Gillian Isabelle's guest appearances

Gillian Isabelle

Angel Invest Boston

Radio Entrepreneurs

Justin Real

David Gordon

Daniel Ramsey

Bob Muller

David Chang

Brad Feld

Jason Calacanis

Paul Ryan

Vanessa Bruce

Jeff Coyle

Catherine White

Eric Anderson

Barry Crimmins

Andrew Roberts

Daniel Davis

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Link To Guest Website: https://enlivity.com/Title: “Helping Patients Manage Chemo &amp; Radiation Therapy Side EffectsGuest: Gillian Isabelle – EnlivityInterviewer: Jeffrey Davis – MAGE LLCClick here to read the transcriptJeffrey (0s):Well, here we are again, sitting in the Radio Entrepreneurs, studio high atop Newton, Massachusetts. And my name is Jeffrey Davis. I’m the host of Radio Entrepreneurs. I’m also CEO and founder of Mage LLC. Hard to believe started Mage in 1985, worked with leaders and entrepreneurs and over 700 organizations, kind of amazing when you think about it, at least for me to think about it. Cause I remember the first day on the job. Our next guest is a Gillian Isabelle, CEO of Enlivity. Welcome.Gillian (34s):Thank you. Thank you for having me.Jeffrey (37s):Well, you know, it’s got a positive name and I’m sure it has a positive meaning. What is Enlivity all about?Gillian (43s):Well, Enlivity is a cancer supportive care company and we are based here in greater Boston. We provide products for patients going through chemotherapy and radiation treatments that help them to manage the side effects of their treatment. So as I’m sure, you know, when people go through chemotherapy and radiation treatment for cancer, the side effects can be very difficult, very challenging for the patient. They can really affect the patient’s quality of life. They can affect the patient’s ability to complete the treatment. And it can really add significantly to the cost of care because the side effects are what frequently than the patient in the hospital, not the treatments themselves.Gillian (1m 28s):And so our goal at Enlivity is to support patients as they go through these treatments, just helping them to complete the treatment cycle. There is a significant percentage about 20% of patients who will stop their treatment fairly because the side effects are so challenging and we don’t want that to have to happen. So we want to provide support to patients while they go through treatment so they can get to the end of the treatment cycle.Jeffrey (1m 56s):Oh, Jillian, I would assume you have a medical background. Tell me about yourself and how you got into this.Gillian (2m 2s):You don’t have a medical background. My background is actually in engineering. I did my PhD work in a tissue engineering lab at MIT. And from there kind of went into the biotech industry. So worked in the biotech industry for several years and it always struck me the amount of time and energy and resources that it takes to develop new drugs. And, you know, I have a tremendous amount of respect for, for people doing that work. It’s very, very challenging work, but I became interested in nutrition and the potential of nutrients to do, you know, helpful things for the body.Gillian (2m 51s):And th the idea that there are potentially therapeutic molecules in the foods that we eat. And if we can just what these molecules are doing and harness them in the correct way, we could do a lot of good for a lot of people. And so the kind of the fundamental technology behind our products is similar to the technologies used in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries for tissue targeting and drug delivery. We are, our products are focused around what we call nutrient delivery.Gillian (3m 32s):So using the same kinds of tissue targeting techniques to get the nutrients where, and when they’re needed during the cancer treatment cycle.Jeffrey (3m 43s):Interesting. So again, how did you get into this business?Gillian (3m 47s):Well, I was working in biotech, as I said, and had a very good friend who developed cancer. She went through cancer treatment for about 12 years and eventually died of her disease. But one of the things I observed just watching her go through her treatments was that the side effects of the chemotherapy treatments were what really kind of fade lined her. So she never really complained about her disease. She was a very active person and wanted to be able to continue living her life as much as she could while she could. But when she was going through her chemotherapy treatments, they really had a devastating impact on her quality of life.Gillian (4m 29s):She wasn’t able to do all of the things that she liked to do. And I started to think about, you know, while, you know, like I said, in biotech, there’s an auto focus on developing the next generation of cancer drugs, but what was being done for patients on the current drugs? I really started to feel that somebody should be doing something to help people going through treatments now and not just looking, you know, five or 10 years into the future when you generations of drugs would be available. And so this is how I got interested in kind of how to manage side effects.Jeffrey (5m 11s):Interesting. And how many people are on the team2 (5m 15s):Today. SoGillian (5m 17s):At the moment, it’s a very small team. They’re really two of us full-time. And then we, we work with a number of part-time people and freelance and