🕗 Ever wondered why there's so much advertising around AFib? Ep. 299

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Dr. Michael Koren joins Kevin Geddings to discuss why atrial fibrillation (AFib) receives so much attention in advertising compared to other services hospitals provide. The cardiologist explains the financial incentives for hospitals and device manufacturers behind these marketing campaigns, contrasting them with clinical research, which has the financial and legal incentive to measure accurate data when evaluating the success rate of a particular medication or device. Dr. Koren also discusses a current research study for a new AFib monitoring patch to highlight the difference between objective medical research and profit-driven medical marketing.

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Music: Storyblocks - Corporate Inspired

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Episode Transcript

Announcer (00:00):
Welcome to the MedEvidence! Monday Minute Radio
Show hosted by Kevin Gettingsof WSOS St Augustine Radio and
powered by Encore Research Group.
Each Monday morning, Dr.
Michael Koren calls in to bringyou the latest medical updates
with insightful 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 andhealth care.
This is MedEvidence.

Kevin Geddings (00:31):
Dr.
Michael Koren, medical doctor,cardiologist, research scientist
and the BIG CHEESE at ENCOREResearch Group, Right, Dr Koren.

Dr. Michael Koren (00:40):
Yeah, they call me the cheese, but I'm not
sure they call me the big cheese.
that's a good title, though wewant to mention too yeah,
they're also BC for now on.

Kevin Geddings (00:53):
Yeah, the big cheese BC we want to mention too
.
There are opportunities outthere to get to see Dr.
Koren live and in person whichis exciting, not just on the
radio and he's going to beparticipating in an event at
WJCT, the public radio stationup in Jacksonville, on Friday
June 6th.
They do these Lunch and Learnseries events there and they're
going to talk about changingmedicine through medical

(01:13):
research.
That's Friday, June 6th at11:30, lunch is included, and so
if you'd like to register youjust go to wjcto.
rg for that.
But today we wanted to talkwith Dr.
Koren about AFib.
On a lot of different radiostations and TV You'll see all
these ads for people saying, hey, if you suffer and deal with
AFib, get in touch with us.
So there's a lot of interest inthat particular condition,

(01:35):
correct?

Dr. Michael Koren (01:36):
There is, there is.
And, Kevin, have you everwondered why there's so much
advertising around AFib?

Kevin Geddings (01:42):
Yeah, I wonder why.
I'm trying to figure out howthere's big money in AFib.

Dr. Michael Koren (01:47):
Yeah, so it gets to the point that you and I
have talked about, which is howthe media interfaces with
patient populations and whatdrives that.
And the truth is that AFib iskind of a moneymaker for
hospitals and for physiciangroups and, by the way, I'm not
being critical here thehospitals do a lot of things for

(02:08):
free and they deserve to havethings that they can make money
for.
But AFib is a condition toremind everybody.
That's an irregular heartbeatand if you have AFib, your risk
of a stroke goes up five or sixtimes, and these commercials
will certainly remind you aboutthat true fact.
The good news is that if youuse a blood thinner, then you
reduce that risk quite a bit.
But the hospitals also knowthat they have devices that are

(02:31):
made by major manufacturers thatare put into the heart.
They're called left atrialoccluding devices, and these
devices reduce the risk ofhaving clots in the heart,
therefore reducing the risk ofstrokes without the use of
anticoagulation.
And these are electiveprocedures that tend to pay well
for the hospitals and they'realso for the interest of these

(02:55):
manufacturers that make thesedevices and, of course, the
cardiologists who put them inalso make some money.
So, again, all these peopledeserve what they're earning but
that kind of drives theadvertising.
On the other hand, you never seehospital ads that say oh, did
you have too much to drink lastnight?
You feel like you're about tofall down?
Come to our emergency room,we'll take care of you.
That probably happens just asoften as AFib, but the hospitals

(03:18):
aren't particularly interestedin advertising for that because
it doesn't have sort of the samelucrative end result for the
hospitals.
So in any event, that's part ofthe issue that affects people,
so they're being hit with theseadvertisements Again.
Everything is accurate about theadvertising and ultimately
doing good for people, butdefinitely driven in part by the

(03:41):
financial implications.
And that's different than whatwe do in the research practice.
So we do get study grants fordoing our work, but we are being
hired to be completelyobjective.
So our job is just to producedata, not to promote one thing
versus another, and we tend towork with different types of
companies.

(04:01):
So an example of that is we'reactually doing a study in AFib
right now and we're working witha very small entrepreneur who
was able to come up with a smallgrant for our expenses, and
what this study involves isusing a new monitoring device,
which is a patch that you placeon people's chest that the
manufacturer thinks is going tobe better than the current

(04:23):
patches for detectingarrhythmias such as AFib.
And this is all free forpatients.
You get a little stipend forbeing part of it.
We're looking for 50 localpatients to be part of it.
At the end of the day, we'rehelping this entrepreneur
collect data that he willultimately send to the FDA to
hopefully get approval for hisdevice, or maybe not.

(04:43):
Again, if the device doesn'twork out as well as other
devices in the market, then hewouldn't get the approval.
But our role is just to be theobjective assessment tool for
this device and hopefully help asmall entrepreneur be
successful.
I would certainly love to seethat.

Kevin Geddings (04:57):
Yeah, that's exciting, right?
Not just a large pharmaceuticalcompany, but somebody that is
smaller and entrepreneurial,right?
Very exciting.
All right, that's great stuff.
Hey, before we let you go, too,I want to remind folks to
access MedEvidence! when theyhave questions about their
health, right?

Dr. Michael Koren (05:15):
Exactly, and MedEvidence!, to the point I
just made, is going to beobjective.
We're going to look at allsides of a particular medical
issue.
I'll give you an example wejust did a podcast that one of
the listeners wanted to hearabout.
She mentioned that we talk aboutdrugs a lot, but she felt that
we weren't talking enough aboutdiet.
So we brought in a dietaryexpert and physician who's

(05:41):
dedicated his entire career toevaluating diet.
We talked in very scientificterms about how people should
think about diet.
So we cover everything.
We're objective.
We're not trying to sellanything other than the
information.
So hopefully people canappreciate that and enjoy the
format.

Kevin Geddings (05:54):
Yeah, absolutely Well, once again, go to
MedEvidence.
com.
Medevidence.
com, if you or someone you knowhas AFib.
They're dealing with AFib andyou'd like to perhaps
participate in the study that Dr.
Koren just talked about herelocally in Northeast Florida,
you can go to encordocs.
com.
That's E-N-C-O-R-E encordocs.
com.
Dr.

(06:15):
Koren, thank you very much foryour time this morning and we'll
talk soon.
Okay,

Dr. Michael Koren (06:18):
have a great week.
Kevin.

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