Timestamps:

4:19 - Being an immigrant and being an entrepreneur

7:23 - Convincing your boss to help you start a startup

10:30 - What are chronic wounds?

16:10 - Making personalized therapies affordable

24:00 - The long development cycles in biotech

About Priyanka Dutta Passecker:

Priyanka Dutta Passecker is the co-founder and CEO of Healiva, a biotech startup using advanced cell therapy to treat acute and chronic wounds. She holds a PhD in Neuroscience from Trinity College Dublin and worked for companies like UCB Pharma, Axol Bioscience Ltd and Bioseutica before starting Healiva in 2020.

2-3% of the elderly suffer from painful venous/arterial leg ulcers and nearly 25% of diabetics may develop diabetic foot ulcers in their lifetimes. This burden is borne by healthcare systems, which spend 2% of their budgets on wound management. Worst of all, about 60% of chronic wounds remain unhealed. That’s why Healiva is such a game changer: they use 3 non-virus-based enzymes from codfish pancreas, which, due to their provenance, are quite stable at room temperature, and therefore can be stored in a liquid form and used as a spray. They’re currently getting ready for pre-clinical studies to prove the safety and efficacy of their product.

The cover portrait was edited by⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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