contractors, but there are two full-time people on the team and, and who retains your services. We sell products. So we have a product. Our first product is now available. It’s called helium. And it is for patients who are suffering from mouth sores as a result of their treatment. So about 40% of cancer patients develop very painful mouth sores. When they go through treatment, these mouth sores can affect their ability to eat and drink sometimes to speak.Gillian (6m 2s):And if they’re not resolved and the patient can become malnourished and dehydrated and maybe have to be admitted to hospital. And so we have a product that is a rinse, a mouth rinse that helps to rebuild the lining of the mouth and fruits that get the, can get degraded during cancer treatment.Jeffrey (6m 21s):Geez. I pitch it. That would be something I would need because my mouth has always been very sensitive to different things.Gillian (6m 27s):So, oh, is that right? Okay. Yeah, I hadJeffrey (6m 30s):Cancer, but I did not have chemo, so, oh, okay.2 (6m 35s):Interesting.Jeffrey (6m 36s):And it would be a mouthwash product again, is it bought by the hospital? Is it bought by the insurance provider? Is it bought by the consumer? Where does it get, how does it get, how does the whole channel work?Gillian (6m 48s):So at the moment we fail in three different ways. We failed directly to patients through our website. We also sell to hospitals and cancer treatment centers. And in some cases they buy the product and they give it to patients for free as part of their treatment plan. In other cases, they buy it and they resell it through the hospital pharmacy. And then we also make it available on Amazon.Jeffrey (7m 20s):You are selling it nationally, nationally. That’s right. Yes. Yes. That’s that’s good. Do you find that there are certain regions of the country that you’re getting greater acceptance than others?3 (7m 32s):Definitely do.Gillian (7m 33s):It was the, the product was developed by an oncologist who at the time was at MD Anderson cancer center. And so he put his patients on the product and his colleagues also started using the product with their patients. And so definitely patients who go to MD Anderson for certain treatments that tend to cause these small floors hear about the product. And we, I guess we have greater attraction among those in Texas, generally, because of that,Jeffrey (8m 11s):You know, I, you know, I was told that part of what’s got you into this business was that you lost a friend to cancer. I mean, I think most of us have lost friends to cancer. You know, you know, I’ve lost friends to cancer, to COVID to heart attacks, but you know, it never, it never directed me into a business, but it did for you. This must have, it must have been a very important part of your life.Gillian (8m 39s):It was a very close friend of mine that I lost and just kind of observing her journey made me realize, you know, it’s something that I should have realized before, but just observing her journey made me realize that, you know, cancer patients are people. They have lives and they have families and jobs and hobbies and things that they want to do. And when they go through the treatment, you know, much of that is disrupted. And I think for them, it’s just kind of a constant reminder of their illness. The side effects are just a constant reminder of their illness.Gillian (9m 21s):And in my friend’s case, you know, she got to a point where she decided not to continue treatment and talked about the need to choose between length of life and quality of life. And it, that really struck me. It really made me think that, you know, people shouldn’t have to be making that type of choice. And that’s really what kind of got me started on this path.Jeffrey (9m 47s):All healthcare choices, as you get older, there are difficult choices, very difficult2 (9m 52s):Or very difficult.Jeffrey (9m 55s):So if you could, can you give me a sense of what the company is going to look like? In a couple of years, in a coupleGillian (10m 4s):Of years, we’d like to have a portfolio of products. I mentioned that we just have our first products available in the market. Now we’d like to launch a couple of other products where each product is targeted towards a different side effect, a different cancer treatment side effect. And then we would like to expand into, you know, in the channels that we’re currently in now, but also into some retail. So there are a couple of brick and mortar opportunities that we’re looking at that we’d like to expand into.Jeffrey (10m 42s):We’ve been speaking with Jillian, Isabel, CEO of invalidity, Juliana. If someone’s interested in finding you learning more about the company, how would they do that? SoGillian (10m 51s):Our website is probably the best way. It’s an Enlivity.com. Great. Well, that’s pretty easy.Jeffrey (10m 57s):Thank you for being on the show today. We hope you join our Radio Entrepreneurs network and we continue to hear from you and keep updates. Great. Thank you very much, right. And remind everybody, this is Radio Entrepreneurs. Thanks.Subscribe to our Podcast!Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsStitcherFind us on Social MediaLinkedInYouTubeFacebookTwitterThe post “Helping Patients Manage Chemo &amp; Radiation Therapy Side Effects” with Gillian Isabelle of Enlivity appeared first on Radio Entrepreneurs.

