Companies are innovating new solutions to help patients with certain diseases
Specialized programs and innovative collaborations aimed at helping patients with certain diseases such as obesity and rare skin conditions have been set in motion.
An example is Shed Rx, a new-age telehealth clinic, which debuted its SHED500, SHED1000 and SHED1500 Semaglutide Lozenge program, aimed at transforming the weight loss experience for weight loss patients in select states throughout the United States.
“Compounded Semaglutide has been a game-changer in weight loss management, but its administration through injections has posed challenges for patients. Recognizing the need for a more patient-friendly, non-invasive approach, Shed Rx’s exclusive Semaglutide Lozenge Program is designed to address these concerns. The program eliminates the need for needles and injections, replacing them with daily lozenges that dissolve effortlessly in the mouth,” the company said.
Each Shed Rx Semaglutide Lozenge, available in three variants-SHED500, SHED1000 and SHED1500-is carefully formulated to support weight loss and promote appetite control. In addition to Compounded Semaglutide, these lozenges contain essential ingredients such as B12 and Chromium to boost weight loss results. The combination of Compounded Semaglutide (no Sodium), B12 and Chromium works synergistically to curb cravings, facilitate weight loss and improve overall health, the company noted.
The company also noted that one of the key advantages of Shed Rx’s Compounded Semaglutide Lozenges is their once-daily dosing, which helps to smooth out potential dosing spikes and aids in minimizing potential negative side effects. This convenient regimen ensures consistency and ease of use for patients, allowing them to integrate the treatment seamlessly into their daily routines. Furthermore, the lozenges are travel-friendly and easy to store, providing individuals with flexibility and convenience without compromising their weight loss progress.
The compounded Semaglutide Lozenges offered by Shed Rx are a convenient and effective at-home weight loss solution that can be started within just 5 minutes. The process begins with a simple sign-up, where individuals provide their medical history and details about their weight journey. This information is essential for the clinic to customize the program specifically for each individual, ensuring a personalized approach from day one.
Once signed up, individuals have the opportunity to meet remotely with a board-certified clinician who will carefully review their assessment and develop a tailored treatment plan. This clinician will take into account the individual’s unique needs, goals and medical considerations to prescribe appropriate medications. Once individuals receive their prescriptions, they can embark on a journey of weight loss and experience the remarkable effects of the Semaglutide Lozenges. Their progress is carefully monitored and recorded, enabling them to witness their accomplishments and revel in the satisfaction of effortlessly shedding those extra pounds, the company said.
With the program, Shed Rx provides individuals with comprehensive support and guidance throughout their weight loss journey. The program includes regular check-ins with qualified clinicians. These check-ins serve as valuable opportunities for individuals to address any questions or concerns they may have, allowing the clinicians to provide personalized advice and adjustments to the treatment plan as needed. Additionally, the clinic’s dedicated Care Team is readily available to offer ongoing support and answer any inquiries that may arise along the way.
The clinic offers fast production and delivery timelines for its Compounded Semaglutide Lozenges, guaranteeing prompt medication delivery to individuals. It has implemented a streamlined process that minimizes delays and eliminates the typical wait times associated with traditional treatment methods. This accelerated production and delivery system ensures that individuals can access their medication promptly, allowing them to start their weight loss regimen sooner.
Boehringer Ingelheim is not standing on the sidelines when it comes to innovation. The company is aiming to help patients with generalized postular psoriasis via a collaboration between the Fashion Institute of Technology’s DTech Lab and world-renowned designer, Bart Hess.
Boehringer Ingelheim recently announced the introduction of a fifth piece to The Unwearable Collection, an award-winning art collection that uses raw materials like paper and glass to uniquely illustrate the physical and emotional burden that people living with generalized pustular psoriasis may experience.
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Designed by FIT students in partnership with Hess, the Collection’s fifth piece—Trapped by Uncertainty—brings to life one of the most common experiences of people with GPP, who cite the uncertainty of how it will impact their life each day, or how others will perceive them. To inform their design, the students had the opportunity to hear from and interview people living with GPP, who described the threat of flares as very unpredictable.
“Since its introduction last year, The Unwearable Collection has helped to raise much-needed awareness for GPP. With the addition of Trapped by Uncertainty, we hope to improve the understanding of what life with GPP feels like and illustrate the intense emotional burden it can have,” said Claudia Beqaj, executive director of dermatology, sales and marketing at Boehringer Ingelheim. “With the help of Bart Hess, the students and faculty of the FIT DTech Lab have done an incredible job of bringing the anxiety and uncertainty of GPP to life through fashion and design.”
GPP is a rare and potentially life-threatening neutrophilic skin disease characterized by flares of widespread eruptions of painful, sterile pustules across the body that have been described by people living with the disease as equivalent to the pain of 10,000 papercuts. Flares can greatly affect a person's quality of life both physically and emotionally and, in severe cases, can lead to hospitalization with serious complications, including heart failure, renal failure, sepsis and death.
Trapped by Uncertainty combines unwearable elements, such as shards of glass and crystals, with materials used in everyday fashion design. The outer layer of the design uses materials like tulle and mesh that have been manipulated to appear as smoke billowing around the individual, to represent the feeling of uncertainty that many people with GPP experience between flares. The placement of colorful glass on the hands, face and body represent the beauty and individuality of people living with this rare disease.
