Empowered Patient Podcast

Rob Armstrong, CEO of Artax Biopharma, highlights the basic mechanism of action of Nck modulators and how they differ from traditional immunosuppressant drugs to treat autoimmune diseases. Taking this adjustable thermostat approach aims to modulate the immune response rather than completely suppressing the response, potentially reducing side effects. The oral, small molecule drug is an advantage over injectable biologics currently dominating the automimmune disease treatment landscape.

Rob explains, "Nck stands for non-catalytic kinase, and what Nck is is an adapter protein that interacts with the T cell receptor. Its role is basically to amplify any signals when an antigen is presented to the T cell receptor. It's really interesting because it's called signal one. In other words, it's the beginning of the immune cascade when an antigen is presented. And what's interesting is that it's upstream of what the target of most other drugs are, which are the cytokines that are the offending entities for many of the autoimmune diseases. So what Nck does basically is it amplifies different types of antigens that are bound to the T cell receptor."

"So, T cell receptors are a fascinating construct of proteins because they need to address the binding of antigens that are across an incredibly different range of avidity. In other words, it has to be able to be activated by both very strong avidity antigens and weak antigens. So what Nck does is it amplifies the signal when the antigen is a weak antigen, but when it's a strong antigen, Nck is really not necessary at all. And that particular distinction is why we modulate the immune system instead of suppressing it."

artaxbiopharma.com

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Rob Armstrong, CEO of Artax Biopharma, highlights the basic mechanism of action of Nck modulators and how they differ from traditional immunosuppressant drugs to treat autoimmune diseases. Taking this adjustable thermostat approach aims to modulate the immune response rather than completely suppressing the response, potentially reducing side effects. The oral, small molecule drug is an advantage over injectable biologics currently dominating the automimmune disease treatment landscape.

Rob explains, "Nck stands for non-catalytic kinase, and what Nck is is an adapter protein that interacts with the T cell receptor. Its role is basically to amplify any signals when an antigen is presented to the T cell receptor. It's really interesting because it's called signal one. In other words, it's the beginning of the immune cascade when an antigen is presented. And what's interesting is that it's upstream of what the target of most other drugs are, which are the cytokines that are the offending entities for many of the autoimmune diseases. So what Nck does basically is it amplifies different types of antigens that are bound to the T cell receptor."

"So, T cell receptors are a fascinating construct of proteins because they need to address the binding of antigens that are across an incredibly different range of avidity. In other words, it has to be able to be activated by both very strong avidity antigens and weak antigens. So what Nck does is it amplifies the signal when the antigen is a weak antigen, but when it's a strong antigen, Nck is really not necessary at all. And that particular distinction is why we modulate the immune system instead of suppressing it."

artaxbiopharma.com

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Shyam Natarajan, Founder and CEO of Avenda Health, is utilizing the Unfold AI platform that combines imaging, pathology, and clinical data to provide a comprehensive 3D visualization of prostate cancer. This platform has demonstrated significantly higher accuracy than conventional imaging techniques, enabling physicians to make more informed diagnoses and treatment decisions. The technology has been integrated into the clinical workflow to provide real-time insights and precision-guided interventions, minimizing treatment-related side effects and preserving patient quality of life.

Shyam explains, "Unfold AI is unique in that it's multimodal. We take in imaging biomarkers, pathology, and clinical information as input. And conventional imaging really doesn't show you exactly everywhere the cancer is. MRI today misses two-thirds of the disease by volume, and so imaging is really good at screening and that initial diagnosis. But when it comes time to decide how to treat patients, the standard of care is challenging today because, really, up to a third of patients end up having cancer left behind after treatment. So what we're trying to solve is this pain point where cancer is missed, and as a consequence, cancer is left behind."

