INTERVIEWS

Dr. Corey Cutler, MD, MPH, FRCPC, Medical Director, Stem Cell Transplant Program, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Vice President, American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT) and GVHD patient Meredith A. Cowden, MA, AT, LPCC-S, Patient Advocacy Director of the Meredith A. Cowden Foundation discuss graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), a rare disease that commonly impacts allogeneic (meaning cells that come from a donor) blood and marrow transplant recipients, the inaugural GVHD Day on Feb 17, 2023, the importance of bringing attention to this rare disease, and a new website for the GVHD community to access a variety of educational resources and support tools. For more information visit GVHDAlliance.org.

Dr. Ryan Case, PhD, Head of Clinical Medical Affairs at Neuroderm, a Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC), discusses the highly positive results from the pivotal Phase III BouNDless trial evaluating ND0612 in Parkinson’s disease patients with motor fluctuations. ND0612 is a drug-device combination therapy – a 24 hours/day, continuous subcutaneous infusion of liquid levodopa/carbidopa (LD/CD) for people with Parkinson’s disease experiencing motor fluctuations.

Lisa Yañez, CEO of Aerami Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to breathing life into the treatment of serious cardiopulmonary conditions, discusses the company’s plans to advance AER-901, a drug-device combination comprised of imatinib for inhalation and the FOX ® nebulizer into a Phase 2 trial in 2023. She talks about the approach to clinical development in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare and progressive disease with no cure or currently approved therapies, and the new developments and anticipated milestones related to Aerami’s pipeline and AER-901 development program.

Dr. Rakesh Suri, President and Chief Medical Officer at Fountain Life, a preventative health and longevity company discusses Fountain Life’s unique data-driven approach that enables finding illnesses, including cancer, cardiac, metabolic, and neurodegenerative disease, early before they can cause harm. The company has three open U.S. sites in Naples, FL, Dallas, TX, and White Plains, NY. Dr. Suri talks about how they are planning to transform global healthcare from reactive to proactive not only across the United States but globally.

Dr. Jeff Gudin, MD, Sr. Medical Advisor, Drug Monitoring and Toxicology at Quest Diagnostics discusses a report that he co-authored that found that one in two patients (49%) showed signs of prescription drug misuse in 2021 including use of amphetamines (stimulants, such as Adderall) which surged 5-fold over the last decade. He shares his views on avenues out of the drug crisis and talks about the updated CDC opioid guidance.

Returning guest, Dr. Derek Wallace, MBBS, Vice President and Global Dengue Program Head at Takeda discusses the dengue program and the European Commission (EC) approval of the company’s dengue vaccine, QDENGA ® (TAK-003), for the prevention of dengue disease caused by any serotype in individuals from four years of age in the European Union (EU).

Dr. Holly Johnson, Director of Medical Information at Myriad Mental Health discusses the GeneSight test that analyzes genes to see how a person may respond to commonly prescribed mental health medications. She also talks about a recent survey looking at the relationship between primary care physicians and their patients when it comes to mental health issues.

Graft-versus-host disease, also known as GVHD, is a life-threatening condition that can occur after an allogeneic stem cell transplant, or the transfer of stem cells from a donor, where the donated cells initiate an immune response and attack the transplant recipient’s organs, leading to significant morbidity and mortality. To help support those living with GVHD, Incyte created the Incyte Ingenuity Awards in GVHD, which aims to support the GVHD community in the U.S. by funding two novel initiatives that address challenges faced by people impacted by GVHD, including patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers.

Dr. Antonio Anzueto, Professor of Medicine and Section Chief of Pulmonary at South Texas Veterans Healthcare System, an affiliated Institution with the University of Texas Health San Antonio, discusses the 2023 Global Obstruction Lung Disease (GOLD)  Report that recommends long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA), long-acting beta agonist (LABA), or LAMA+LABA therapy  as a first-line treatment  for most patients with COPD, regardless of exacerbation risk.

Sangamo Therapeutics is working to translate groundbreaking science into genomic cures. Jason Fontenot, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Sangamo, discusses cutting-edge science on the frontiers of genomic medicine, and promising treatments for genomic diseases once thought to be intractable.