Link To Guest Website: <a href="https://enlivity.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://enlivity.com/</a><a href="https://www.catalyte.io/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank"></a>Title: “Helping Patients Manage Chemo &amp; Radiation Therapy Side Effects Guest: Gillian Isabelle – Enlivity Interviewer: Jeffrey Davis – MAGE LLC<h5>Click here to read the transcript</h5>Jeffrey (0s): Well, here we are again, sitting in the Radio Entrepreneurs, studio high atop Newton, Massachusetts. And my name is Jeffrey Davis. I’m the host of Radio Entrepreneurs. I’m also CEO and founder of Mage LLC. Hard to believe started Mage in 1985, worked with leaders and entrepreneurs and over 700 organizations, kind of amazing when you think about it, at least for me to think about it. Cause I remember the first day on the job. Our next guest is a Gillian Isabelle, CEO of Enlivity. Welcome.Gillian (34s): Thank you. Thank you for having me.Jeffrey (37s): Well, you know, it’s got a positive name and I’m sure it has a positive meaning. What is Enlivity all about?Gillian (43s): Well, Enlivity is a cancer supportive care company and we are based here in greater Boston. We provide products for patients going through chemotherapy and radiation treatments that help them to manage the side effects of their treatment. So as I’m sure, you know, when people go through chemotherapy and radiation treatment for cancer, the side effects can be very difficult, very challenging for the patient. They can really affect the patient’s quality of life. They can affect the patient’s ability to complete the treatment. And it can really add significantly to the cost of care because the side effects are what frequently than the patient in the hospital, not the treatments themselves.Gillian (1m 28s): And so our goal at Enlivity is to support patients as they go through these treatments, just helping them to complete the treatment cycle. There is a significant percentage about 20% of patients who will stop their treatment fairly because the side effects are so challenging and we don’t want that to have to happen. So we want to provide support to patients while they go through treatment so they can get to the end of the treatment cycle.Jeffrey (1m 56s): Oh, Jillian, I would assume you have a medical background. Tell me about yourself and how you got into this.Gillian (2m 2s): You don’t have a medical background. My background is actually in engineering. I did my PhD work in a tissue engineering lab at MIT. And from there kind of went into the biotech industry. So worked in the biotech industry for several years and it always struck me the amount of time and energy and resources that it takes to develop new drugs. And, you know, I have a tremendous amount of respect for, for people doing that work. It’s very, very challenging work, but I became interested in nutrition and the potential of nutrients to do, you know, helpful things for the body.Gillian (2m 51s): And th the idea that there are potentially therapeutic molecules in the foods that we eat. And if we can just what these molecules are doing and harness them in the correct way, we could do a lot of good for a lot of people. And so the kind of the fundamental technology behind our products is similar to the technologies used in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries for tissue targeting and drug delivery. We are, our products are focused around what we call nutrient delivery.Gillian (3m 32s): So using the same kinds of tissue targeting techniques to get the nutrients where, and when they’re needed during the cancer treatment cycle.Jeffrey (3m 43s): Interesting. So again, how did you get into this business?Gillian (3m 47s): Well, I was working in biotech, as I said, and had a very good friend who developed cancer. She went through cancer treatment for about 12 years and eventually died of her disease. But one of the things I observed just watching her go through her treatments was that the side effects of the chemotherapy treatments were what really kind of fade lined her. So she never really complained about her disease. She was a very active person and wanted to be able to continue living her life as much as she could while she could. But when she was going through her chemotherapy treatments, they really had a devastating impact on her quality of life.Gillian (4m 29s): She wasn’t able to do all of the things that she liked to do. And I started to think about, you know, while, you know, like I said, in biotech, there’s an auto focus on developing the next generation of cancer drugs, but what was being done for patients on the current drugs? I really started to feel that somebody should be doing something to help people going through treatments now and not just looking, you know, five or 10 years into the future when you generations of drugs would be available. And so this is how I got interested in kind of how to manage side effects.Jeffrey (5m 11s): Interesting. And how many people are on the team2 (5m 15s): Today. SoGillian (5m 17s): At the moment, it’s a very small team. They’re really two of us full-time. And then we, we work with a number of part-time people and freelance and contractors, but there are two full-time people on the team and, and who retains your services. We sell products. So we have a product. Our first product is now available. It’s called helium. And it is for patients who are suffering from mouth sores as a result of their treatment. So