Medical Insights from Industry

RSS

"Insights from Industry" is a dynamic series of interviews at the cutting edge of the medical industry. Every interviewee is a leader in their particular field and is handpicked to give an informative and accessible insight into their chosen field. These interviews are guaranteed to keep you in the know in a rapidly changing industry.

Extracting Cardiac Leads: An Interview with Barry Norlander from Cook Medical

The pacemaker or ICD unit, which is the implanted box or generator i.e. the electrical component of the device that's implanted in the chest, usually lasts between seven to 10 years before the generator’s battery is depleted.

From COOK MEDICAL INC. 2 Sep 2014

Remote monitoring of implanted pacemakers and defibrillators: an interview with Dr. Suneet Mittal

Remote monitoring is the ability to follow patients who have implantable pacemakers or defibrillators from home. This technology was introduced in the U.S. in 2001 so it’s been available for close to 15 years.

27 Aug 2014

Cognitive impairment communication: an interview with Marc Wortmann, Executive Director, Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI)

Cognitive impairment is the loss of brain functions like short and long term memory, the ability to plan ahead or conduct more complicated intellectual tasks.

27 Aug 2014

Acromegaly and antisense therapy: an interview with Mark Diamond, CEO Antisense Therapeutics

Acromegaly is a chronic, life-threatening disease triggered by a benign tumour of the pituitary gland causing excessive growth hormone release. Oversupply of growth hormone stimulates liver, fat and kidney cells to produce excess levels of Insulin-Like Growth Factor I (IGFI), which causes abnormal growth of the bones of the hands, face and feet and bodily organs.

26 Aug 2014

Tackling rising healthcare costs: an interview with Professor Graeme Currie, Warwick Business School

I think the main reason involves the impact of an aging population, some of whom age healthily, but many of whom, unhealthily, particularly those from poorer sectors of society.

12 Aug 2014

New spinal fixation technique: an interview with Dr. Ian Armstrong, Medical Director, Southern California Spine Institute

Traditionally, the most commonly used medical devices for spinal fusion procedures have been pedicle screws and rods, and interbody cages or spacers. Each are coupled with bone grafts and limit movement while the area being fused heals.

4 Aug 2014

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease flare-ups: an interview with Dr. MeiLan Han, University of Michigan and Scott Cerreta, Director of Education, COPD Foundation

During a flare-up, symptoms of a patient’s COPD worsen significantly, and breathing becomes more difficult. A persistent increase in shortness of breath, cough and sputum production are typical symptoms.

30 Jul 2014

Tackling hepatitis C: an interview with Gaston Picchio, Global Hepatitis Disease Area Leader at Janssen

Gaston Picchio outlines the major findings of the recent report published by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU): ‘Tackling hepatitis C: Moving towards an integrated policy approach’

23 Jul 2014

Genomics testing in action: an interview with Kevin Haar, CEO, Appistry

The more connections are made between genes, disease and drugs, and the more that we continue to understand about those connections, the more critical genetic testing will become in modern medicine.

21 Jul 2014

Pain control in osteoarthritis patients

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common causes of disability, and inadequate pain control can lead to joint stiffness that may impair mobility for patients.

9 Jul 2014

Fabry disease awareness: an interview with Dr. Hartmann Wellhoefer, Head of Medical Affairs, Rare Disease, Shire

Lysosomes are subcellular organelles that are present in most cells, with the major exception of red blood cells.

8 Jul 2014

Treating ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease

Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are idiopathic (we don’t know the cause) inflammatory diseases (IBD) of the colon and/or small bowel. They are chronic in that we do not have a medical cure and are differentiated from IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) by inflammation that causes ulcerations of the GI tract.

7 Jul 2014

Preventing antibiotic side effects: an interview with Florence Séjourné, CEO, Da Volterra

Like all drugs, antibiotics can have side-effects when administered to people. The most common (and often benign) side effect people experience when taking antibiotics is “associated diarrhea”. This illustrates the fact that antibiotics have an impact on the intestine!

25 Jun 2014

Evolution of multiple sclerosis treatments: an interview with Mike Panzara, Head of MS & Neurology Clinical Development, Genzyme

The last 20 years have been defined by progress and innovation in the multiple sclerosis (MS) field, with now 10 approved treatment options available for people living with relapsing MS, the most common form of the disease.

17 Jun 2014

Using placental cells to repair damaged tissues: an interview with Zami Aberman, CEO, Pluristem Therapeutics

We start with birth and we collect the cells after C-section. The reason for that is we have to have the mother sign a consent letter that she is donating the placenta and, on top of that, we have to have a blood sample from the mother to test for any viral contamination.

16 Jun 2014

Polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (PJIA): an interview with Dr. Kramer, VP, Immunology and Infectious Diseases Medical Unit, Genentech

Polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (PJIA) is a type of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), a group of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) diseases that manifests in multiple ways in children.

3 Jun 2014

Half-life extension technology: an interview with Dermot Pearson, Novozymes Biopharma

A drug's half-life indicates how long a substance will remain active in the body. It is essentially the period of time that it takes for the concentration of the amount of the drug to be reduced by half, and therefore, determines how frequently a drug needs to be administered to maintain its therapeutic effect.

27 May 2014

Telemedicine in action: an interview with Ian Jackson, Managing Director, Imerja

Telemedicine is a term used to describe the use of information technology in delivering curative or clinical care healthcare, allowing medical specialists to communicate with patients and other medical staff, regardless of their physical location.

21 May 2014

The future of high throughput screening: an interview with Mark Wigglesworth, Director High Throughput Screening, AstraZeneca

Quoting Mike Snowden (VP & Head of Discovery Sciences, AstraZeneca), “it’s where biology meets chemistry”. It’s where for the first time a target protein can be probed for novel molecules that modulate its function, of course we want to do this to prove a hypothesis that these proteins are drug targets with the potential to deliver innovative medicines.

20 May 2014

DNA-directed RNA interference and hepatitis C: an interview with Carl Stubbings, Chief Business Officer, Benitec Biopharma

RNA interference (RNAi) is a naturally occurring process, which cells can use to silence, or ‘turn off’ unwanted genes.

From Quest Diagnostics 19 May 2014