Developing Immunotherapy to Fight Bone Cancer with Paul Romness and Olivia Egge OS Therapies
Release Date: 08/21/2025
Developing Immunotherapy to Fight Bone Cancer with Paul Romness and Olivia Egge OS Therapies TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Paul Romness, Chairman, CEO, and President of OS Therapies, and Olivia Egge, a member of the Board of Directors of OS Therapies, discuss osteosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer that primarily affects teenagers. OS Therapies is developing an immunotherapy that utilizes a weakened form of the listeria bacteria to stimulate the immune system and prevent the spread of cancer cells to the lungs and brain. Olivia's experience as a patient has motivated her to advocate for better treatment options and join the board of OS Therapeutics. Paul explains, "So osteosarcoma is quite...
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Developing Immunotherapy to Fight Bone Cancer with Paul Romness and Olivia Egge OS Therapies
Empowered Patient Podcast
Paul Romness, Chairman, CEO, and President of OS Therapies, and Olivia Egge, a member of the Board of Directors of OS Therapies, discuss osteosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer that primarily affects teenagers. OS Therapies is developing an immunotherapy that utilizes a weakened form of the listeria bacteria to stimulate the immune system and prevent the spread of cancer cells to the lungs and brain. Olivia's experience as a patient has motivated her to advocate for better treatment options and join the board of OS Therapeutics. Paul explains, "So osteosarcoma is quite...
info_outline
New Inhibitor Drug Transforms Cancer Treatment Accessibility with Dan Schmitt Actuate Therapeutics TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Dan Schmitt, President and CEO of Actuate Therapeutics, is developing a cancer therapy that inhibits GSK3β, a key enzyme that is hijacked in cancer cells to drive tumor growth. Inhibiting this enzyme can impact the cancer cells and stimulate an immune response against the tumor. Actuate selected metastatic pancreatic cancer as their first target due to unmet need and promising data for their lead drug candidate. This could represent a significant advancement in the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer, offering a new standard-of-care option. Dan explains, "So, GSK-3β is a known...
info_outline
New Inhibitor Drug Transforms Cancer Treatment Accessibility with Dan Schmitt Actuate Therapeutics
Empowered Patient Podcast
Dan Schmitt, President and CEO of Actuate Therapeutics, is developing a cancer therapy that inhibits GSK3β, a key enzyme that is hijacked in cancer cells to drive tumor growth. Inhibiting this enzyme can impact the cancer cells and stimulate an immune response against the tumor. Actuate selected metastatic pancreatic cancer as their first target due to unmet need and promising data for their lead drug candidate. This could represent a significant advancement in the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer, offering a new standard-of-care option. Dan explains, "So, GSK-3β is a known...
info_outline
Democratizing Molecular Diagnostics Transforming Transplant Success with Andrea James iMDx TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Andrea James, Chief Financial Officer at iMDx, is focused on expanding access to innovative molecular diagnostic testing staring with a test for monitoring transplanted organ health. The test measures the donor-derived cell-free DNA which can indicate the need for drugs to target organ rejection before invasive procedures are required. The company is developing a kit-based version of the test that can be run by hospitals rather than relying on centralized labs, to increase access to this diagnostic and improve transplant outcomes. Andrea explains, "We changed our name on June 17th from...
info_outline
Democratizing Molecular Diagnostics Transforming Transplant Success with Andrea James iMDx
Empowered Patient Podcast
Andrea James, Chief Financial Officer at iMDx, is focused on expanding access to innovative molecular diagnostic testing staring with a test for monitoring transplanted organ health. The test measures the donor-derived cell-free DNA which can indicate the need for drugs to target organ rejection before invasive procedures are required. The company is developing a kit-based version of the test that can be run by hospitals rather than relying on centralized labs, to increase access to this diagnostic and improve transplant outcomes. Andrea explains, "We changed our name on June 17th from...
info_outline
Healthcare Financial Recovery Driven by Focus on People First with James Hereford Fairview Health Services TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
James Hereford, President and CEO of Fairview Health Services, describes this Minnesota-based healthcare system's $600 million turnaround and the importance of focusing on people and processes, not just technology changes. Addressing staff shortages, quality of care, and patient experience led to finding a holistic approach that improved financial outcomes and changed the culture in a sustainable way. Investments have been made in community programs like food access and vaccination events, recognizing the impact of social determinants of health on patient outcomes. James explains, "When doing...
