Alzheimer’s Walk: Josh Pan, Althira Pharma
Josh Pan is a volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Walk. He is also director of business development for Althira Pharma, a local Seattle-based business. The company’s technology came out of Washington…
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*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.
The following is a podcast from a qualified senior care provider part on the answers for elders radio show. And welcome everyone back to answers for alders radio on our special month as we kick off Alzheimer’s month and we’re talking all about the Alzheimer’s walks for the month of September and we’re very excited now to have Mr Josh Pan, who’s the vault. He is a volunteer for the Pacific Northwest Walk. And you guys, you’re with and company that’s amazing, called a theorial farmer. And Josh, this is your first time on the radio. Is Goose on the show and I’m still glad you’re here. So welcome to answers for elders. Thanks so much, Josh. Tell me a little bit about who you are, your company and your experience with the walk. Yeah, that’s kind of a load of question. Is Yeah, no problem. It’s a continuation and find. So I’m Josh. I’m the director of Business Development for a theory of farmer, where a local Seattle based company that actually the technology came out of Washington State University, but we’re based on University of Washington Nice. So we’ve got a hybrid of coogs and Huskies Nice. That’s unusual. It’s unusual, but we all but we get along great and that’s awesome. Working too, to put out a to advance the therapy that’s different than the classical approach is basically that’s been on the market wow these days. And so we’re focusing on regeneration and our mission is really connecting the research with developing a product and also connecting to the people that ultimately need it. And so that’s where the connection with the Alzeimer’s association and then being involved in the walk its hugely important to us as a company. Sure hugely important to myself, who’ve been affected by Al Zeimers Disease Right, and wanted to be involved with the committee to to help from both the corporation side and also from from the personal wow. So you have a personal story in all this. Yeah, yeah, I feel like a lot of people that work in Alzheimer’s disease. Well, we’ve never really met anybody. I and anybody at a company. I’ve never met anybody that’s hasn’t been affected either directly or indirectly. Absolutely all Zeimers, right, and so it’s not just an individual patient or caregiver scenario, but it’s a big family issue well. And you know, especially in the state, we have kind of a higher percentage of those afflicted with Alzheimer’s then elsewhere in the country and they don’t necessarily know why that is. Is that correct? It’s yeah, a lot of it is very sporadic and you know, what causes all Zeimers? It’s not really well known, and so there’s still a lot to be learned about what actually causes the disease. There’s some genetic influence that say hey, you know, potentially you’re going to be you know, I have a higher risk to develop all zeimers. But none of that is a hundred percent. No, no, and you know it. I always think maybe it’s our gloomy days, but I think that that’s the case because there’s a lot of places that have gloomy there’s plenty. Yeah, yeah, so I don’t know if it’s the air we breathe or the water we drink ors we just don’t know, right, and it’s not regionally specific. Right. It’s a big challenge all across the you know, the US and the world, and so having partners, having any punders like they all’s Im Association. Wow, hugely valuable to us as a company as we continue to progress. Absolutely, absolutely. And so you guys have developed a lot of technology and, you know, and studies on making some breakthroughs and I got on your website yesterday and did a lot of research. I would love to kind of have you tell us a little bit about what a theorist accomplished in does. Yeah, so we are actually wrapping up our phase one clinical trials and so, for those that are not familiar, clinical trials advance from phase one through phase three and then commercialization and get to market to ultimately be in the hands of patients or caregivers that ultimately need them. We’re wrapping up for phase one clinical trials this sheet, in the next, you know, few weeks actually, and that was our first and human test of our therapy. So our approach is really taking a regenerative approach to to address the disease. Well, whereas classically people have target proteins and and emily BETA as a classical protein that many people probably hear about when you can got Alzheimer’s, but what happens in the disease is that the brain and the networks start becoming disconnected, and so we’d working on regenerating and working on reconnecting those networks so that the neurons, the brain cells can have, you know, can restore from sure. Sure, that is amazing and I know that your work. You’ve received a grant from the Alzheimer’s Association, which is, you know, talking about the great things that Alzheimer’s Association does, and where your donations go is to fund studies and trials like this that will that are starting to make some breakthrough. So that’s really cool. No, absolutely, so tell us a little bit about what you’re doing with the grant. is specific. Yeah, the grant was. The grant is hugely important and it was a great scientific validation because the Association obviously has a lot of, you know, key opinion leaders and key members in the Alzheimer space, and so having them review our grant application look at the science should be behind it, was a huge validation point, especially as we continue only and talk to, you know, other investor groups, other parties that are interested in Alzheimer’s disease. Hm. And so what the money has been able to help US support is, as we’re wrapping up phase one, we’re planning for face two studies, which is, you know, a hundred or so patients and multiple sites across the US. Takes a lot of planning and in a lot of coordination across our research