Episode Transcript
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Announcer (00:00):
Welcome to the
MedEvidence Monday Minute Radio
Show hosted by Kevin Gettings ofWSOS St Augustine Radio and
powered by Encore Research Group.
Each Monday morning, dr MichaelKoren calls in to bring you the
latest medical updates withinsightful discussions.
Medevidence is where we helpyou navigate the real truth
behind medical research, withboth a clinical and research
(00:20):
perspective.
So sit back, relax and getready to learn about the truth
behind the data in medicine andhealthcare.
This is MedEvidence.
Kevin Geddings (00:31):
Hey, it is 8.30
exactly.
Dr.
Michael Koren joins us and ofcourse he is a medical doctor,
cardiologist, research scientistand we appreciate him being a
part of our family.
He's been working with us ongetting good information out for
years now.
You can learn more about thework that he does in clinical
trials and how you canparticipate in a leading edge
medical trial that could tie tosome health issue you're dealing
(00:52):
with.
Go to EncoreDocscom.
That's EncoreDocscom, and we'regoing to talk a little bit too
about another website he'sinvolved with, but we'll get to
that.
But some big news last Fridayon the pain medication front
here in the United StatesFinally, an alternative to
OxyContin right.
Dr. Michael Koren (01:11):
Yeah, it's
pretty exciting.
So when we run clinical trials,ultimately the objective is to
get new products in themarketplace, and we did have a
success that was announced.
This past week.
The FDA approved a drug calledJernovex or , and it's a drug
that's a brand new class of painmedication, and this class of
(01:31):
pain medication blocks thesignaling between the peripheral
nerves and the brain, ratherthan working at the level of the
brain where narcotics work.
So we're excited about it.
We're particularly excitedabout it because we were
involved in those clinicaltrials.
Kevin Geddings (01:47):
That is exciting
Right here in our part of the
world, in Northeast Floridaright.
Dr. Michael Koren (01:51):
Absolutely.
Kevin Geddings (01:52):
So I guess just
that.
Dr. Michael Koren (01:54):
I think it's
really important to thank people
for their participation.
Obviously, clinical trialsbring some benefits to the
people who are involved in them,but it also helps everybody
around the world.
So a big thanks to people whoparticipate in the trial and
their families for supportingthem.
Kevin Geddings (02:09):
Yeah, absolutely
so.
I guess, in a practical way, ifone of our listeners driving
around today recently had kneereplacement surgery and they
were given blank drug for pain,they may now, in the future, get
to have this new drug.
Is that safe to say?
Yeah, I think so.
Obviously, once the FDAapproves a medication, it's up
to physicians to decide how todeploy that, and we'll see.
(02:40):
The studies are mostly done inpeople that had peripheral
neuropathies or pain related todiabetes in the feet, for
example, but this medicine willprobably continue to be
developed in different ways, andhow physicians use it will be
something that will develop overthe course of the next couple
of years.
Right.
If somebody is concerned abouttaking a narcotic, or perhaps
the addictive aspects ofsomething like Oxycontin or one
(03:02):
of its derivatives, should theyask their physician about this
new drug.
Dr. Michael Koren (03:07):
Absolutely.
They should definitely have adiscussion about it, and you
make a really important point.
So, Kevin, 30 years ago therewas a big push to make sure that
people had their painadequately treated.
In fact, if you went to anemergency room, they would call
pain the fifth vital sign, andthe focus was on making sure
that everybody had complete painrelief.
(03:27):
Unfortunately, there was anunintended consequence of that,
and the consequence was that alot of narcotics were used and
some people got addicted to them.
So it became a problem thatpeople would come in, get a
short course of narcotics for anacute pain syndrome and then
ends up with a bad addictionthat took months or years to get
(03:47):
over.
So there has been a real bigchange in course amongst
government policy, and themedical profession has now been
focused on trying to restrictthe use of narcotics as much as
possible, and this approval willmake that much more feasible, I
think, for a lot of people,because they have a new class of
drugs.