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FIT’s Fashion Design team worked under the supervision of Dobriana Gheneva, assistant professor of Fashion Design, with creative direction by Michael Ferraro, executive director, of FIT DTech Lab to create the fifth design. The collaboration also welcomed students from across multiple interdisciplinary teams—including Animation, Interactive Media & Game Design, Exhibition & Experience Design and Advertising & Digital Design teams—who developed launch strategies for exhibiting and promoting the fifth piece. “The students who developed this design were insightful and empathetic in their ability to creatively convey the emotional uncertainty and discomfort of living with GPP through an evocative and alluring design,” said Ferraro. “The FIT DTech Lab is incredibly proud to contribute to the creative industries worldwide with socially conscious solutions that have a positive impact on the world and to be able to be a part of this extraordinary project.”
Hess, who collaborated with Boehringer Ingelheim to develop the first four designs in The Unwearable Collection consulted with FIT students and faculty to inspire the fifth design while ensuring it was a natural complement.
“It was the experiences of people living with GPP and their descriptions of the disease that ultimately inspired me to create The Unwearable Collection. As the Collection evolves, it has been a privilege to act as a mentor to FIT’s talented group of designers and witness how they have interpreted the experience of people living with GPP to add a new dimension to the Collection,” said Hess.
The five pieces of The Unwearable Collection were unveiled this week to a private audience that included Hess, people living with GPP, members of the FIT DTech Lab and Boehringer Ingelheim teams. Following the U.S. reveal of the Collection, the pieces will make their international debut at the upcoming GPP Forum and World Congress of Dermatology in Singapore from July 1 to 5, 2023.
The Unwearable Collection will be on display in an exhibit inside FIT’s Gallery of Art and Design from Sept. 14-Oct. 15, when visitors can view the Collection and further explore the experiences of those living with GPP.
Eisai also is no stranger to innovating through collaboration with other entities, as evidenced by its newly announced two-year collaborative research agreement with Gates Ventures, Health Data Research UK, LifeArc and The University of Edinburgh.
The collaboration, named NEURii, is a unique pioneering partnership that creates a powerhouse collaboration of collective expertise in therapeutics, technology development and commercialization, health data management and advanced analytics/data science to predict, protect and promote brain health.
NEURii will focus its initial efforts to develop data and digital solutions to complement approved treatment options for patients and solve issues related to the prediction, prevention, management, and treatment of dementia related disorders.
This groundbreaking collaboration will use high-quality individual data, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning to deliver patient-focused digital health solutions by developing initial pilot projects originated in highly recognized UK academic centers. These projects have been selected on the basis of their potential to make a meaningful difference to patients’ lives while maintaining data security and public trust. By combining diverse digital biomarkers that can be acquired non-invasively in real world clinical and non-clinical settings (e.g., speech from conversation) with the high-quality and abundant medical data accumulated in the UK, and analyzing them with tailored AI algorithms, NEURii will create innovative digital solutions. These will be deployed in the detection, monitoring and treatment of dementia patients in order to improve their lives as well as minimizing the impact of the disease burden on their careers and families.
This initial two year pilot establishes a first-in-class launch pad underpinned by an innovative business model and scalable prototype for translating scientific prototypes that will enhance and improve public health demonstrating real world impact. It is envisaged that NEURii partners will explore further opportunities to scale up the program developing digital health solutions worldwide.
Teiji Kimura, academia and industry alliance officer of the Deep Human Biology Learning Office of Eisai, commented, “Dementia is one of the major social and medical issues in an aging society, and Eisai's mission is to contribute to solving these issues. We aim to create new digital solutions that will contribute to solving the challenges of dementia by combining the UK's leadership in this field with our experience and track record of continuously creating innovative treatments in the field of dementia whilst staying true to our human healthcare concept of giving first thought to patients and the people in the daily living domain.”
It is estimated that more than 55 million are currently living with dementia in the world, and nearly one million people in the UK, and this number is expected to grow rapidly.
As well as having a significant impact on the lives of patients and those who care for them (52% of the UK public knows someone who has been diagnosed with a form of dementia), these conditions place significant pressure on health and social care systems. Providing data-driven solutions that complement existing treatments could help to improve earlier detection and diagnosis, evidence-based treatment decision-making, monitoring of disease progression and maintenance of quality of life.
“AI and other advanced technologies are beginning to play a powerful role in medical research,” said Niranjan Bose, managing director of health and life sciences at Gates Ventures. “I’m excited about how the NEURii collaboration will apply these tools to diagnostics research and drug discovery, and contribute to breakthroughs that can improve life for millions of people suffering with dementia and dementia-related illnesses.”
“Identifying ways to prevent dementia and neurodegenerative disease is a key part of our multi-million-pound neurodegeneration program," said Paul Wright, MND Translational Challenge lead at LifeArc. "This collaboration is one of many new innovative projects we are involved in to improve the diagnosis of dementia and a positive step towards predicting those who may develop the disease.”
The UK is a leader in digital technology investment and research across areas such as genomics, health data science, AI and ML, with rich and diverse health-related data. NEURii’s model will enable the identification of pioneering data and digital science, the mentoring of talented scientists and the translation of health prototypes into practical and accessible products. By bringing together the expertise and capabilities of the NEURii collaborators, it is hoped that the novel approach will provide an exciting launch-pad for new transformational digital products that can contribute to solving the ongoing challenges of dementia and neurodegenerative conditions.