The Onco'Zine Brief

In this edition of The Onco’Zine Brief Peter Hofland talks with Dr. Kenneth Vega, chief of Gastroenterology and co-director of the Digestive Health Center at Augusta University Health, a public research university and academic medical center located in Augusta, Georgia (USA).

Hofland and Vega talk about the prevention of colorectal cancer by means of a colonoscopy.

Unfortunately, many people postpone or refuse a colonoscopy because of fear.

Dr. Vega, one of the newest members of the Digestive Health Center at Augusta University in Georgia, has made it his mission to turn anxiety, fear and stress about the procedure into peace, calmness and relaxation about the experience.

In this episode learn more about how to benefit from a colonoscopy and how to best prepare.

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In this edition of The Onco’Zine Brief Peter Hofland talks with Padma Sundar.

Ms. Sundar is Vice President of Strategy and Market Access at CellMax Life, a company developing a simple blood test or liquid biopsy for cancer screening. The company is using a proprietary technology for detecting pre-cancer and cancer cells in a single blood sample.

Together with a team of experts across multiple disciplines, including pre-cancer and cancer cell capture and imaging, algorithm development, biostatistics, and development and commercialization of clinical grade tests, CellMax Life is developing a liquid biopsy for the detection of colorectal cancer.

The benefit of liquid biopsies is that they are non-invasive and require only a small amount of blood. The biggest benefit of these tests is that they help detect disease and disease progression early, long before this may trigger clinical symptoms.

One of the applications of CellMax Life’s product is in Colorectal Cancer.

According to the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in both men and women the United States. Each year there more 150,000 people who hear that they have been diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer These new cases require an estimated US $14 billion dollar spent on treatment each year.

But most cases of colorectal cancer can be prevented with proper screening, early detection, and removal of precancerous polyps. Colonoscopy is considered the gold standard of colorectal cancer screening. The reason is that a colonoscopy allows a doctor to view the entire colon, and both detect and remove polyps during the same procedure.

Unfortunately, recent data shows that less than 40%, of people undergo a Colonoscopy. And more importantly, approximately two-thirds of the Americans aged 50 - 75 years of age is up-to-date with Colorectal Cancer Screening. That leaves one-third of Americans who are not. This is an estimated of 23 million people.

Researchers have long been looking for a simple blood test to help them diagnose colorectal cancer. And earlier this year, CellMax Life presented new findings at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium, indicating that their blood test, based on their proprietary technology, can detect pre-cancers with close to 90% accuracy.

CellMax Life's blood test isolates and analyzes both circulating tumor cells and cell-free DNA from a sample of blood to detect six types of analytes, including four classes of genomic mutations, microsatellite instability, and circulating tumor cells.

The results of the study show that it is possible to accurately differentiate between healthy patients and those with pre-cancer. Further, an increase in cell count was significantly correlated with an increase in disease severity. And while a colonoscopy remains the Gold Standard, these results are exciting, because for the very first time patients who are reluctant or unwilling to undergo a colonoscopy, may have a potential screening alternative - a highly sensitive non-invasive testing option for pre-cancer.

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In this edition of The Onco’Zine Brief Peter Hofland talks with Dr. Nader Sanai an internationally-recognized neurosurgical oncologist with clinical and research expertise in the treatment of all brain tumors, including glioblastoma, the most aggressive cancer that begins within the brain.

Dr. Sanai is the director of the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. He is also the principal architect of the Center’s accelerated clinical trials program, the largest in the word.

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In this edition of The Onco’Zine Brief Peter Hofland talks with Robert Goff about Medical Debt. Goff is one of the co-authors of a new book (“End Medical Debt: Curing America’s $1 Trillion Unpayable Healthcare Debt”) about the subject. He co-authored the book with Jerry Ashton and Craig Antico.

In today's show Hofland and Goff talk about the problem of medical debt and how we got here. They talk about the impossibility of making insurance coverage broad and affordable when the cost of medical services is so prohibitive.

And finally, they talk about how "RIP Medical Debt," the organization he represents, helps to empower donors to forgive the billions in oppressive medical debt - while, at the same time, helping people to benefit from medical debt relief.

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This week in The Onco’Zine Brief Peter Hofland, Ph.D talks with Guy Chamberland, M.Sc., Ph.D, about medicinal cannabis.

Chamberland, is a Master Herbalist as well as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of Tetra Bio-Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company developing cannabinoid-based drugs.

Tetra Bio-Pharma has a clinical development program aimed at bringing novel drugs and treatments to patients and their healthcare providers.

To do this, the Company has several subsidiaries that are engaged in the development of Bio Pharmaceutical drugs and Natural Health Products containing Cannabis and other medicinal plant based elements.

Tetra Bio-Pharma is focused on combining the traditional methods of medicinal cannabis-use with the supporting scientific validation and safety-data required by federal and national regulators, physicians and insurance companies.

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In the third and final part of a 3-part series about colorectal cancer, developed in collaboration with the online journal OncoZine at www.oncozine.com, Peter Hofland, PhD. talks with Paul J. Berggreen, MD and Daniel M. Jondle, MD, both from Arizona Digestive Health, in Phoenix, Arizona, and Sukhdeep S Padda, MD from Arizona Gastrointestinal Associates and Arrowhead Gastroenterology Associates, in Glendale, Arizona.

Colorectal Cancer is also the second leading cause of death from cancers that affect both men and women. According to the American Cancer Society, the overall lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is: about 1 in 22 for men and 1 in 24 for women. But in many cases the disease is preventable. And Prevention starts with awareness and accurate knowledge

This Month is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.

