INTERVIEWS

Dr. Boro Dropulic, PhD, MBA, co-founder and Executive Director of Caring Cross, a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to accelerating the development of advanced medicines and enabling access to cures for all patients, everywhere discusses chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy as a groundbreaking innovation that has shown significant promise in certain cancer indications and could provide curative intervention for multiple cancers, genetic diseases, infectious diseases and other disorders and how the vast potential of CAR-T cell therapy is restricted by the high cost of treatment, which can exceed $400,000, excluding hospital fees. Caring Cross is poised to reduce this cost burden by mobilizing a community of healthcare professionals, scientists, engineers, community advocates, donors, investors and business leaders to enable the development of affordable solutions for current manufacturing methods of CAR-T cell and other advanced therapies; improve access by supporting a decentralized manufacturing model where the final cell product is produced at a reduced cost at the hospital or place-of-care, rather than sent to a centralized corporate manufacturing hub, and facilitate continual advanced technology development that reduces cost and improves access to these therapies. 

Dr. Boro Dropulic, PhD, MBA, co-founder and Executive Director at Caring Cross, a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to accelerating the development  of advanced medicines  and enabling access to cures for all patients, everywhere.   They have announced their first initiative focused on  chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) -T cell therapy for HIV utilizing manufacturing and distribution models that enable affordability and accessibility of these therapies to diverse patient populations and treatment indications. The HIV program they have developed is an anti-HIV duoCAR-T cell therapeutic candidate that potently suppresses HIV and eliminates HIV-expressing cells in vitro and in animal models.   This work was published in a 2019 paper in Science Translational Medicine. HIV-targeted CAR-both eliminated HIV-infected cells and protected CD4-T cells from infection in relevant animal models, outpacing other current approaches.    On this strong scientific foundation, a Phase 1/2a clinical trial has been cleared by the FDA to start enrolling patients at the University of California, San Francisco and a second site is planned at the University of California, Davis. 

Kelsey Ramsden, CEO of MINDCURE Health Inc, a leader in technology and research in psychedelics, discusses the “Desire Project” that is focused on the treatment of hypoactive sexual desire disorder with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and tackling mental health care for women. 

Dr. Eran Eden, PhD, Co-founder and CEO of MeMed discusses MeMed BV™, the first technology that will detect in 15 minutes at point of care if a patient has a bacterial or viral infection and informs clinical decision making on how to treat. 

Dr. Kim Smith-Whitley, MD, Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Development at Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT), discusses sickle cell disease (SCD) and health disparities affecting patients, challenges with access to care, and how new developments may impact the community. She talks about HIV as an example of how investment in a community and increasing resources is of vital importance when it comes to health equity and how this approach can also work for SCD, as well as ways industry is working to enhance health equity. She also talks about news regarding the COVID-19 vaccine booster for immunocompromised patients. To learn more about how GBT is working to change the treatment paradigm in sickle cell disease, while helping the community advocate for quality care, visit Global Blood Therapeutics’ website.

Dr. Louis Ehwerhemuepha, PhD, ​Manager, Computational Research at Children’s Health Orange County (CHOC) ​and Dr. Kenneth Grant, ​pediatric ​gastroenterologist​ at ​CHOC in ​California discuss new research led by CHOC that found that for malnourished children and adults who contract COVID-19, the outcome could lead to mechanical ventilation or death. He talks about the long-term effects of malnutrition on COVID-19 outcomes, details of the research, how public intervention can mitigate the higher likelihood of severe COVID, and resources for those experiencing malnourishment at home or within their community. 

Melissa Orshan-Spann, Ph.D, CEDS-S, Chief Clinical Officer at Monte Nido & Affiliates, a company that provides treatment for eating disorders, will today discusses stressful factors that may impact students’ weight fluctuations, correlations between a new school year and eating habits, strategies to prevent eating disorder relapse, and suggestions on ways parents can stay connected with their children who are living on campus. 

Mazen M. Dimachkie, MD, FAAN, FANA, Neuromuscular Division Chief at  The University of Kansas Health System, discusses Pompe disease, a progressive muscle disorder that impairs a person’s ability to move and breathe, and what the FDA approval of Nexviazyme ® (avalglucosidase alfa) means to the Pompe community. 

Dr. Monique Gary, DO, MSc, FACS of the Grand View Health/Penn Cancer Network Cancer Program discusses metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most aggressive type of breast cancer, why it disproportionately affects black women and recent treatment advances.   She is joined by  Ricki Fairley, CEO and Co-Founder of Touch, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance and a Stage 3A TNBC survivor who shares her experience and talks about why she founded Touch, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance.