Empowered Patient Podcast

Dr. Sean Ianchulev, CMO, previously CEO of Iantrek, is developing a new approach to treating glaucoma, which involves a biologic implant that can be customized to the patient's disease progression. This technology is designed to be more durable compared to traditional glaucoma treatments, which often require lifelong use of eye drops. This treatment is a combination of microinterventional technology with biologic tissue technology to transform the approach to eye care.

Sean explains, "So we are a first not only for ophthalmology but also for medicine. We are the first, made of biologic technology, and we're to implant that tissue without any hardware, which is important because it minimizes implantable response. We can treat glaucoma patients who need intraocular pressure opening by opening and stenting the outflow pathway in a very unprecedented way. So, we've created a new categorical treatment, which we call bio-interventional."

"I think in cataract, we can say we've probably been able to cure that disease by cataract surgery and have a permanent cure. Unfortunately, glaucoma is difficult, affecting the optic nerve. And when you talk about neurodegenerative diseases, we're not yet there where we can cure them, but if we can slow them down, and we can slow them down to the point where it does not impact somebody's well-being and vision until the end of their lifespan, I think that's almost equivalent to cure because we've been able to enable them to have a productive life."

#Iantek #Glaucoma #Innovation #Biointerventional #Microinterventional #Biotissue #EyeCare #Ophthalmology

iantrekmed.com

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Dr. Sean Ianchulev, CMO, previously CEO of Iantrek, is developing a new approach to treating glaucoma, which involves a biologic implant that can be customized to the patient's disease progression. This technology is designed to be more durable compared to traditional glaucoma treatments, which often require lifelong use of eye drops. This treatment is a combination of microinterventional technology with biologic tissue technology to transform the approach to eye care.

Sean explains, "So we are a first not only for ophthalmology but also for medicine. We are the first, made of biologic technology, and we're to implant that tissue without any hardware, which is important because it minimizes implantable response. We can treat glaucoma patients who need intraocular pressure opening by opening and stenting the outflow pathway in a very unprecedented way. So, we've created a new categorical treatment, which we call bio-interventional."

"I think in cataract, we can say we've probably been able to cure that disease by cataract surgery and have a permanent cure. Unfortunately, glaucoma is difficult, affecting the optic nerve. And when you talk about neurodegenerative diseases, we're not yet there where we can cure them, but if we can slow them down, and we can slow them down to the point where it does not impact somebody's well-being and vision until the end of their lifespan, I think that's almost equivalent to cure because we've been able to enable them to have a productive life."

#Iantek #Glaucoma #Innovation #Biointerventional #Microinterventional #Biotissue #EyeCare #Ophthalmology

iantrekmed.com

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Robert Den, Chief Medical Officer at Alpha Tau Medical, is changing cancer treatment using their Alpha DaRT technology to deliver a potent form of alpha radiation directly into solid tumors with minimal side effects. There is potential for the Alpha DaRT to be combined with immunotherapy and chemotherapy to further invoke an immune response. This one-time alpha radiation treatment has shown the ability to treat all solid tumors, only limited by the ability to deliver the Alpha DaRT directly to the tumor.

Robert explains, "So alpha radiation is one of the three types of radiation that occur naturally, and it's been known as a very potent form of radiation for several decades now. The challenge with alpha radiation in the treatment of patients with localized disease and with solid tumors, meaning tumors not like leukemias or lymphomas but more like pancreas, lung, and prostate cancer, is that the alpha particles themselves aren't only able to travel a very short distance inside tissue or inside the cancer itself."

"Before Alpha Tau and the Alpha DaRT technology, there was no pragmatic way to use this super potent and very safe type of radiation because you could not put enough alpha particles inside a tumor to cover the tumor with the radiation dose. What Alpha DaRT technology does is rely on the movement of what's called alpha-emitting daughter atoms."

"So essentially, we take a biocompatible inert metal seed, which means that if you were to put this seed into the body, there would be no immune effect. Patients could have it inside them for the entirety of their life. Essentially, what we do is we cover this seed with a radiopharmaceutical called Radium-224. We just put Radium-224 on the outside of the seed. Then, we insert it either through a minimally invasive approach or using a different endoscopic approach inside the tumor directly. So now we have the seed covered with the radium inside the tumor, and this is basically where the magic happens."

