Vanguards of Health Care by Bloomberg Intelligence

Onward Medical is driving the path to help paraplegics with spinal cord injuries (SCI) regain their lives, including one patient who is now able to play his guitar again, CEO Dave Marver tells Bloomberg Intelligence. In this episode of the Vanguards of Health Care podcast, Marver sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview about the company, key takeaways from the recent publication of the Uplift trial by Nature and how Onward’s developments differ from others that use brain-computer interfaces (BCI). The medical-technology provider connects BCI to its ARC platform to restore movement of the human body, instead of simply using the patient’s thoughts to control computer functions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 "We analyze vocal biomarkers in near real time and correlate that to a clinical diagnosis and create an algorithm that then can independently identify a range of different diseases in the human voice during conversation," Henry O'Connell, CEO and Co-founder of Canary Speech, tells Bloomberg Intelligence in this episode of the Vanguards of Health Care podcast. O'Connell joins BI analyst Jonathan Palmer to discuss the company's origins, its unique approach to vocal analysis using over 2,500 speech features and its commitment to clinical validation through partnerships with leading healthcare institutions. The conversation touches on Canary's foundational team, extensive patent portfolio and platform approach that enables the development of models for a wide range of diseases. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EDAP can treat prostate cancer by focusing ultrasound waves at just the target region, similar to how a magnify glass can focus light from the sun so intensely that it can burn a piece of paper, allowing it to eliminate the cancer while limiting side effects, CEO Ryan Rhodes explains to Bloomberg Intelligence. In this Vanguards of Health Care episode, Rhodes sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson to talk about his path from Intuitive Surgical to lead EDAP, how the Focal One robot uses high intensity focused ultrasound, or HIFU, to ablate prostate cancer without needing an incision or removing the whole prostate and how the HIFI Study shows that Focal One can be a viable alternative to radical prostatectomy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Haemonetics, a medical-device maker that focuses on markets including blood and plasma collection, is evolving to expand broadly with more diversification and greater sustainability over time, all with the view that good products win, CEO Chris Simon explains to Bloomberg Intelligence. In this Vanguards of Health Care podcast episode, Simon sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson to talk about Haemonetics and how its has built out its hospital franchise with M&A to include high-growth segments that diversifies the company beyond its traditional blood and plasma collection businesses. He also shares his views on how medtech companies need to have products with competitive advantages as the hospital environment rationalizes and whittles down the number of medtech suppliers they use.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

OrthoPediatrics’ aspiration is to develop anatomically appropriate implants, instruments and specialized braces for children, so surgeons don’t need to “MacGyver” their way with treating a child with adult sized devices, CEO David Bailey explains to Bloomberg Intelligence, referring to the multi-skilled character from the 1980s TV series. In this Vanguards of Health Care podcast episode, Bailey sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson for an in-depth interview to talk about OrthoPediatrics, how its technology built a cohesive commercial model to aid pediatric orthopedic surgeons, including products and clinical support, and how it has developed a strong M&A platform to add innovation to its portfolio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“We’re staking the company on personalization: If you can make the health-care experience more personal to the individual, they’ll be more likely to engage around their health care and take the proper actions to get better outcomes,” Chris Michalak, CEO of Personify Health, tells Bloomberg Intelligence in this episode of the Vanguards of Health Care podcast. Michalak joins BI analyst Jonathan Palmer to discuss the merger of Virgin Pulse and HealthComp, the company’s AI-driven personalization engine and the value proposition for employers. The conversation also covers Personify’s approach to consolidation in health care, the role of navigation and the impact of GLP-1 drugs on the market.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bolt Navigation has shrunk the use of a navigation system for spine surgery into an Apple iOS device, using the gyroscope-on-chip technology to make spinal fusion cases more accurate in any surgery setting, CEO Patrick West says. In this episode of Bloomberg Intelligence’s Vanguards of Health Care podcast, West sits down with BI analyst Matt Henriksson to talk about how the Bolt Navigation Unit leverages the gyroscope and an X-ray acquired once the patient is positioned for pedicle screw placement, with no special imaging required during the procedure. West goes on to say how this technology can penetrate ambulatory surgical centers, that can perform simple spinal fusion cases without a robot they may not be able to affordSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Modern medicine hasn’t made big strides in managing psychiatric disorders, a growing challenge with global implications. “The treatment of psychiatric disorders hasn’t changed from what it was like 30 years ago, medications are given by trial and error and we don’t really know what’s going to work,” Amit Etkin, CEO of Alto Neuroscience, tells Bloomberg Intelligence in this episode of the Vanguards of Health Care podcast. BI senior health-care associate Jean Rivera Irizarry joins Dr. Etkin for an in-depth interview about Alto, how it was formed, its drug-selection process and how the company aims to redefine the way we treat such disorders.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vericel acquired a hidden gem in cartilage repair that other companies had written off, and developed it into a high-growth product that could potentially address a $4 billion market. In this episode of the Vanguards of Health Care podcast, Vericel CEO Nick Colangelo sits down with Matt Henriksson, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, to talk about how MACI took over as the market leader for cartilage repair in the knee and its potential to do so for the ankle. Colangelo also discusses why the company built a diversified portfolio and how NexoBrid complements its Epicel platform to fill out the company’s burn-care offerings.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Stephen Hoge, Moderna’s head of R&D, joined the Vanguards of Health Care podcast to share his insights on the company’s groundbreaking work in messenger RNA. In this episode, Dr. Hoge and Bloomberg Intelligence’s Sam Fazeli take listeners into an in-depth conversation on how Covid was just the start of using mRNA as a way of treating disease. They also discuss Moderna’s cancer trials and its approach to rare diseases. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.