creating a paste-like substance containing multicellular skin segments that can be spread on the patient's wound bed and engrafts into the wound. This stimulates healing from the inside out with wounds created by diabetic foot ulcer and venous leg ulcer.

Richard elaborates, "We're very excited about our SkinTE platform. It's a very unique and novel approach for treating wounds. The goal here is to use the patient's own cells so that there's no risk of rejection of any kind, no introduction of anything foreign to the body."

"The first thing that happens is a physician takes a very small, full thickness harvest from the patient's body, usually somewhere in the proximal calf area. So this is healthy tissue. It's a small harvest that's easily stitched up and closed. And that tissue is sent back to our facility in Salt Lake City. We have a proprietary process for processing that skin that allows us to utilize all aspects of that harvest. So we're using all layers of the cells and all the extracellular material that's in that full thickness skin."

@PolarityTE #PolarityTE #SkinTE #DiabeticFootUlcers #Diabetes #PressureUlcers

PolarityTE.com

Download the transcript here

Greg Sturmer is the Co-Founder and CEO of Elysium Therapeutics and rethinking how to overcome the challenges of opioid abuse and addiction by reformulating the drug itself. Blending an understanding of chemistry and human behavior, Elysium questions why it takes 70 years for an opioid to lose half its potency and what would discourage patients from taking more opioids than their prescribed treatment plan.

Greg explains, "When you look at Elysium's mission, just to step back briefly, it's all about relieving suffering from acute pain, from opioid use disorder, and from an opioid overdose. And our objective is to save thousands of lives each year and reduce the next generation of opioid use disorder sufferers while still providing patients with highly effective, proven pain relief."

"O2P, again, which stands for Oral Overdose Protection, is expected to be the first-in-class immediate-release opioid that eliminates that incentive to take more. And it protects against fatal overdose, not only orally but also via injection and inhalation. So, it's a way that Tom has done using chemistry, has created a way to limit, self-limit, the amount of opioid that actually becomes activated. So regardless of how many you swallow, we're limiting the amount of opioid that will actually be active. And that'll protect, one, from incentivizing an individual to take more and, two, preventing an overdose."

#Elysium #ElysiumRX #OpioidAbuse #OpioidOverdose #Opioids

elysiumrx.com

Download the transcript here

Greg Sturmer is the Co-Founder and CEO of Elysium Therapeutics and rethinking how to overcome the challenges of opioid abuse and addiction by reformulating the drug itself. Blending an understanding of chemistry and human behavior, Elysium questions why it takes 70 years for an opioid to lose half its potency and what would discourage patients from taking more opioids than their prescribed treatment plan.

Greg explains, "When you look at Elysium's mission, just to step back briefly, it's all about relieving suffering from acute pain, from opioid use disorder, and from an opioid overdose. And our objective is to save thousands of lives each year and reduce the next generation of opioid use disorder sufferers while still providing patients with highly effective, proven pain relief."

"O2P, again, which stands for Oral Overdose Protection, is expected to be the first-in-class immediate-release opioid that eliminates that incentive to take more. And it protects against fatal overdose, not only orally but also via injection and inhalation. So, it's a way that Tom has done using chemistry, has created a way to limit, self-limit, the amount of opioid that actually becomes activated. So regardless of how many you swallow, we're limiting the amount of opioid that will actually be active. And that'll protect, one, from incentivizing an individual to take more and, two, preventing an overdose."

#Elysium #ElysiumRX #OpioidAbuse #OpioidOverdose #Opioids

elysiumrx.com

Listen to the podcast here

Dr. Alice Martin is the Co-Founder of Dermanostic, the largest teledermatology resource in Europe. Their vision is to give access to a dermatologist to everyone worldwide with a rapid diagnosis and suggested therapy, including prescriptions. While many skin conditions are not life-threatening and are often seen as unimportant by physicians, they impact the quality of life and are treatable.

Alice explains, "We have a lot of patients with skin cancer, white and also black skin cancer melanoma, for example, and it's so easy to just make the pictures because we can see the criteria for malignancy. The patients don't want to go to the appointment because they don't have any symptoms. It's just skin, the area that is growing, and by having such easy access, they are sending the pictures. They are getting the diagnosis before it's starting to make any metastases."

"So the application is available, for example, on the Apple Play Store or Google Play Store, and you can download it in your language. It's also available in English and after you are downloaded that application, you can just take three pictures of the area, for example, something on your skin or your hair and also on your nail. Afterward, you're getting a very small questionnaire, like since when do you have this problem? Does it hurt? And do you have any allergies or something like that? And then you are making the registration process, and afterward, you are making the payment process."

