Empowered Patient Podcast Karen Jagoda

Dr. Steffen-Sebastian Bolz, Chief Scientific Officer of Swiss-based Aphaia Pharma, shines a light on the excitement around weight loss drugs due to the discovery that GLP-1 agonists and points out the shift in the perception of obesity as a root cause of various health issues. Aphaia Pharma's approach involves stimulating hormone production in the small intestine by reinvigorating the mechanism that has become dormant due to the ingestion of highly refined foods. The company is also exploring the effects of the circadian rhythm on weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight.  
Steffen elaborates, "What is understood now is obesity is the root cause of many sequel pathologies like type 2 diabetes, diabetes, fatty liver disease, and a whole lot of cardiovascular disease. So, the idea is that if we get obesity under control and the obesity pandemic under control, we might also lower the incidence of all the other diseases. There’s a massive rush into this field because there are already blockbuster drugs in the market, as you just said, and there are already 1 billion people worldwide who are obese and our projections predict that rapid growth of these numbers. So this is kind of the gold rush."
"Let me start with briefly outlining the mode of action of GLP-1 agonists. A common denominator of all metabolic diseases, either obesity or a related disease, is a lack of hormone output from the small intestine. What’s behind this is that the small intestine is capable of producing hormones in response to food intake."
"All these hormones act in an orchestrated fashion to allow digestion, proper immune control, and all these things. It was found that all these hormones are reduced in patients with obesity, and GLP-1 agonists replace one of those hormones, GLP-1. They do this by injecting very high doses to yield the effects we’re seeing, such as type 2 diabetes control and weight loss. But that’s just the hormone replacement therapy. That’s just one hormone out of a large portfolio, out of hundreds of hormones produced by the small intestine. And that is exactly where our thought process started."
#AphaiaPharma #Obesity #GLP1Agonists #SmallIntestine #WeightLoss 
AphaiaPharma.com
Listen to the podcast here

Dr. Steffen-Sebastian Bolz, Chief Scientific Officer of Swiss-based Aphaia Pharma, shines a light on the excitement around weight loss drugs due to the discovery that GLP-1 agonists and points out the shift in the perception of obesity as a root cause of various health issues. Aphaia Pharma's approach involves stimulating hormone production in the small intestine by reinvigorating the mechanism that has become dormant due to the ingestion of highly refined foods. The company is also exploring the effects of the circadian rhythm on weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight.  
Steffen elaborates, "What is understood now is obesity is the root cause of many sequel pathologies like type 2 diabetes, diabetes, fatty liver disease, and a whole lot of cardiovascular disease. So, the idea is that if we get obesity under control and the obesity pandemic under control, we might also lower the incidence of all the other diseases. There’s a massive rush into this field because there are already blockbuster drugs in the market, as you just said, and there are already 1 billion people worldwide who are obese and our projections predict that rapid growth of these numbers. So this is kind of the gold rush."
"Let me start with briefly outlining the mode of action of GLP-1 agonists. A common denominator of all metabolic diseases, either obesity or a related disease, is a lack of hormone output from the small intestine. What’s behind this is that the small intestine is capable of producing hormones in response to food intake."
"All these hormones act in an orchestrated fashion to allow digestion, proper immune control, and all these things. It was found that all these hormones are reduced in patients with obesity, and GLP-1 agonists replace one of those hormones, GLP-1. They do this by injecting very high doses to yield the effects we’re seeing, such as type 2 diabetes control and weight loss. But that’s just the hormone replacement therapy. That’s just one hormone out of a large portfolio, out of hundreds of hormones produced by the small intestine. And that is exactly where our thought process started."
#AphaiaPharma #Obesity #GLP1Agonists #SmallIntestine #WeightLoss 
AphaiaPharma.com
Download the transcript here

Rick Vanzura, CEO of Freight Farms, and Dr. Amber Orman, Chief Wellness Officer at Advent Health, discuss their partnership in bringing hyperlocal, sustainable food to healthcare facilities. Freight Farms uses modified shipping containers to grow crops, allowing for year-round production with minimal land and water usage. Advent Health recognized the importance of nutrition in whole-person care and saw the opportunity to provide their team members, physicians, patients, and the public with fresh, nutritious food and donate to local food pantries. The partnership has demonstrated the power of food as medicine and the potential for sustainable farming practices in healthcare settings.  
Rick explains, "We grow about two and a half to three acres worth of crops out of an 8 by 40-foot shipping container. It looks like any shipping container you would see on a dock or a boat, but it's highly modified to grow food using LED lights, airflow, nutrients delivered through the farm, and controlled through software. It's really designed so you can grow 365 days a year, very clean food, with temperatures from minus 40° to 120°, and do that consistently. And again, get all of the value of it being hyperlocal and fresh and using minimal land and water."
Amber elaborates," We have a doctors’ lounge where the doctors, nurse practitioners, and some leaders eat. We also have a public-facing cafeteria, so anybody who visits the hospital can eat in the cafeteria. It's served in there. It's served in our patient meals, so we have certain meals containing the produce, so all of our salads, sandwiches, and wraps. Then we're also supplying anything extra to a local food pantry, and then they also donate to Kingdom Kids Academy in Kissimmee. We are able to sustain all of these things and donate some extra when we have it, even out to the community. It certainly provides better nutrition within a given day to those patients and team members and the people who receive the donations. It's also a way to start educating people about the benefits of eating more plants. We all need to eat more plants for better health, and so that's one of our guiding missions here."
#AdventHealth #FreightFarms #VerticalFarming #Healthcare #FoodAsMedicine #AgTech
adventhealth.com
freightfarms.com
Listen to the podcast here