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Healthcare Financial Recovery Driven by Focus on People First with James Hereford Fairview Health Services
Empowered Patient Podcast
James Hereford, President and CEO of Fairview Health Services, describes this Minnesota-based healthcare system's $600 million turnaround and the importance of focusing on people and processes, not just technology changes. Addressing staff shortages, quality of care, and patient experience led to finding a holistic approach that improved financial outcomes and changed the culture in a sustainable way. Investments have been made in community programs like food access and vaccination events, recognizing the impact of social determinants of health on patient outcomes. James explains, "When doing...
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Innovative Homeostasis Focused Drugs to Treat Root Causes of Disease with Steve Butts Arrivo BioVentures TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
teve Butts, Co-Founder and CEO of Arrivo BioVentures, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies that target the root causes of disease rather than just treating the symptoms. Their drugs treat major depressive disorder and acute pancreatitis through novel epigenetic mechanisms of action. Sex-based differences were observed in clinical trials where the drug SP-624 showed efficacy in females but not in males, which could lead to a paradigm shift in how depression is treated in men and women. Steve explains, "We've evolved over time at Arrivo and with our previous companies....
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Innovative Homeostasis Focused Drugs to Treat Root Causes of Disease with Steve Butts Arrivo BioVentures
Empowered Patient Podcast
Steve Butts, Co-Founder and CEO of Arrivo BioVentures, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies that target the root causes of disease rather than just treating the symptoms. Their drugs treat major depressive disorder and acute pancreatitis through novel epigenetic mechanisms of action. Sex-based differences were observed in clinical trials where the drug SP-624 showed efficacy in females but not in males, which could lead to a paradigm shift in how depression is treated in men and women. Steve explains, "We've evolved over time at Arrivo and with our previous...
info_outlinePaul Romness, Chairman, CEO, and President of OS Therapies, and Olivia Egge, a member of the Board of Directors of OS Therapies, discuss osteosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer that primarily affects teenagers. OS Therapies is developing an immunotherapy that utilizes a weakened form of the listeria bacteria to stimulate the immune system and prevent the spread of cancer cells to the lungs and brain. Olivia's experience as a patient has motivated her to advocate for better treatment options and join the board of OS Therapeutics.
Paul explains, "So osteosarcoma is quite literally bone cancer. It happens in teenagers like Olivia, after the growth comes together in the long bones, and there's some sort of miscalculation, and a very aggressive and very deadly cancer develops from that of the growth. And as a result, the cancer can usually spread to the lungs and then the brain. And that's where it gets very, very deadly. And our approach is to stimulate the immune system with a weakened or attenuated listeria that fires up the immune system and goes and finds these little culprits, little micro metastases that have survived the chemo and radiation that these kids go through. It tries to destroy those little micro metastases before they land in the lungs and the brain."
Olivia elaborates, "I talk to patients all the time. Actually, I was introduced to people who became close friends during my actual treatment, but today I still do physical therapy and I'm constantly meeting kids who are in the middle of treatment and some of them have relapse, some haven't, but so I'm constantly meeting new patients and it's just evident that we need better treatment options. I see how weak they are from chemo. They're all, especially with osteosarcoma, you usually have to have a joint replacement or amputation, and chemo just weakens you. So it makes it even harder to recover from that. And I mean, these treatments are just so old. And so for sure, seeing all of these patients going through active treatment just reinforces how badly we need new treatment options, especially treatment options like surgery and immunotherapy."
#OSTherapies #Osteosarcoma #SolidTumors #Immunotherapy #ListeriaCancerImmunotherapy #ComparativeOncology #CanineOsteosarcoma
