INTERVIEWS

Dr. Nik Sopko, Chief Scientific Officer of PolarityTE, a company leading the way in the development of regenerative tissue products to address significant unmet medical needs in chronic wounds like diabetic foot ulcers (DFU), discusses the enrollment of the first subject in the Phase III pivotal study evaluating SkinTE ® in the investigational use of treatment of Wagner grade 2 diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), entitled “Closure Obtained with Vascularized Epithelial Regeneration for DFUs with SkinTE,” or “COVER DFUs.” SkinTE ® is an innovative alternative made of a patient’s own full-thickness skin, which retains the endogenous regenerative cellular populations found throughout his/her skin within multicellular segments. 

Returning guest, Dr. Joe Flanders, PhD, OPQ, Vice President, Psychology at Numinus discusses that end-of-life patients in Canada now have psilocybin-assisted therapy as a tool to battle their depression if all other remedies fail.

Barb Dehn, a practicing Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner discusses vaginal health, yeast infections, and the latest treatment advancements.

Lisa Marie Clinton, founder of avail ® and Managing Director of avail Support at CentralReach, the leading provider of Autism and IDD care software, discusses avail ® and how it works in empowering individuals with autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) throughout their employment journey. She talks about what employers can do to create a more neurodiverse workplace. 

Returning guest, Dr. Kendra Grubb, M.D., surgical director of the Structural Heart and Valve Center at Emory University in Atlanta, and co-principal investigator in the Optimize PRO study discusses the mid-term results from the main cohort of the Optimize PRO clinical study, which was presented as a featured Hotline Trial at EuroPCR 2022. The study evaluated outcomes associated with procedure-related techniques and post-procedure transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) when using the self-expanding, supra-annular Medtronic Evolut™ PRO and PRO+ TAVR systems in patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis and demonstrated excellent valve performance and procedural outcomes.

Returning guest Terence Rooney, M.D., Vice President, Rheumatology and Maternal-Fetal Immunology Disease Area Leader for the Immunology Therapeutic Area at Janssen Research & Development, LLC, discusses new data showing TREMFYA  ® (guselkumab) provides durable efficacy through two years across the joint and axial symptoms of active psoriatic arthritis (PsA), regardless of patients’ baseline disease characteristics. TREMFYA patients also experienced sustained clinical improvements in measures of health-related quality of life, including pain and fatigue, through two years. These data were presented at the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) annual meeting 2022 in Copenhagen.

Returning guest, Dr. Jim Woody, CEO of 180 Life Sciences Corp., a newly formed clinical-stage biotech company focused on novel drugs for unmet needs in inflammatory diseases, fibrosis, and pain, discusses the findings of a recently completed clinical trial (Phase 2b) of the fibrosis and anti-TNF program in Dupuytren’s contracture, a fibrotic disease of the hand. The results present the potential for an earlier treatment for patients with Dupuytren’s disease, which is easy to diagnose at an early stage. Treatment with anti-TNF injections could bring long-lasting respite and prevent the disease from advancing to the stage that surgery is needed to maintain hand function. 

Keith Palmer, Worldwide Vice President, Hip Reconstruction, DePuy Synthes discusses the changing patient population and what this means for procedures like hip reconstruction. He talks about trends in patient needs and expectations for hip reconstruction. He also discusses the importance of aiding and empowering the surgeon to improve the hip reconstruction experience and keys to managing volume, efficiency, and productivity in healthcare settings.

Emily Kraus, MD, pediatric sports medicine specialist at Stanford Children’s Health and director of the Female Athlete Science and Translational Research (FASTR) program,  discusses how her team investigates  fundamental physiological and sports performance questions  important to improving the health and performance of girls and women.    The FASTR program  prioritizes early identification and intervention to prevent female athletes from suffering from the Female Athlete Triad and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport that is increasingly common in young women.    

Joshua McClure is CEO, Co-founder, and Co-inventor of Maxwell Biosciences, a preclinical drug platform company that develops biomimetic therapeutics – synthetic compounds that mimic and improve upon biomolecules. Today he discusses Maxwell’s first-in-class, CLAROMER™ brand drug platform that has been shown to be effective in destroying viruses, bacteria, fungi, and some cancers, while safely avoiding healthy cells. The compounds imitate key components of the immune system, humanity’s greatest asset in fighting disease.