"This product is really for patients who have a diagnosis of what we call clinically significant or cancer that you have to do something about. So, it's not the very low-risk, where being on what's called surveillance, watch and wait, is probably more appropriate. But this product, you touched upon the value proposition where a lot of patients are coming to their doctor saying, Hey Doc, I don't want to get surgery because I'm scared of the quality of life outcomes or the side effect profile. They want to get a targeted therapy. Well, physicians really can't offer targeted therapy in a broad sense unless they know where the cancer is. And so, AI is empowering and enabling physicians to perform precision-guided therapy or focal therapy."

#AvendaHealth #UnfoldAi #ProstateCancer #ProstateCancerTreatment #HealthcareAI #CancerAI #RadiologyAI #DiagnosticAI #MedicalAI #AIinHealthcare

avendahealth.com

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Shyam Natarajan, Founder and CEO of Avenda Health, is utilizing the Unfold AI platform that combines imaging, pathology, and clinical data to provide a comprehensive 3D visualization of prostate cancer. This platform has demonstrated significantly higher accuracy than conventional imaging techniques, enabling physicians to make more informed diagnoses and treatment decisions. The technology has been integrated into the clinical workflow to provide real-time insights and precision-guided interventions, minimizing treatment-related side effects and preserving patient quality of life.

Shyam explains, "Unfold AI is unique in that it's multimodal. We take in imaging biomarkers, pathology, and clinical information as input. And conventional imaging really doesn't show you exactly everywhere the cancer is. MRI today misses two-thirds of the disease by volume, and so imaging is really good at screening and that initial diagnosis. But when it comes time to decide how to treat patients, the standard of care is challenging today because, really, up to a third of patients end up having cancer left behind after treatment. So what we're trying to solve is this pain point where cancer is missed, and as a consequence, cancer is left behind."

"This product is really for patients who have a diagnosis of what we call clinically significant or cancer that you have to do something about. So, it's not the very low-risk, where being on what's called surveillance, watch and wait, is probably more appropriate. But this product, you touched upon the value proposition where a lot of patients are coming to their doctor saying, Hey Doc, I don't want to get surgery because I'm scared of the quality of life outcomes or the side effect profile. They want to get a targeted therapy. Well, physicians really can't offer targeted therapy in a broad sense unless they know where the cancer is. And so, AI is empowering and enabling physicians to perform precision-guided therapy or focal therapy."

#AvendaHealth #UnfoldAi #ProstateCancer #ProstateCancerTreatment #HealthcareAI #CancerAI #RadiologyAI #DiagnosticAI #MedicalAI #AIinHealthcare

avendahealth.com

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Richard Mackey, Chief Technology Officer at CCS, focuses on the challenges faced by patients with diabetes and multiple morbidities, as well as their healthcare providers, in managing their conditions. CCS has developed the Living Connected approach to connect patients, providers, and payers, and promotes the role that durable medical equipment companies and pharmacists can play in supporting patients and doctors. Recognizing that patients are more than their disease, CCS addresses social determinants of health to provide education and care coordination.

Richard explains, "CCS is a company that is in the business of chronic care management. We focus on delivering products and services to patients with a variety of chronic care conditions. But foremost among these for us is diabetes. We're very focused on being able to provide solutions and services for folks who are managing their diabetic condition."

"On the machine learning side, we have a tremendous amount of data and information about how our patients will understand the devices they might be using. For example, continuous glucose monitors or CGMs are an important standard of care that we work with a lot of patients across the US to equip them, find the right device, help them begin using that device, and best understand what it can do and how it can help them make better decisions to manage their conditions."

"We might talk to the patient once or twice a month. We might be talking to them multiple times within a quarter. In some cases, we're interacting with a patient more often than others in the ecosystem, maybe more often than even their physician in terms of the number of interactions per month or period, even their health insurance provider. So all that interaction helps give us information and data to draw insights on what those patients might need, what's most important to them, and how they interact with us. We can also work with a variety of other sources to bring information together. And by using the machine learning tools that we've developed, we can understand things that are important to them. So, it might be around the product or specific information related to the plan or the payer they're working with."