about 40% of cancer patients develop very painful mouth sores. When they go through treatment, these mouth sores can affect their ability to eat and drink sometimes to speak.Gillian (6m 2s): And if they’re not resolved and the patient can become malnourished and dehydrated and maybe have to be admitted to hospital. And so we have a product that is a rinse, a mouth rinse that helps to rebuild the lining of the mouth and fruits that get the, can get degraded during cancer treatment.Jeffrey (6m 21s): Geez. I pitch it. That would be something I would need because my mouth has always been very sensitive to different things.Gillian (6m 27s): So, oh, is that right? Okay. Yeah, I hadJeffrey (6m 30s): Cancer, but I did not have chemo, so, oh, okay.2 (6m 35s): Interesting.Jeffrey (6m 36s): And it would be a mouthwash product again, is it bought by the hospital? Is it bought by the insurance provider? Is it bought by the consumer? Where does it get, how does it get, how does the whole channel work?Gillian (6m 48s): So at the moment we fail in three different ways. We failed directly to patients through our website. We also sell to hospitals and cancer treatment centers. And in some cases they buy the product and they give it to patients for free as part of their treatment plan. In other cases, they buy it and they resell it through the hospital pharmacy. And then we also make it available on Amazon.Jeffrey (7m 20s): You are selling it nationally, nationally. That’s right. Yes. Yes. That’s that’s good. Do you find that there are certain regions of the country that you’re getting greater acceptance than others?3 (7m 32s): Definitely do.Gillian (7m 33s): It was the, the product was developed by an oncologist who at the time was at MD Anderson cancer center. And so he put his patients on the product and his colleagues also started using the product with their patients. And so definitely patients who go to MD Anderson for certain treatments that tend to cause these small floors hear about the product. And we, I guess we have greater attraction among those in Texas, generally, because of that,Jeffrey (8m 11s): You know, I, you know, I was told that part of what’s got you into this business was that you lost a friend to cancer. I mean, I think most of us have lost friends to cancer. You know, you know, I’ve lost friends to cancer, to COVID to heart attacks, but you know, it never, it never directed me into a business, but it did for you. This must have, it must have been a very important part of your life.Gillian (8m 39s): It was a very close friend of mine that I lost and just kind of observing her journey made me realize, you know, it’s something that I should have realized before, but just observing her journey made me realize that, you know, cancer patients are people. They have lives and they have families and jobs and hobbies and things that they want to do. And when they go through the treatment, you know, much of that is disrupted. And I think for them, it’s just kind of a constant reminder of their illness. The side effects are just a constant reminder of their illness.Gillian (9m 21s): And in my friend’s case, you know, she got to a point where she decided not to continue treatment and talked about the need to choose between length of life and quality of life. And it, that really struck me. It really made me think that, you know, people shouldn’t have to be making that type of choice. And that’s really what kind of got me started on this path.Jeffrey (9m 47s): All healthcare choices, as you get older, there are difficult choices, very difficult2 (9m 52s): Or very difficult.Jeffrey (9m 55s): So if you could, can you give me a sense of what the company is going to look like? In a couple of years, in a coupleGillian (10m 4s): Of years, we’d like to have a portfolio of products. I mentioned that we just have our first products available in the market. Now we’d like to launch a couple of other products where each product is targeted towards a different side effect, a different cancer treatment side effect. And then we would like to expand into, you know, in the channels that we’re currently in now, but also into some retail. So there are a couple of brick and mortar opportunities that we’re looking at that we’d like to expand into.Jeffrey (10m 42s): We’ve been speaking with Jillian, Isabel, CEO of invalidity, Juliana. If someone’s interested in finding you learning more about the company, how would they do that? SoGillian (10m 51s): Our website is probably the best way. It’s an <a href="http://Enlivity.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Enlivity.com</a>. Great. Well, that’s pretty easy.Jeffrey (10m 57s): Thank you for being on the show today. We hope you join our Radio Entrepreneurs network and we continue to hear from you and keep updates. Great. Thank you very much, right. And remind everybody, this is Radio Entrepreneurs. Thanks.Subscribe to our Podcast!Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsStitcherFind us on Social MediaLinkedInYouTubeFacebookTwitterThe post <a href="https://radioentrepreneurs.com/2021/06/24/helping-patients-manage-chemo-radiation-therapy-side-effects-with-gillian-isabelle-of-enlivity/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">“Helping Patients Manage Chemo &amp; Radiation Therapy Side Effects” with Gillian Isabelle of Enlivity</a> appeared first on <a href="https://radioentrepreneurs.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Radio Entrepreneurs</a>.