Doctors recommend screening for healthy people with no signs or symptoms in order to look for early evidence of Colorectal Cancer, which is also known as colon cancer.

Finding colorectal cancer at its earliest stage makes it easier to treat. Overall, screening has been shown to reduce the risk of dying of colorectal; cancer.

People with an average risk of colorectal cancer should consider screening beginning at age 50.

But if you have an increased risk, such as a family history of colorectal cancer, you should consider screening sooner.

In this episode listen to the experts when they discuss the ‘Gold Standard’ in screening for Colorectal Cancer as well as alternatives, share information about the latest treatment options and talk about the importance of clinical trials.

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In the second part of a 3-part series about colorectal cancer, developed in collaboration with the online journal OncoZine at www.oncozine.com, Peter Hofland, PhD. talks with Paul J. Berggreen, MD and Daniel M. Jondle, MD, both from Arizona Digestive Health, in Phoenix, Arizona, and Sukhdeep S Padda, MD from Arizona Gastrointestinal Associates and Arrowhead Gastroenterology Associates, in Glendale, Arizona.

Colorectal Cancer is also the second leading cause of death from cancers that affect both men and women. According to the American Cancer Society, the overall lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is: about 1 in 22 for men and 1 in 24 for women. But in many cases the disease is preventable. And Prevention starts with awareness and accurate knowledge

This Month is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.

Doctors recommend screening for healthy people with no signs or symptoms in order to look for early evidence of Colorectal Cancer, which is also known as colon cancer.

Finding colorectal cancer at its earliest stage makes it easier to treat. Overall, screening has been shown to reduce the risk of dying of colorectal; cancer.

People with an average risk of colorectal cancer should consider screening beginning at age 50.

But if you have an increased risk, such as a family history of colorectal cancer, you should consider screening sooner.

In this episode listen to the experts when they discuss the ‘Gold Standard’ in screening for Colorectal Cancer as well as alternatives, share information about the latest treatment options and talk about the importance of clinical trials.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-onco-zine-brief--2786156/support.

In this edition of The Onco’Zine Brief Peter Hofland talks with Dr. Paul Berggreen and Dr. Daniel Jondle, both from Arizona Digestive Health, in Phoenix, Arizona, about Colorectal Cancer.

Today’s program is the first of a 3-part series about the disease, which is the third most common cancer diagnosed in the United States. Colorectal Cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancers that affect both men and women. And the disease affects people in all racial and ethnic groups and is most common in people age 50 and older.

But in many cases the disease is preventable.

And during the National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month a lot will be said about screening.

If everyone age 50 and older got regular screenings, 6 out of 10 deaths from colorectal cancer could be prevented. Hence, communities, health professionals, and families are encouraged to work together to increase the number of people to be screened.

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In this edition of The Onco’Zine Brief Peter Hofland talks with Charlie Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of ADC Bio, a biotechnology company, specialized in the development of Antibody-drug Conjugates.

Antibody-drug Conjugates, also known as ADCs, are a novel type of targeted anticancer agents. Today 4 drugs in this class of drugs have been approved by regulators around the world, but there are more than 150 investigational agents in this class of drugs in development.

The antibody used in an Antibody-drug Conjugate or ADC specifically target cancer cells. This approach offers various advantages over current therapies based on standard chemotherapeutic drugs currently used in the treatment of cancer. Among these advantages is that the drug kills cancer cells, but does not harm healthy cells.

In today’s episode Hofland talks with Johnson about the manufacturing of ADCs, including the complexities of the typical supply chain.

This interview was originally recorded during CPhI worldwide, the pharmaceutical industry meeting, held October 9 – 11, 2018 in Madrid, Spain. This edition was a co-production with ADC Review | the Journal of Antibody-drug Conjugates (www.adcreview.com ) and OncoZine (www.oncozine.com )

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In this Edition of the OncoZine Brief, recorded during the Annual meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), which took place June 1-5, 2018 in Chicago Illinois, Peter Hofland and Sonia Portillo interview Dr. Sotirios Stergiopoulos, who is the Chief Medical Officer of Ipsen, a global specialty-driven biopharmaceutical group focused on innovation and specialty care.

The group develops and commercializes innovative medicines in three key therapeutic areas – Oncology, Neuroscience and Rare Diseases. Its commitment to Oncology is exemplified through its growing portfolio of key therapies for prostate cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, renal cell carcinoma and pancreatic cancer. Ipsen also has a well-established Consumer Healthcare business.

ASCO is the largest organization of its kind, and this year, during the socities annual meeting, nearly 40,000 attendees gathered in Chicago, Illinois, to discuss the latest findings and advancements in oncology.

The theme of this year’s ASCO is Delivering Discoveries: Expanding the Reach of Precision Medicine. In the past few decades, precision medicines have allowed for many advantages for improving treatments for patients with advanced, difficult to treat diseases that don’t respond to traditional chemotherapy.

In this interview Hofland and Portillo are talking with Dr. Stergiopoulos, about some of the exciting presentations at this year’s ASCO. We also discuss an investigational drug regimen that is being studied for use as first line treatment in metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Metastatic pancreatic cancer is very difficult to treat disease that does not have many treatment options.

It is also a disease that- like colorectal or ovarian cancer - is often discovered in late stages, when treatment becomes exceedingly difficult and chances of survival decrease.

Hofland and Portillo ask Dr Stergiopoulos about the data presented regarding this challenging disease area, as well as other topics that were discussed at this year’s ASCO meeting.

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