#CCSMed #Diabetes #ChronicCare #CGM #Healthcare #DigitalHealth #MedicalAI

ccsmed.com

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Richard Mackey, Chief Technology Officer at CCS, focuses on the challenges faced by patients with diabetes and multiple morbidities, as well as their healthcare providers, in managing their conditions. CCS has developed the Living Connected approach to connect patients, providers, and payers, and promotes the role that durable medical equipment companies and pharmacists can play in supporting patients and doctors. Recognizing that patients are more than their disease, CCS addresses social determinants of health to provide education and care coordination.

Richard explains, "CCS is a company that is in the business of chronic care management. We focus on delivering products and services to patients with a variety of chronic care conditions. But foremost among these for us is diabetes. We're very focused on being able to provide solutions and services for folks who are managing their diabetic condition."

"On the machine learning side, we have a tremendous amount of data and information about how our patients will understand the devices they might be using. For example, continuous glucose monitors or CGMs are an important standard of care that we work with a lot of patients across the US to equip them, find the right device, help them begin using that device, and best understand what it can do and how it can help them make better decisions to manage their conditions."

"We might talk to the patient once or twice a month. We might be talking to them multiple times within a quarter. In some cases, we're interacting with a patient more often than others in the ecosystem, maybe more often than even their physician in terms of the number of interactions per month or period, even their health insurance provider. So all that interaction helps give us information and data to draw insights on what those patients might need, what's most important to them, and how they interact with us. We can also work with a variety of other sources to bring information together. And by using the machine learning tools that we've developed, we can understand things that are important to them. So, it might be around the product or specific information related to the plan or the payer they're working with."

#CCSMed #Diabetes #ChronicCare #CGM #Healthcare #DigitalHealth #MedicalAI

ccsmed.com

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Catherine Richards Golini, Patient Resource Manager at Karger Publishers, is providing high-quality, accurate healthcare information to patients, addressing the need for trusted health information. Karger has a rigorous process in place to ensure the relevance of its patient resources, involving patients, clinical reviewers, and obtaining a quality mark. With the increasing use of AI and healthcare influencers, healthcare providers need these resources to have more productive conversations with patients and encourage health literacy.

Catherine explains, "I will refer to the patient resources we publish. We also produce resources for healthcare professionals, as you know. But my job is patient resources, and I think we're quite proud of our patient resources in the sense that we have a very watertight production process that involves patients from the very beginning. So we're confident that we're producing relevant information that's very important, relevant to the patient community, and what they want. Accuracy. We always involve clinical reviewers, usually two for each patient resource actually, to make sure that the content is accurate."

"We've also got something called the PIF TICK, which is a British thing, but I believe it's now spreading across Europe. It may even be known of in the States. And the PIF TICK is like a quality mark, a certification mark for patient healthcare information. We have to have our resources, our production processes, and our resources evaluated. When we pass the evaluation, and there are about 10 criteria with multiple sub-criteria, we get the right to use this PIF TICK on the back of our resources. So those are three ways to guarantee that we produce trusted, accurate healthcare information for patients."

#KargerPublishers #Publishing #Science #Research #HealthInformation #MedicalAI #AI

karger.com

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Catherine Richards Golini, Patient Resource Manager at Karger Publishers, is providing high-quality, accurate healthcare information to patients, addressing the need for trusted health information. Karger has a rigorous process in place to ensure the relevance of its patient resources, involving patients, clinical reviewers, and obtaining a quality mark. With the increasing use of AI and healthcare influencers, healthcare providers need these resources to have more productive conversations with patients and encourage health literacy.

Catherine explains, "I will refer to the patient resources we publish. We also produce resources for healthcare professionals, as you know. But my job is patient resources, and I think we're quite proud of our patient resources in the sense that we have a very watertight production process that involves patients from the very beginning. So we're confident that we're producing relevant information that's very important, relevant to the patient community, and what they want. Accuracy. We always involve clinical reviewers, usually two for each patient resource actually, to make sure that the content is accurate."

