INTERVIEWS

Dr. Tosin Smith, a glaucoma specialist with Glaucoma Associates of Texas and an Allergan spokesperson discusses the impact of glaucoma on vision, strategies for managing intraocular pressure (IOP) for people living with glaucoma who may have challenges with administering eye drops, and FDA-approved treatment options to address elevated IOP.

Dr. Sabrina Paganoni, M.D., Ph.D., Investigator at the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Massachusetts General Hospital and Justin Klee, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Amylyx Pharmaceuticals discuss ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gerhig’s disease) and a new investigational treatment that has shown an ability for patients to retain function and independence longer.  The findings from that study are now being published in a leading medical journal. ALS as a disease has been notoriously challenging for new drug development, and this represents a historic step forward.

Amit Mayer, VP of Innovation and Analytics at Biolog-id, a connected solutions company, discusses the current partnerships with blood product centers to provide real-time visibility of the blood supply, and the unique challenges of collecting, storing, and distributing blood products. He also talks about the impact Biolog-id’s technology has had on the efficiency of blood product collection, manufacturing, storage, and distribution.

Jiang Li, founder and CEO of VivaLNK, a provider of connected healthcare solutions discusses the partnership with Mazzeti, a provider of healthcare building systems engineering solutions. This collaboration allows pop-up facilities to be easily assembled and equipped with the technology needed to remotely monitor all patients.  VivaLNK’s reusable wearable medical sensors have been deployed in China at over 15 hospitals throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, and are now available throughout the U.S. to continuously monitor patient temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate, sending data wirelessly via Bluetooth to the respective caregivers to monitor and respond accordingly.

Dr. Josefa Briceno, M.D., Medical Head for the DNA Damage Response Franchise in US Medical Affairs at AstraZeneca discusses the recent FDA approval of LYNPARZA® (olaparib) for the treatment of adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline or somatic homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene-mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who have progressed following prior treatment with enzalutamide or abiraterone.  Approval was based on results from the Phase III PROfound trial, which were published in the “New England Journal of Medicine”.

Dr. Geoffrey Eubank, M.D., Medical Director of the Mid Ohio MS Center at OhioHealth Neurological Physicians, discusses 2 Phase lll clinical trials of Enspryng™ (satralizumab-mwge) that demonstrated robust efficacy and safety profiles for the treatment of adults living with anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody-positive NMOSD, a rare disabling neurological disorder often misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis.  Enspryng represents significant therapeutic progress for the NMOSD community, offering the only FDA-approved injectable treatment option that can be self-administered every four weeks by a person living with NMOSD or a caregiver following training from a healthcare provider. 

Dr. John Lewis, Ph.D., CEO of Aegis Life, Inc., a spinout of Entos Pharmaceuticals, discusses the company’s goal of developing a novel DNA vaccine using its proprietary gene delivery technology, Fusogenix, in the fight against COVID-19.  The flexibility of Fusogenix may enable Aegis Life’s investigational DNA vaccine to target and deliver simultaneously the Spike (S) protein and the Nucleocapsid (N) protein intracellularly. This approach may maximize the potential of inducing a potent, durable, and balanced T cell response against COVID-19, in addition to having a strong neutralizing antibody response.

September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month and Dr. Caron Jacobson, MD, Clinical Director, Immune Effector Cell Therapy Program, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute discusses the blood cancers lymphoma and leukemia and CAR T therapies.

Pam Nisevich Bede, a registered dietitian from Abbott, a global healthcare company and leader in nutrition science, discusses how to get “nutrition strong” and prep our bodies to fight off illness with lifestyle tips.

Glen de Vries, co-CEO and co-founder of Medidata, the most-used platform for clinical trials around the world, shares insights from his new book coming out on September 14, 2020, titled “The Patient Equation: The Precision Medicine Revolution in the Age of COVID-19 and Beyond”.