#AlphaTauMedical #Cancer #TargetedRadiation #ClinicalResearch #RadiationOncology #Oncology #CancerTreatment #AlphaRadiation

alphatau.com

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Robert Den, Chief Medical Officer at Alpha Tau Medical, is changing cancer treatment using their Alpha DaRT technology to deliver a potent form of alpha radiation directly into solid tumors with minimal side effects. There is potential for the Alpha DaRT to be combined with immunotherapy and chemotherapy to further invoke an immune response. This one-time alpha radiation treatment has shown the ability to treat all solid tumors, only limited by the ability to deliver the Alpha DaRT directly to the tumor.

Robert explains, "So alpha radiation is one of the three types of radiation that occur naturally, and it's been known as a very potent form of radiation for several decades now. The challenge with alpha radiation in the treatment of patients with localized disease and with solid tumors, meaning tumors not like leukemias or lymphomas but more like pancreas, lung, and prostate cancer, is that the alpha particles themselves aren't only able to travel a very short distance inside tissue or inside the cancer itself."

"Before Alpha Tau and the Alpha DaRT technology, there was no pragmatic way to use this super potent and very safe type of radiation because you could not put enough alpha particles inside a tumor to cover the tumor with the radiation dose. What Alpha DaRT technology does is rely on the movement of what's called alpha-emitting daughter atoms."

"So essentially, we take a biocompatible inert metal seed, which means that if you were to put this seed into the body, there would be no immune effect. Patients could have it inside them for the entirety of their life. Essentially, what we do is we cover this seed with a radiopharmaceutical called Radium-224. We just put Radium-224 on the outside of the seed. Then, we insert it either through a minimally invasive approach or using a different endoscopic approach inside the tumor directly. So now we have the seed covered with the radium inside the tumor, and this is basically where the magic happens."

#AlphaTauMedical #Cancer #TargetedRadiation #ClinicalResearch #RadiationOncology #Oncology #CancerTreatment #AlphaRadiation

alphatau.com

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Dr. Daniel Vitt, the CEO of Immunic Therapeutics, is taking a different approach to treating autoimmune diseases, focusing on neuroprotection, gut barrier restoration, and anti-inflammatory effects. These dual-mechanism small-molecule drugs are initially developed for multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel diseases. The lead candidate for MS aims to reduce relapses, slow disease progression, and help prevent reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus due to the antiviral properties of the oral drug.

Daniel explains, "If you look back over the last 20 years, maybe even longer, you figure out that there have been limited improvements in treating big chronic indications like autoimmune diseases. Specifically, looking from the patient's point of view, there are a lot of things missing. So, there are a lot of indications that are untreatable or not sufficiently solving the medical need or a lack of convenience for use, for example. Another thing that is highly underestimated usually is the safety and tolerability of the drugs. And it's our mission to work on having better drugs with better safety and tolerability profiles to offer patients more convenient and easy-to-use therapies."

"That is something currently not addressed by the drugs available for patients today. Therefore, our drug is making a difference because our mode of action is a dual mode of action. On the one hand, the molecule is a potent anti-inflammatory drug by inhibition of a protein called DHODH. Secondly, we also have our molecule, a very good activator of a protein called Nurr1. This is a neuroprotective factor and plays an important role in the different areas of the brain, directly in the neurons in the brain, but also in the environment of the brain. That is why we believe Nurr1 activation is a key step forward to treating patients and offering a better benefit for slowing down the disability."

"This is because quality of life is one of the important parameters for judging whether a drug does its job or not. We need to address this more in our industry, and therefore, I agree that it's an important piece. And with gut wall repair, you're more on the side of ok, maybe we can fix the problem in general and the body returns to normal behavior. So, in a perfect world, in further clinical trials, we can see cases of patients who maybe flip back to healthy status or disease-free status or something like that, for example, in celiac disease or other GI indications."