"We've also got something called the PIF TICK, which is a British thing, but I believe it's now spreading across Europe. It may even be known of in the States. And the PIF TICK is like a quality mark, a certification mark for patient healthcare information. We have to have our resources, our production processes, and our resources evaluated. When we pass the evaluation, and there are about 10 criteria with multiple sub-criteria, we get the right to use this PIF TICK on the back of our resources. So those are three ways to guarantee that we produce trusted, accurate healthcare information for patients."

#KargerPublishers #Publishing #Science #Research #HealthInformation #MedicalAI #AI

karger.com

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Dr. Orit Wimpfheimer, Chief Medical Officer at Nanox, a medical imaging AI company using technology to detect early signs of diseases through opportunistic screening of CT scans. The AI platform identifies signs of diseases such as osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease that may have been overlooked by the radiologist. The tools are designed to be integrated into the radiologist's workflow to provide quantified measurements to guide clinical care decisions leading to improved patient outcomes.

Orit explains, "The number of CT scans over the last 20 years has risen astronomically. People are getting CT scans for many reasons, and there's a lot of data on the images that doesn't get translated into patient care. And what our AI tools do is to scan all those CT scans in the background unobtrusively, so they look for signs of chronic conditions and highlight those to the radiologists while they're reading the scans. This ensures that chronic diseases are commented on in the reports, initiating a clinical pathway to help treat those diseases at the early stages of their disease processes. Ultimately, we're trying to find diseases much earlier to treat them much better and therefore increase the quality of life and the length of life by treating these diseases before they become very symptomatic."

"So our tools are actually measurement tools. When the radiologist looks at the images, they have their checklist in their mind, myself included. I'm a radiologist. Things we're always looking for on the scan, and then we pay attention based on the patient's clinical history or rule out pneumonia, rule out cancer, whatever it is. Sometimes these chronic diseases might be lurking in the background, but they don't get attention from the radiologist. And even if the radiologist is super careful and tries to find everything on the exam, we don't have time to start measuring things. And when you comment on something without giving a quantified measurement, it's very hard for the clinician down the line to know what to do with this patient. It's too vague. When we give quantified information, the doctor, after the radiologist, can take that quantified information and then know where to send the patient next and what to do next with the patient. And that's critical because we don't want to drop patients along the way, the clinical care pathway, because then it's ineffective."

#NanoxVision #AIinHealthcare #HealthcareAI #MedAI #RadiologyAI #HealthcareInnovation #Medical Imaging #Radiology #EarlyDetection #PreventiveCare #PatientCare

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Chelsey Lindner, a pharmacist and Manager of Clinical Services at Shields Health Solutions, provides insights about the growing prevalence of oral and subcutaneous injection oncology medications, which is shifting the delivery of care from the clinic to at-home. This innovation in cancer care introduces complexities around accessing and affording these specialty drugs and requires the skills of a specialty pharmacy to support the patients and providers. In an integrated care model, there is also a growing need for attention to medication adherence and monitoring for side effects by these pharmacists.

Chelsey explains, "Shields is considered a specialty pharmacy integrator. We partner with health systems across the country to help them operate best-in-class specialty pharmacy programs. We are focused on improving patient outcomes through specialized pharmacy services and supporting the optimized use of specialty medications through navigation of access, care coordination, and comprehensive medication management. So those are three of the big services Shields offers as a company."

"I would say that the number one component that these oral oncology medications offer is a level of patient convenience and maintenance of their quality of life. Because what was a cancer diagnosis 20 years ago meant they were going to have to come to the health center or be admitted to the hospital to receive their treatment. Whereas now, when a patient might be faced with a certain cancer diagnosis, they will be managing it like a chronic condition. They can stay at home, they can stay with their families. They can do all of those things that they want to do that help support that quality of life as they're going through active cancer treatment. And so with that certainly comes, I think, a level of popularity. And I think the pharmaceutical companies certainly would be incentivized to continue the research in this area and the development of these agents."

#ShieldsHealthSolutions #IntegratedCareModel #SpecialtyPharmacy #CancerTreatment #MedicationAdherence

shieldshealthsolutions.com

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