Essentially Medicines

In the tenth episode, the Essentially Medicines crew interviews Dr. Matthew Torrington is a board certified by the American Academy of Family Medicine and the American Board of Addiction Medicine. Dr Torrington’s clinical focus is the treatment of stimulant use disorders, alcohol use disorders, opiate use disorders, and pain. For over fifteen years, Dr Torrington has been involved in the clinical use, clinical research, and education of physicians regarding various formulations of buprenorphine.Dr. Torrington’s private practice is focused on helping those suffering with addiction and pain develop and implement comprehensive individualized multimodal treatment plans that address the biologic, psychological, social, spiritual and nutritional factors in their lives.You can find his complete profile here: https://www.inspiremalibu.com/matthew-torrington/We hope you enjoy :)

In the ninth episode, the Essentially Medicines crew interviews Professor Melody Li, Assistant Professor in the Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics department at UCLA. Her laboratory, which was established in 2017, studies the mechanisms of host innate immune responses against mosquito-borne alphaviruses. The main focus of the Li laboratory is to elucidate the mechanism of ZAP, a broad-spectrum antiviral ISG and a member of the poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) family. Prolonged upregulation of ISGs has been associated with chronic viral infections and autoinflammatory diseases such as Aicardi-Goutières Syndrome. Therefore, understanding the action and regulation of ISG expression has broad implications for public health.You can find her contact info here: https://bioscience.ucla.edu/faculty/melody-liWe hope you enjoy :)

In the eighth episode, the Essentially Medicines crew interviews Ms. Elizabeth Sheppard, Senior Director of Market Access at Roche Tissue Diagnostics in Tucson, Arizona. In her role, she provides management oversight of market access projects, external quality assessment program participation, guidelines, standards and strategic health economics and pricing support for Roche affiliates.During our interview, we discussed numerous topics from pricing of diagnostics test to the stakeholder approach needed to expand access to diagnostic tests. We hope you enjoy

In the seventh episode, the Essentially Medicines crew takes an educational approach to discuss practices such as ever-greening that extend market exclusivity of pharmaceutical drugs. In addition to explaining such artificial barriers to entry for generic firms, we discuss march-in rights and voluntary licensing as mechanisms to improve access to medicines. Happy listening :)

In the sixth episode, the Essentially Medicines crew interviews Mr. Hiiti Sillo, Team Lead, Regulatory Systems Strengthening (RSS), within the Regulation and Safety Unit at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, where he coordinates strategies for the strengthening of national regulatory systems. Before joining WHO in January 2018, he was the Director General of the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA). He discusses numerous approaches to harmonize drug regulation processes to achieve dual goals of reducing circulation of fake medicines and increasing access to the newest medicines.

In the fifth episode, the Essentially Medicines crew interviews Dr. Jakub Hlávka, a Research Assistant Professor at USC with research focus on innovative payment for healthcare, health system reform, emerging therapies and the study of inequality. He discusses numerous approaches to increase access to cell- and gene-therapies and how political will is essential to realize improvements in healthcare. Profile: https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/author/jakub-hlavka/. Happy listening :)

In the fourth episode, the Essentially Medicines crew interviews Dr. Kirsten Moore-Sheeley, a historian of global health and public health in Africa - specializing in the history of biomedical science and technology in relation to disease control. She discusses how studying the history of medicine brings to light the evolution of many present day challenges. Happy listening :)

In the third episode, the Essentially Medicines crew interviews Dr. Monika Schneider, Managing Associate within the biomedical innovation team at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. Dr. Schneider, a research scientist by training, focuses on incentives for antimicrobial product development, value-based reimbursement policy and payment reform for medical products. She advocates for young students to be more involved with causes that they are passionate about

In the second episode, the Essentially Medicines crew interviews Professor Michael Kinch, Associate Vice Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis and Director of the Center for Drug Discovery. Professor Kinch, a veteran drug developer himself, argues that science is misunderstood by many people. He advocates for scientists to engage more closely with their communities to build interpersonal confidence

In the introductory episode, Ambika, Yash and Sahej discuss what are essential medicines and why is advocacy important to ensure access. This also includes an interview with medical student Neda Ashtari, who is campus leader at Universities Allied for Essential Medicines. We hope you enjoy :)