Next-Generation Antivirals to Tackle Norovirus with James Sapirstein CoCrystal Pharma TRANSCRIPT
Release Date: 08/26/2026
Cows Producing Human Antibodies for a New Type 1 Diabetes Treatment with Samuel Reich SAB Bio TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Samuel Reich, Chief Executive Officer at SAB Bio, is developing a fully human antibody therapy designed to transform type 1 diabetes treatment by preserving patients' beta cells and their ability to produce insulin, rather than just managing symptoms with insulin and glucose monitoring. The drug is produced using the company's bovine platform which uses genetically modified cows to generate human immunoglobulins offering a safer more scalable alternative to rabbit-derived therapies. If successful, this approach could represent a functional cure, potentially transforming type 1 diabetes from a...
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Cows Producing Human Antibodies for a New Type 1 Diabetes Treatment with Samuel Reich SAB Bio
Empowered Patient Podcast
Samuel Reich, Chief Executive Officer at SAB Bio, is developing a fully human antibody therapy designed to transform type 1 diabetes treatment by preserving patients' beta cells and their ability to produce insulin, rather than just managing symptoms with insulin and glucose monitoring. The drug is produced using the company's bovine platform which uses genetically modified cows to generate human immunoglobulins offering a safer more scalable alternative to rabbit-derived therapies. If successful, this approach could represent a functional cure, potentially transforming type 1 diabetes from a...
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Role of Cloud Fax in Fast and Secure Healthcare Messaging with Marcus Ionker Retarus TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Marcus Ionker, Product Line Manager and Messaging Evangelist at Retarus, which is a cloud-based transactional electronic messaging service provider offering fax, SMS, email, and logistics services to regulated industries like healthcare. By moving fax to the cloud, Retarus helps providers and payers reduce administrative costs, improve patient services, and comply with privacy regulations. The company is addressing the critical challenge of providing reliable, secure, and fast messaging to replace outdated physical fax machines and to eliminate paper-based processes in favor of digital...
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Role of Cloud Fax in Fast and Secure Healthcare Messaging with Marcus Ionker Retarus
Empowered Patient Podcast
Marcus Ionker, Product Line Manager and Messaging Evangelist at Retarus, which is a cloud-based transactional electronic messaging service provider offering fax, SMS, email, and logistics services to regulated industries like healthcare. By moving fax to the cloud, Retarus helps providers and payers reduce administrative costs, improve patient services, and comply with privacy regulations. The company is addressing the critical challenge of providing reliable, secure, and fast messaging to replace outdated physical fax machines and to eliminate paper-based processes in favor of digital...
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Disease-Modifying Allogeneic Treatment for Chronic Sciatica with Andrew Hall Consano Bio TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Andrew Hall, CEO of Consano Bio, is developing an allogeneic approach to treat chronic sciatica by activating healing in damaged spinal nerves, emulating the natural healing properties of human platelets. This condition currently has no approved treatments and is managed through symptomatic approaches like opioids, muscle relaxers, or surgery. Consano Bio's lead candidate represents the first potential disease-modifying therapy for pain management and can be manufactured at scale to treat the estimated 10 million Americans affected by this condition. Andrew explains, "We are developing...
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Disease-Modifying Allogeneic Treatment for Chronic Sciatica with Andrew Hall Consano Bio
Empowered Patient Podcast
Andrew Hall, CEO of Consano Bio, is developing an allogeneic approach to treat chronic sciatica by activating healing in damaged spinal nerves, emulating the natural healing properties of human platelets. This condition currently has no approved treatments and is managed through symptomatic approaches like opioids, muscle relaxers, or surgery. Consano Bio's lead candidate represents the first potential disease-modifying therapy for pain management and can be manufactured at scale to treat the estimated 10 million Americans affected by this condition. Andrew explains, "We are developing...