“Helping Patients Manage Chemo & Radiation Therapy Side Effects” with Gillian Isabelle of Enlivity

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click Here Founder Gillian Isabelle, Ph.D. returns to give us an update on how her startup Enlivity is navigating the COVID crisis. Here is Gillian's origin story:  Gillian Isabelle's Full Interview

Join Sal's Investment Syndicate: <a href="https://www.angelinvestboston.com/our-syndicates" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Click Here</a> Founder Gillian Isabelle, Ph.D. returns to give us an update on how her startup Enlivity is navigating the COVID crisis. Here is Gillian's origin story: <a href="https://www.angelinvestboston.com/ep-76-gillian-isabelle-enlivity" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Gillian Isabelle's Full Interview</a>

Gillian Isabelle - COVID-19 Update

Invest Alongside Boston's Top Angels: Our Syndicates Scientist and intrapreneur Gillian Isabelle, PhD, founded Enlivity (https://enlivity.com/) to make chemotherapy more bearable for cancer patients. The first product is a supplement invented by an oncologist that helps prevent sores from forming in the mouths and digestive tracts of patients receiving chemotherapy, a problem that can delay life-saving treatment. A fun interview with an infectiously affable guest.  Gillian Isabelle studied material science at UC Berkeley and received her PhD from MIT. Worked at Corning and then at PureTech Health, the remarkable promising new pharma company started in Boston. At the Broad Institute she set up and ran the business development office to bring is licensing revenue from the Broad’s research. Gillian Isabelle is the founder of Enlivity, a startup dedicated to improving the lives of patients receiving chemotherapy. Radiation and chemotherapy have serious side effects that include sores in the mouth and the digestive tract. Such sores can cause treatment to be reduced or suspended, lowering the chances of the patient surviving the cancer. Patients with mouth sores may need to be administered opioids to help them endure treatment. These side effects also have economic consequences. Patients with sores may need to be admitted to a hospital in order to continue receiving therapy. Providers have an economic incentive to help to prevent hospitalization due to side effects from therapy. Value-based reimbursement for treatments, which is now the rule among payors, increases the incentive of managing side effects from treatment. Supporting the health of the oral and digestive mucosa allows patients to eat and drink normally and to maintain a healthy weight. Gillian observed a gap in cancer care. Great work is being done in developing new therapies but those can take decades before they help patients. Little is being done to help patients endure current therapies. If we can help patients better tolerate existing therapies, we can achieve better treatment outcomes and lower cost of care in the short run. She sees dealing with side effects as relatively low-hanging fruit. Gillian’s research, including talking to a lot of doctors, nurses and patients, showed that the most likely path to improving outcomes was to work on making nutrients that are known to support the health of tissues more bio-available. She speculated that using technology for targeted released of compounds in the body could help make these nutrients more available. The first product, Healios, is a compound of glutamine. Glutamine has been known to provide amino acids, the building blocks of protein, that support tissue health and immune function. Unfortunately, glutamine by itself is not bio-available. A pediatric oncologist at MD Anderson, a leading cancer clinic in Houston, invented a compound of glutamine with sugars which is readily