Rick Vanzura, CEO of Freight Farms, and Dr. Amber Orman, Chief Wellness Officer at Advent Health, discuss their partnership in bringing hyperlocal, sustainable food to healthcare facilities. Freight Farms uses modified shipping containers to grow crops, allowing for year-round production with minimal land and water usage. Advent Health recognized the importance of nutrition in whole-person care and saw the opportunity to provide their team members, physicians, patients, and the public with fresh, nutritious food and donate to local food pantries. The partnership has demonstrated the power of food as medicine and the potential for sustainable farming practices in healthcare settings.  
Rick explains, "We grow about two and a half to three acres worth of crops out of an 8 by 40-foot shipping container. It looks like any shipping container you would see on a dock or a boat, but it's highly modified to grow food using LED lights, airflow, nutrients delivered through the farm, and controlled through software. It's really designed so you can grow 365 days a year, very clean food, with temperatures from minus 40° to 120°, and do that consistently. And again, get all of the value of it being hyperlocal and fresh and using minimal land and water."
Amber elaborates," We have a doctors’ lounge where the doctors, nurse practitioners, and some leaders eat. We also have a public-facing cafeteria, so anybody who visits the hospital can eat in the cafeteria. It's served in there. It's served in our patient meals, so we have certain meals containing the produce, so all of our salads, sandwiches, and wraps. Then we're also supplying anything extra to a local food pantry, and then they also donate to Kingdom Kids Academy in Kissimmee. We are able to sustain all of these things and donate some extra when we have it, even out to the community. It certainly provides better nutrition within a given day to those patients and team members and the people who receive the donations. It's also a way to start educating people about the benefits of eating more plants. We all need to eat more plants for better health, and so that's one of our guiding missions here."
#AdventHealth #FreightFarms #VerticalFarming #Healthcare #FoodAsMedicine #AgTech
adventhealth.com
freightfarms.com
Download the transcript here

Guang Qu, Co-Founder of NGGT Corporation is focused on developing gene therapy products using dual functional vector strategies. Guang highlights the importance of distinguishing between recessive and dominant mutations in rare diseases and explains how their approach differs from other gene therapy approaches. The two leading indications caused by a gene mutation that NGGT is working on are Bietti's Crystalline Dystrophy (BCD), a rare ocular disease, and phenylketonuria (PKU), a metabolic disease.  
Guang explains, "For our strategies and our product development strategies, I think we are leveraging our experience in the gene therapy field. Later, I will talk more about myself, Dr. Lixin Jiang, and our team. The other thing we are leveraging is our fully integrated team in gene therapy product development, which involves R&D, research and development, CGMP manufacturers, from tox development and clinical regulatory functions and the medical teams. So with all of the teams we built up in the last couple of years, we're in very good positions in developing our gene therapy products."
"So, of the two currently leading indications, one is involved in ocular disease, what we call the BCD, Bietti's Crystalline Dystrophy. This disease is caused by a gene mutation. The gene mutation causes lipid metabolic problems. The particular gene is called the CYP4V2 gene. The mutation directly leads to the lipid metabolic process being interrupted. Therefore, lipids are precipitated in the different ocular cells, such as the cornea and the retina. That's most of the disease cell layers affected." 
#AAV #GeneEditing #GeneTherapy #PKU #BCD
Listen to the podcast here

Guang Qu, Co-Founder of NGGT Corporation is focused on developing gene therapy products using dual functional vector strategies. Guang highlights the importance of distinguishing between recessive and dominant mutations in rare diseases and explains how their approach differs from other gene therapy approaches. The two leading indications caused by a gene mutation that NGGT is working on are Bietti's Crystalline Dystrophy (BCD), a rare ocular disease, and phenylketonuria (PKU), a metabolic disease.  
Guang explains, "For our strategies and our product development strategies, I think we are leveraging our experience in the gene therapy field. Later, I will talk more about myself, Dr. Lixin Jiang, and our team. The other thing we are leveraging is our fully integrated team in gene therapy product development, which involves R&D, research and development, CGMP manufacturers, from tox development and clinical regulatory functions and the medical teams. So with all of the teams we built up in the last couple of years, we're in very good positions in developing our gene therapy products."
"So, of the two currently leading indications, one is involved in ocular disease, what we call the BCD, Bietti's Crystalline Dystrophy. This disease is caused by a gene mutation. The gene mutation causes lipid metabolic problems. The particular gene is called the CYP4V2 gene. The mutation directly leads to the lipid metabolic process being interrupted. Therefore, lipids are precipitated in the different ocular cells, such as the cornea and the retina. That's most of the disease cell layers affected." 
#AAV #GeneEditing #GeneTherapy #PKU #BCD
Download the transcript here