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How Real-Time Location Data and AI Improve Utilization of Clinic Exam Rooms with Isobel Handler Kontakt io TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Isobel Handler, Senior Director of Product Management at Kontakt.io addresses critical inefficiencies in clinical exam room utilization. By capturing data about staff-patient interactions and facility usage, the Kontakt.io platform incorporates real-time location data to optimize patient access, reduce waiting time, and improve staff safety. The solution helps healthcare organizations understand their current capacity utilization before investing in new facilities and supports integration of digital tools to include virtual visits and asychronous communication to better serve patients...
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How Real-Time Location Data and AI Improve Utilization of Clinic Exam Rooms with Isobel Handler Kontakt io
Empowered Patient Podcast
Isobel Handler, Senior Director of Product Management at Kontakt.io addresses critical inefficiencies in clinical exam room utilization. By capturing data about staff-patient interactions and facility usage, the Kontakt.io platform incorporates real-time location data to optimize patient access, reduce waiting time, and improve staff safety. The solution helps healthcare organizations understand their current capacity utilization before investing in new facilities and supports integration of digital tools to include virtual visits and asychronous communication to better serve patients...
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Treating Dysfunction of Resistance Arteries to Restore Blood Flow with Dr. Steffen-Sebastian Bolz QanatPharma TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Dr. Steffen-Sebastian Bolz, Founder of QanatPharma, emphasizes the critical role of resistance arteries, microscopic blood vessels that regulate blood flow and pressure throughout the body, in maintaining organ function. Due to their size, these resistance arteries have been overlooked but with new lab techniques, QP is discovering how their dysfunction contributes to heart failure, cognitive impairment and strokes. The company's lead candidate is a repurposed drug already approved for cystic fibrosis that shows promise in restoring brain blood flow and cognitive function in heart failure...
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Treating Dysfunction of Resistance Arteries to Restore Blood Flow with Dr. Steffen-Sebastian Bolz QanatPharma
Empowered Patient Podcast
Dr. Steffen-Sebastian Bolz, Founder of QanatPharma, emphasizes the critical role of resistance arteries, microscopic blood vessels that regulate blood flow and pressure throughout the body, in maintaining organ function. Due to their size, these resistance arteries have been overlooked but with new lab techniques, QP is discovering how their dysfunction contributes to heart failure, cognitive impairment and strokes. The company's lead candidate is a repurposed drug already approved for cystic fibrosis that shows promise in restoring brain blood flow and cognitive function in heart failure...
info_outlineJames Sapirstein, CEO of CoCrystal Pharma, is developing a platform of antiviral therapies to treat norovirus, influenza and other viruses. Norovirus, commonly transmitted on cruise ships and in dormitories, currently lacks effective vaccines or treatments. CoCrystal's oral small-molecule approach aims to treat active infections by reducing viral shedding duration and provide prophylactic prevention using a novel mechanism that targets viral entry points to prevent replication.
James explains, "At CoCrystal Pharma, we have a platform of antiviral programs. The first program is for norovirus, and we have another program for influenza A. And then we also have a platform for rhinovirus, which is also many times referred to as the common cold. There's really not much out there."
"Norovirus is commonly known on cruise ships and in dormitories, college dormitories, and really it spreads by touch. That's why, when cruise ships have an outbreak of norovirus, if people haven't washed their hands or they touch an area where someone has touched that area before with active norovirus, they can get infected. And because people touch their faces over a thousand times, literally in a couple of hours, it's easy to transmit the virus."
"But there's also chronic norovirus, which people don't really talk about much because it's mostly in the nursing homes and assisted living areas, where some of these patients really suffer, and they're septic for a very long period of time. And they're not tested to see if they have norovirus because they have so many other health issues that people just aren't tested correctly."
"Most antivirals, for the most part, work on the RNA. They cleave off the RNA, or they cleave off the cell membrane so that it doesn't replicate and the virus dies off. For us, it's much more specific. We like to call it a pocket where the virus enters the cell. We design a drug to specifically kill the virus at certain aspects within the virus, and then it doesn't allow it to replicate. And that's the way it's designed."
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