absorbed by the body. This patented formulation is licensed exclusively to Enlivity. Gillian intends Healios to be the first of a whole stable of products that support patients receiving treatment. Gillian met her co-founder Jill Tobacco via LinkedIn. Jill brings marketing experience and to complement Gillian’s technical background. Gillian was looking for a nutritionist who was good at marketing. Jill bought into the vision. Looking for a co-founder displays self-awareness on the part of Gillian Isabelle for knowing what she needed help with. Before asking Gillian how she plans to go to market, Sal talks a bit about his portfolio company Akili Interactive which expects to be the first company to get approval from the FDA to market a video game to treat ADHD or attention deficit. Akili’s approach is to actually train the young person’s brain to make it easier to pay attention. It’s meant to be a therapy for the underlying cause of the problem, not just a treatment for the symptoms. This is a link to an article in the Financial Times about the founder Eddie Martucci, PhD and the company: https://www.ft.com/content/1f2bc488-8c5a-11e9-a1c1-51bf8f989972 Sal mentions Akili to highlight the type of opportunity he sees in Boston’s startup ecosystem. Accredited investors should contact AngelInvestBoston.com to learn more. Chemotherapy targets the fastest growing cells in the body because cancer cells are fast-growing. Cells in the lining of the mouth and throat are also fast-growing so they are susceptible to chemotherapy which is what leads to sores. Radiation releases free radicals which also attack the lining of the mouth and throat. Enlivity plans to market its products directly to the care providers who are the most familiar with the problems of cancer therapy. There is also growing inbound interest from care providers. Conversion is high when patients try samples. Sold via their own website. By the end of 2020 Gillian hopes Enlivity will have a strategic partnership for distribution and to be launching their second product, a treatment for people who lose the ability to make saliva due to radiation therapy. Gillian describes working at PureTech Health when it was a startup starting startups. The company partnered with faculty members seeking to commercialize technologies. Gillian told us how exciting it was to work with Daphne Zohar, the founder of PureTech. PureTech has shown a remarkable ability to define important problems to address and to bring capable resources to bear on their area of focus. When Gillian went to the Broad Institute it was still managed as a department within MIT. As the Broad spun out from MIT, it needed to have its own technology transfer office which handled licenses and collaboration with strategic players such as the large pharmaceutical companies. Big pharma is reducing in-house research and contracting it out to universities. Watching a friend die from cancer at age 42 changed Gillian’s focus from long-term cures to what could be done in the short run to improve the lives of cancer patients. Gillian did not see anyone else addressing the gap she noticed so she decided she was the person to do it. Gillian’s mother was a nurse practitioner who was an early social entrepreneur creating a program for disabled children which was copied all over Jamaica. She is a model for Gillian. Gillian’s husband is very supportive of her venture. Gillian emphasized the importance of finding allies to support you early on because the journey is very lonely. Advice to entrepreneurs: don’t go it alone. Important allies: MIT Venture Mentoring Services (VMS), co-founder, and other mentors and friends. Gillian reveals that she’s a listener to the Angel Invest Boston podcast and that she has left a review on iTunes. I’m honored! 