and development team or clinical team, and and the clinical trial sites themselves. Wow, so I’m not, I’m not, I’m not carrying the burden of doing some task with all that. Sure, but our clinical my clinical counterpart, she right, definitely doing a lot of the the planning or nation for right, getting out for Faceto, and so obviously this year you guys are a sponsor. Yeah, and you know, that really is interesting because I’m just interested in you know, you’re with a theory of pharmaceutical and we are again talking to Josh Pan, and Josh you were the director of business development for all thea a thea. I’m going to get that right, Farma. Tell us a little bit about you know, we’ve talked a little bit about your company, but I really want to make sure that we get your website for people that are interested in the work you’re doing. So it’s is it a theory of Farmacom? What is that? It’s actually a theorycom. If there is that’s even easier. Yep, yeah, telle twisting here at ire a. You got itcom that’s right. So you guys are now a sponsor for the Alzheimer’s walk. That’s right. And tell us a little bit about what you have planned. Yeah, this is kind of an exciting thing for me. So we’ve always been, you know, part of the walk for the past four years and this is the Seattle walk. Seattle walk. Yep, okay. And what is the date for the Seattle Walk? It is September twenty eight at the Pacific Science Center. Awesome. I have participated there and I love it. It’s so it’s great. It’s great energy. But he’s there for the cause and you know it’s going to be a great crowd. Yeah, I’ve had not the honor of actually doing this show from there before in the past, and also we had a team. We have an answer sir older’s team that went out and my husband got the honor of while I was broadcasting, he took the team out, which that’s great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so it’s really fun. So tell us a little bit about what you have planned in Seattle. Yeah, so, for for for a, theori sponsoring the walk this year. We’re going to be putting up a photo booth and hopefully be able to, you know, create some more fun environment and kind of celebratory event either pre or post walk. Right, I think. I think there’s going to be some good plans to make it more of a more of a an event, hmm, a celebratory event because, you know, we’re all walking, for sure for a great cause, right, and so to be able to capture that moment and to have a fun photo booth available awesome. That’s kind of our approach there. Yeah, well, in a photo booth to is really coming through, to to promote connections, which I think is really, I think, the most important reason of why should people participate in the walk, because it’s really about bringing hope and you know, I love the representation of carrying flower of a different color and having that type of feeling of you know, I’m not alone, and we’ve talked about that previously and the show and and really having the opportunity for families to actually come together and you guys having that ability for people to celebrate that, I think is really awesome. So, you know, you obviously are working. How long have you been working with the walks? is is your first year. You’ve been doing no, I’ve been on the Walk Committee for three years now. Awesome and it’s been, you know, it’s been a great rewarding experience and to be able to kind of join in with the community and these efforts and obviously, because you have a personal story in your life, it means a lot and I think I want to take the last couple minutes of the show to really emphasize to those who are listening. If you you probably, I would say seventy five percent of our listeners today have been touched by Alzheimer’s in some way and to stand up to say, you know what, I want to make sure that you know that I can count, that I can do something, and being involved in the walk, I think is so important. Whether you can walk, whether you can fundraise, whether you can call in and just make a donation or volunteer for an event or go to the support groups or take the time to, you know, go on, you know to participate or pick up the phone and call. So, Josh, would you share with us the website and the eight hundred number for people to call? Yeah, for the walk. It’s alls dot org walk. That’s a LZ Dot Arg wa L K and the number to call is one eight hundred, two seven, two zero zero. Yes, and that obviously is a number that’s answered. Two seven, and certainly can be there for families and you can also get connected and there’s a Washington state chapter website as well, which is Alzwa Dot Org, and I believe that you can also get information on as Carrie said earlier in the show, about finding where the walk is in your neighborhood and certainly finding a team. So, Josh, just in closing, you guys have a corporate involved movement and I think it’s really important if you have a business out there. For those of you maybe there, there’s not only corporate involvement, but we have a lot of churches on our station as well. Having that connection through I think has been a really powerful one, has it not? It has. Yeah, it’s been. It’s been great. You know, we’re all, we are all everybody at the company’s mission driven towards trying to resolve alzheimers and having a partnership with the Association and being able to spread the hope and the optimism that the walk naturally fosters. MMM, is a great you know, wow, was a great opportunity for us as a company. That’s awesome, and so everyone, first of all, just thank you so much for being on the show now. Thank you for and the eight hundred number and again is one eight hundred two, seven, two, three, nine, zero zero. Thanks so much for being on the show today. Thank you so answers for elders radio show with Susan Newman hopes you found this podcast useful in your journey of navigating senior care. Check out more podcast like this to help you find qualified senior care experts and areas of financial, legal, health and wellness and living options. 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Originally published September 08, 2019