#ImmunicThera #MultipleSclerosis #MS #AutoimmuneDiseases #InflammatoryDiseases #EpsteinBarrVirus #UlcerativeColitis #IBD

imux.com

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Dr. Daniel Vitt, the CEO of Immunic Therapeutics, is taking a different approach to treating autoimmune diseases, focusing on neuroprotection, gut barrier restoration, and anti-inflammatory effects. These dual-mechanism small-molecule drugs are initially developed for multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel diseases. The lead candidate for MS aims to reduce relapses, slow disease progression, and help prevent reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus due to the antiviral properties of the oral drug.

Daniel explains, "If you look back over the last 20 years, maybe even longer, you figure out that there have been limited improvements in treating big chronic indications like autoimmune diseases. Specifically, looking from the patient's point of view, there are a lot of things missing. So, there are a lot of indications that are untreatable or not sufficiently solving the medical need or a lack of convenience for use, for example. Another thing that is highly underestimated usually is the safety and tolerability of the drugs. And it's our mission to work on having better drugs with better safety and tolerability profiles to offer patients more convenient and easy-to-use therapies."

"That is something currently not addressed by the drugs available for patients today. Therefore, our drug is making a difference because our mode of action is a dual mode of action. On the one hand, the molecule is a potent anti-inflammatory drug by inhibition of a protein called DHODH. Secondly, we also have our molecule, a very good activator of a protein called Nurr1. This is a neuroprotective factor and plays an important role in the different areas of the brain, directly in the neurons in the brain, but also in the environment of the brain. That is why we believe Nurr1 activation is a key step forward to treating patients and offering a better benefit for slowing down the disability."

"This is because quality of life is one of the important parameters for judging whether a drug does its job or not. We need to address this more in our industry, and therefore, I agree that it's an important piece. And with gut wall repair, you're more on the side of ok, maybe we can fix the problem in general and the body returns to normal behavior. So, in a perfect world, in further clinical trials, we can see cases of patients who maybe flip back to healthy status or disease-free status or something like that, for example, in celiac disease or other GI indications."

#ImmunicThera #MultipleSclerosis #MS #AutoimmuneDiseases #InflammatoryDiseases #EpsteinBarrVirus #UlcerativeColitis #IBD

imux.com

Download the transcript here

Kent Dicks, CEO of Life365, has extensive experience in the remote patient monitoring industry and is focused on developing wireless and cost-effective RPM technologies to connect patients to their healthcare providers and improve patient engagement and care. The mission is to support the shift from reactive to proactive care by using RPM data fed into AI and machine learning systems to identify trends and the need for early intervention. Working with partners and large enterprise clients, Life365 is connecting patients in rural areas with RPM technology. In an arrangement with the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the company is part of a remote patient monitoring initiative to identify biomarkers and early warning signs so patients can stay compliant with their therapy plan.

Kent explains, "I've been in the industry for about 18 years now and dealing with remote patient monitoring. We've been fortunate to have built the vision when there wasn't reimbursement and when remote patient monitoring had been started by previous companies that were using wired technology. Our strategy was to use wireless and cost-effective technology to try to get into see patients or to connect with patients who were especially in hard-to-reach places like rural locations, trying to connect them to their doctors."

"So Life365 is about making sure that we can help support the new models of care that are emerging, that are out there, value-based care, the ability to connect people in rural locations. The ability to get data cost-effectively from patients used to mean feeding the data directly into their HER. It's now really important to be able to feed the data into artificial intelligence and machine learning systems that are going to be used a lot to be able to monitor patients and see trends occurring. This is way before a patient decides that they need to go to the emergency room and be admitted to the hospital."

#Life365 #CareAccess #CareatHome #ConnectedCare #CommunityCare #Datasharing #Healthcare #HealthEquity #HospitalatHome #PopulationHealth #RemotePatientMonitoring #RPM #ValueBasedCare #VBC #VirtualCare #VeteransCare

Life365.Health

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Kent Dicks, CEO of Life365, has extensive experience in the remote patient monitoring industry and is focused on developing wireless and cost-effective RPM technologies to connect patients to their healthcare providers and improve patient engagement and care. The mission is to support the shift from reactive to proactive care by using RPM data fed into AI and machine learning systems to identify trends and the need for early intervention. Working with partners and large enterprise clients, Life365 is connecting patients in rural areas with RPM technology. In an arrangement with the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the company is part of a remote patient monitoring initiative to identify biomarkers and early warning signs so patients can stay compliant with their therapy plan.