"And normally it takes two to four hours and that time you can just enjoy your free time and our physicians are getting the pictures and the questionnaire, and on this basis, they are making the diagnosis, and the treatment and they are sending back a doctor's letter in PDF. Also, the prescription and the patient can get the prescription by just clicking on the button. So in Europe, it's working all over all European countries. Of course, we are also working on the other countries to get good access to the pharmacist and so on, but for the first step here in Europe it's working quite well."

#Dermanostic #DermatologistApp #Teledermatology #Dermatology #Dermatologist #DigitalHealth #Germany

dermanostic.com

Listen to the podcast here

Dr. Alice Martin is the Co-Founder of Dermanostic, the largest teledermatology resource in Europe. Their vision is to give access to a dermatologist to everyone worldwide with a rapid diagnosis and suggested therapy, including prescriptions. While many skin conditions are not life-threatening and are often seen as unimportant by physicians, they impact the quality of life and are treatable.

Alice explains, "We have a lot of patients with skin cancer, white and also black skin cancer melanoma, for example, and it's so easy to just make the pictures because we can see the criteria for malignancy. The patients don't want to go to the appointment because they don't have any symptoms. It's just skin, the area that is growing, and by having such easy access, they are sending the pictures. They are getting the diagnosis before it's starting to make any metastases."

"So the application is available, for example, on the Apple Play Store or Google Play Store, and you can download it in your language. It's also available in English and after you are downloaded that application, you can just take three pictures of the area, for example, something on your skin or your hair and also on your nail. Afterward, you're getting a very small questionnaire, like since when do you have this problem? Does it hurt? And do you have any allergies or something like that? And then you are making the registration process, and afterward, you are making the payment process."

"And normally it takes two to four hours and that time you can just enjoy your free time and our physicians are getting the pictures and the questionnaire, and on this basis, they are making the diagnosis, and the treatment and they are sending back a doctor's letter in PDF. Also, the prescription and the patient can get the prescription by just clicking on the button. So in Europe, it's working all over all European countries. Of course, we are also working on the other countries to get good access to the pharmacist and so on, but for the first step here in Europe it's working quite well."

#Dermanostic #DermatologistApp #Teledermatology #Dermatology #Dermatologist #DigitalHealth #Germany

dermanostic.com

Download the transcript here

Patty Hayward is the Vice President of Industry Strategy for Healthcare and Life Sciences at Talkdesk which is working with payer and provider organizations, life sciences companies, and other clients in the healthcare and life sciences areas. Its mission is to synchronize data streams so that there is a convenient way for care providers and patients to receive healthcare information and services using their channel of choice.

Patty elaborates, "People are really looking for that kind of convenience, and I think that's a radical shift from where we've been in the provider space, where it's really, you hang a sign outside and people came to you. You didn't do as much of the big outreach and marketing unless you were in really congested marketplaces. Even then it was very traditional in how you went about marketing."

"I think today that's really shifted. A lot of folks that we're talking to are really looking to digitize their contact centers, digitize their patient experience, and trying to look at things in a very different way to allow different kinds of conversations and communication styles."

#Talkdesk #ContactCenter #DigitalHealth #Healthcare #HealthcareInnovation #HealthcareIT #PatientExperience

Talkdesk.com

Listen to the podcast here

Patty Hayward is the Vice President of Industry Strategy for Healthcare and Life Sciences at Talkdesk which is working with payer and provider organizations, life sciences companies, and other clients in the healthcare and life sciences areas. Its mission is to synchronize data streams so that there is a convenient way for care providers and patients to receive healthcare information and services using their channel of choice.

Patty elaborates, "People are really looking for that kind of convenience, and I think that's a radical shift from where we've been in the provider space, where it's really, you hang a sign outside and people came to you. You didn't do as much of the big outreach and marketing unless you were in really congested marketplaces. Even then it was very traditional in how you went about marketing."

"I think today that's really shifted. A lot of folks that we're talking to are really looking to digitize their contact centers, digitize their patient experience, and trying to look at things in a very different way to allow different kinds of conversations and communication styles."

#Talkdesk #ContactCenter #DigitalHealth #Healthcare #HealthcareInnovation #HealthcareIT #PatientExperience

Talkdesk.com

Download the transcript here