David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, assistant professor in the department of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as the associate director of patient impact for the Penn Orphan Disease Center, joins the show to talk about his experience writing and receiving feedback on the national bestseller “Chasing My Cure” as a survivor of Castleman disease – a commentary on how he turned hope into action and discovered an old drug that had never been researched in Castleman disease into a personal life-saver.
Dr. Fajgenbaum then details the Cure Drug Repurposing Collaboratory, a public/private relationship between the FDA, the NIH, the Critical Path Institute, and academics like himself with the goal of identifying drugs with approved indications in one disease that have efficacy in other diseases. Additionally, he shares the work of the CORONA Project, the COVID-19 registry of new and repurposed agents that seeks to record any drug given to any patient with COVID-19 for the purposes of research and understanding the disease.
Dr. Simrit Parmar, founder of Cellenkos, joins the show to discuss her journey from the lab to the biotech startup world, detailing the inspiration behind launching her company, the challenges of securing funding, and the resilience required to overcome rejections. She shares insights into Cellenkos’ lead product, its progress toward market approval, and the rigorous
Carol Rausch—a healthcare professional, cancer researcher, and former patient with lymphoma—shares how her journey from researcher to patient transformed her understanding of medical language. She discusses the impact of word choice on patients, why certain battle and war metaphors can be harmful, and how language used in clinical settings differs from what resonates with those
Drs. David Braun and Toni Choueiri join to discuss a groundbreaking Nature study on a personalized neoantigen vaccine for adjuvant renal cell carcinoma. They explore the inspiration behind the trial, how the vaccine was developed and administered, and its safety profile. The conversation also covers patient outcomes after 3-4 years, including immune responses and disease