Invest Alongside Boston's Top Angels: <a href="https://www.angelinvestboston.com/our-syndicates" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Our Syndicates</a> Scientist and intrapreneur Gillian Isabelle, PhD, founded Enlivity (<a href="https://enlivity.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://enlivity.com/</a>) to make chemotherapy more bearable for cancer patients. The first product is a supplement invented by an oncologist that helps prevent sores from forming in the mouths and digestive tracts of patients receiving chemotherapy, a problem that can delay life-saving treatment. A fun interview with an infectiously affable guest. <ul> <li>Gillian Isabelle studied material science at UC Berkeley and received her PhD from MIT.</li> <li>Worked at Corning and then at PureTech Health, the remarkable promising new pharma company started in Boston.</li> <li>At the Broad Institute she set up and ran the business development office to bring is licensing revenue from the Broad’s research.</li> <li>Gillian Isabelle is the founder of Enlivity, a startup dedicated to improving the lives of patients receiving chemotherapy.</li> <li>Radiation and chemotherapy have serious side effects that include sores in the mouth and the digestive tract. Such sores can cause treatment to be reduced or suspended, lowering the chances of the patient surviving the cancer.</li> <li>Patients with mouth sores may need to be administered opioids to help them endure treatment.</li> <li>These side effects also have economic consequences. Patients with sores may need to be admitted to a hospital in order to continue receiving therapy. Providers have an economic incentive to help to prevent hospitalization due to side effects from therapy.</li> <li>Value-based reimbursement for treatments, which is now the rule among payors, increases the incentive of managing side effects from treatment.</li> <li>Supporting the health of the oral and digestive mucosa allows patients to eat and drink normally and to maintain a healthy weight.</li> <li>Gillian observed a gap in cancer care. Great work is being done in developing new therapies but those can take decades before they help patients. Little is being done to help patients endure current therapies. If we can help patients better tolerate existing therapies, we can achieve better treatment outcomes and lower cost of care in the short run.</li> <li>She sees dealing with side effects as relatively low-hanging fruit.</li> <li>Gillian’s research, including talking to a lot of doctors, nurses and patients, showed that the most likely path to improving outcomes was to work on making nutrients that are known to support the health of tissues more bio-available. She speculated that using technology for targeted released of compounds in the body could help make these nutrients more available.</li> <li>The first product, Healios, is a compound of glutamine. Glutamine has been known to provide amino acids, the building blocks of protein, that support tissue health and immune function. Unfortunately, glutamine by itself is not bio-available. A pediatric oncologist at MD Anderson, a leading cancer clinic in Houston, invented a compound of glutamine with sugars which is readily absorbed by the body. This patented formulation is licensed exclusively to Enlivity.</li> <li>Gillian intends Healios to be the first of a whole stable of products that support patients receiving treatment.</li> <li>Gillian met her co-founder Jill Tobacco via LinkedIn. Jill brings marketing experience and to complement Gillian’s technical background. Gillian was looking for a nutritionist who was good at marketing. Jill bought into the vision.</li> <li>Looking for a co-founder displays self-awareness on the part of Gillian Isabelle for knowing what she needed help with.</li> <li>Before asking Gillian how she plans to go to market, Sal talks a bit about his portfolio company Akili Interactive which expects to be the first company to get approval from the FDA to market a video game to treat ADHD or attention deficit. Akili’s approach is to actually train the young person’s brain to make it easier to pay attention. It’s meant to be a therapy for the underlying cause of the problem, not just a treatment for the symptoms. This is a link to an article in the Financial Times about the founder Eddie Martucci, PhD and the company: <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/1f2bc488-8c5a-11e9-a1c1-51bf8f989972" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.ft.com/content/1f2bc488-8c5a-11e9-a1c1-51bf8f989972</a></li> <li>Sal mentions Akili to highlight the type of opportunity he sees in Boston’s startup ecosystem. Accredited investors should contact <a href="http://AngelInvestBoston.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AngelInvestBoston.com</a> to learn more.</li> <li>Chemotherapy targets the fastest growing cells in the body because cancer cells are fast-growing. Cells in the lining of the mouth and throat are also fast-growing so they are susceptible to chemotherapy which is what leads to sores.</li> <li>Radiation releases free radicals which also attack the lining of the mouth and throat.</li> <li>Enlivity plans to market its products directly to the care providers who are the most familiar with the problems of cancer therapy.</li> <li>There is also growing inbound interest from care providers. Conversion is high when patients try samples. Sold via their own website.</li> <li>By the end of 2020 Gillian hopes Enlivity will have a strategic partnership for distribution and to be launching their second product, a treatment for people who lose the ability to make saliva due to radiation therapy.</li> <li>Gillian describes working at PureTech Health when it was a startup starting startups. The company partnered with faculty members seeking to commercialize technologies.</li> <li>Gillian told us how exciting it was to work with Daphne Zohar, the founder of PureTech.</li> <li>PureTech has shown a remarkable ability to define important problems to address and to bring capable resources to bear on their area of focus.</li> <li>When Gillian went to the Broad Institute it was still managed as a department within MIT. As the Broad spun out from MIT, it needed to have its own technology transfer office which handled licenses and collaboration with strategic players such as the large pharmaceutical companies.</li> <li>Big pharma is reducing in-house research and contracting it out to universities.</li> <li>Watching a friend die from cancer at age 42 changed Gillian’s focus from long-term cures to what could be done in the short run to improve the lives of cancer patients.</li> <li>Gillian did not see anyone else addressing the gap she noticed so she decided she was the person to do it.</li> <li>Gillian’s mother was a nurse practitioner who was an early social entrepreneur creating a program for disabled children which was copied all over Jamaica. She is a model for Gillian.</li> <li>Gillian’s husband is very supportive of her venture.</li> <li>Gillian emphasized the importance of finding allies to support you early on because the journey is very lonely. Advice to entrepreneurs: don’t go it alone.</li> <li>Important allies: MIT Venture Mentoring Services (VMS), co-founder, and other mentors and friends.</li> <li>Gillian reveals that she’s a listener to the Angel Invest Boston podcast and that she has left a review on iTunes. I’m honored!</li> </ul>