Kent explains, "I've been in the industry for about 18 years now and dealing with remote patient monitoring. We've been fortunate to have built the vision when there wasn't reimbursement and when remote patient monitoring had been started by previous companies that were using wired technology. Our strategy was to use wireless and cost-effective technology to try to get into see patients or to connect with patients who were especially in hard-to-reach places like rural locations, trying to connect them to their doctors."

"So Life365 is about making sure that we can help support the new models of care that are emerging, that are out there, value-based care, the ability to connect people in rural locations. The ability to get data cost-effectively from patients used to mean feeding the data directly into their HER. It's now really important to be able to feed the data into artificial intelligence and machine learning systems that are going to be used a lot to be able to monitor patients and see trends occurring. This is way before a patient decides that they need to go to the emergency room and be admitted to the hospital."

#Life365 #CareAccess #CareatHome #ConnectedCare #CommunityCare #Datasharing #Healthcare #HealthEquity #HospitalatHome #PopulationHealth #RemotePatientMonitoring #RPM #ValueBasedCare #VBC #VirtualCare #VeteransCare

Life365.Health

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Dave Rosa is President and CEO of NeuroOne, a company focused on advancing neurotechnology by developing thin-film minimally invasive electrode technology that can perform diagnostic and therapeutic functions for neurological conditions. The company's OneRF ablation system allows doctors to identify and ablate problematic brain tissue in a single hospitalization. NeuroOne is expanding its technology beyond the brain to include the spine to treat pain and is addressing various neurological conditions through ablation, stimulation, and drug delivery.

Dave explains, "The OneRF ablation system is an electrode that looks very similar to the electrode that we got cleared shortly after our last discussion. So that was in October of 2022. But that device only had diagnostic capabilities. So what doctors would do is they would implant those electrodes, and they would leave the patient in the hospital for, say, up to a week on average."

"The goal was for the neurosurgeon and neurologist to be able to identify the parts of brain tissue that were triggering seizures or causing neurological issues. Then, after that procedure was done, the devices would be removed, and patients would go home. So that was kind of the old way of doing it."

"What we did was to have the ability to reduce the amount of hospitalizations a patient would have to experience. We did develop this electrode technology that looks very similar to the diagnostic one approved in April but with the capability of not just doing the diagnostics but also the ablation. So the difference here is that when the patient comes in for the diagnostic procedure after that concludes, the doctor will wheel them into the patient's room, not the operating room."

#NeuroOne #Neurosurgery #ElectrodeTechnology

nmtc1.com

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Dave Rosa is President and CEO of NeuroOne, a company focused on advancing neurotechnology by developing thin-film minimally invasive electrode technology that can perform diagnostic and therapeutic functions for neurological conditions. The company's OneRF ablation system allows doctors to identify and ablate problematic brain tissue in a single hospitalization. NeuroOne is expanding its technology beyond the brain to include the spine to treat pain and is addressing various neurological conditions through ablation, stimulation, and drug delivery.

Dave explains, "The OneRF ablation system is an electrode that looks very similar to the electrode that we got cleared shortly after our last discussion. So that was in October of 2022. But that device only had diagnostic capabilities. So what doctors would do is they would implant those electrodes, and they would leave the patient in the hospital for, say, up to a week on average."

"The goal was for the neurosurgeon and neurologist to be able to identify the parts of brain tissue that were triggering seizures or causing neurological issues. Then, after that procedure was done, the devices would be removed, and patients would go home. So that was kind of the old way of doing it."

"What we did was to have the ability to reduce the amount of hospitalizations a patient would have to experience. We did develop this electrode technology that looks very similar to the diagnostic one approved in April but with the capability of not just doing the diagnostics but also the ablation. So the difference here is that when the patient comes in for the diagnostic procedure after that concludes, the doctor will wheel them into the patient's room, not the operating room."

#NeuroOne #Neurosurgery #ElectrodeTechnology

nmtc1.com

Download the transcript here