And again, how widely thesedrugs are used once they're
(04:09):
generally available will besomething that's very, very
interesting and we can watch.
The other thing is that, forpeople who are interested in
this, give us a call because wemay get involved in other
studies that look how to deploythis medication post-approval.
We call that a phase four trial.
So after our drugs are approvedthey still get tested and we
(04:31):
test them to see how extensivelythey can be used, what patients
they can be used and whetherthey can be used safely and
effectively with othermedications.
Kevin Geddings (04:38):
So, Dr.
Koren, when it gets to a phasefour trial, are there placebos
involved or not?
Dr. Michael Koren (04:44):
It may or may
not be, it depends on the
circumstances.
But, to your point, in manycases there are not.
So we're comparing it againstsome active comparator, which is
a little bit different than theearly phase trials, which are
typically placebo controlled.
Kevin Geddings (04:59):
So does this
represent a new class of drugs
or just a new drug?
In other words, this onepharmaceutical company has this
name drug, but will there beothers like it, you think?
Dr. Michael Koren (05:08):
Probably so.
Again, it's the first in theclass and I don't know offhand
how other drugs in this classare being developed, but
typically once one company issuccessful getting a drug to
market, others will follow.
Kevin Geddings (05:21):
Well, if folks
are interested in this and this
exciting new approach, thisgreat new development in pain
management, they should get inENCORE Research Group with ,
shouldn't they?
Dr. Michael Koren (05:34):
They should
Give us a call.
We may or may not have aprogram specific for your
immediate need, but we'lldefinitely get you in our system
and talk about all the stuffwe're doing.
It's interesting Some peoplemay come in and they may
complain about a diabeticneuropathy, which is really
troublesome for them, but thenwe find out hey, you know, you
got pretty significant issueswith your heart.
Maybe that's the most importantthing right now to deal with.
Kevin Geddings (05:55):
And before we
let Dr.
Koren go, of course there'salways this flurry of health and
medical news out there.
This, you know, big news aboutthis new drug that came out on
Friday.
But there's so much otherhealth information out there and
unfortunately a lot of it isbad.
But we have a place to go whereyou can get reliable health
information, right, doctor.
Dr. Michael Koren (06:14):
Yeah, and
that's our MedEvidence platform,
m-e-d evidence platform, andit's growing by leaps and bounds
.
As we talked about last week,we had the Tony Fauci interview
about 10 days ago and, of course, that generated a lot of
discussion.
He came across really, reallywell and, as you mentioned last
(06:37):
week, the last public interviewthat he did before he got his
get out of jail free card fromJoe Biden was with me and
MetEvidence.
So I'm excited about that and Iwould encourage everybody to
listen to his perspective.
It's interesting.
Tony Fauci has been just aserious scientist throughout his
life but has become a bit of apolitical punching bag recently
(07:00):
and maybe you need to hear fromhim directly before you make a
decision.
So it was a fun interview forme and hopefully enjoyable and
educational about many things Dr.
Fauci did during his career.
Kevin Geddings (07:11):
Absolutely.
I would encourage you to dothat Once again.
Lots of great resources, goodinformation, easy to navigate,
very intuitive, simple to use.
Go to medevidence.
com.
Medevidence.
com the truth behind all thishealthcare data that we
sometimes get thrown at us likea snowblower.
So this is a great resource.
Dr.
Michael Koren, any closingthoughts before we let you go on
this Monday morning?
(07:32):
So this is a great resource.
Dr. Michael Koren (07:34):
Dr.
Michael Koren, any closingthoughts before we let you go on
this Monday morning?
No, the only closing thoughtwould be the same as our opening
thought, which is again, thankyou for the participation of our
patients and give us a call ifwe can be of service.
Kevin Geddings (07:45):
That's right, Dr
.
Michael Koren, once againEncoreDocs.
com.
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