Page 49 - Beauty Prime Magazine

Jacqueline Iversen
is a pioneering
force in clinical
pain management
and
pharmaceutical
innovation,
dedicated to
transforming
patient care and
advancing
wellness.
from my research fellowship at
Memorial Sloan Kettering in New
York City. It was during that time,
decades ago, that I first became
fascinated by how the medical
community treated pain well after
the fact or reactively instead of
considering means of preventing
or mitigating it proactively. I am
a hospital pharmacist who loves
science and sees thousands of
people yearly who continue to
struggle with ailments, despite the
plethora of medications currently
available. I have always wanted to
improve outcomes with evidence
based ideas that challenge the sta-
tus quo. As for my husband; he’s
a brilliant business mind rooted
deeply in logistics and efficiency.
Bringing that sharp solutions-orien-
tation to the infamously old-school
pharma industry has been a true
competitive advantage to our
success. Rethinking the industry
paradigm, with Jim at the helm
as CEO and I as Chief Clinical
Officer, we believed it would result
in new, more innovative products
reaching patients in need. And we
both wanted that challenge.
What personal experiences
have shaped your determi-
nation to create solutions
for inflammation, pain, and
addiction?
As a pharmacist, but more so,
as a human, seeing the devasta-
tion and suffering brought onto
individuals and their
families, plaguing our
society and the world
by unethical pharma-
ceutical business prac-
tices, utilizing addicti-
ve drugs, makes me so
angry, that I have felt
a personal duty to use
my knowledge to help
out where I can. I re-
alized, had alternative
pharmaceutical pro-
ducts been developed
just before Oxycontin,
we could have reduced
the risk and devas-
tation of widespread
opioid addiction and
dependence. I believe
that drug development
has the potential to
change prescribing and drug policy,
by educating everyone, and I
wanted to share my knowledge this
way. An idea that could be distri-
buted to many. That’s where my
research began, treating pain with a
non-opioid agent that also reduces
the harmful effects of opioids. And
along the way, I’ve additionally
discovered new treatments to
reduce inflammation, and safely
modulate the immune system,
which coincidentally, is intimately
tied to pain and addiction.
What challenges have you
faced in developing low-cost
therapeutics for underserved
populations, and how have you
overcome them?
The majority of drugs, over
50% each year that obtain FDA
approval, are repurposed, low-cost
therapeutics that could reduce
healthcare expenditure - parti-
cularly in the United States, but
elsewhere as well - and expand
access to all populations. And the
majority of companies develop
drugs in that repurposed space;
which makes it very crowded.
Yet, the larger investors focus on
what we would consider “designer
drugs’’ which are where larger
pharma companies reside. That
risk to reward benefit is extremely
high. This designer investment
model makes the length of time to
develop a drug longer, for both the
pharmaceutical company and the
patient. Which is where Sen-Jam
sees the opportunity of rapidly and
at low cost, developing innovative
products that can challenge the
larger pharmaceutical company
inventions by targeting the same
unique mechanism of action, but
with an already available, known
to be safe, drug. So being nimble,
is our secret sauce, as we leverage
new technology (i.e. artificial
intelligence, digital clinical trials,
companion diagnostics, collabora-
tive partnerships, etc.) to achieve
our goals of bringing new and
superior solutions to patients as fast
as possible.
How do you envision the futu-
re of Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical
in terms of its impact on global
health?
Sen-Jam is on a mission to extend
healthy aging by safely modulating
our immune system. The immune
system is just now, being understo-
od and mapped, into a vast web of
differentiated cells and mediators
that influence our health for a
lifetime. Sen-Jam’s mission is to
support an individual’s immune
system, by first ensuring propering
monitoring, and measuring of the
immune system’s role in health
and disease. And secondly, or more
deliberately, treating inflammati-
on further upstream proactively
(meaning before tissue damage and
disease have taken root) than cur-
rent therapeutics do. It’s currently
believed that with overuse, our
immune system can become fra-
gile, and slow, leading to diseases
that require very potent, immuno-
suppressive treatments (i.e. costly
“designer drugs” for Inflammatory
bowel disease, arthritis, cancer,
etc). By targeting inflammation
using a broad-spectrum anti-inf-
lammatory without damaging the
immune system more, Sen-Jam
is able to proactively change the
course of inflammation for more
than half the world. And inflam-
mation comes in several forms:
acute, chronic, autoimmune, and
low grade chronic inflammation.
We believe we can protect the
immune system by preventing
and reducing the initial cascade of
inflammation that occurs, whether
from our environment (diet, stress,
allergies, substances of abuse, etc)
or from disease (cardiometabolic,
autoimmune or cancer).
What advice would you give
to aspiring pharmacists and
entrepreneurs looking to make
a difference in the pharmaceu-
tical industry?
I believe that history repeats it-
self, and all the large pharmaceuti-
cal companies were initially started
by a pharmacist, with an idea. And
entrepreneurs are filled with new
ideas infused with creativity. I
believe that is where it begins, and
then you start walking that path and
learning how to do it your unique
way. The industry is massive, and
there are a lot of opportunities with
some hard work. So your passion
has to be your calling. Don’t be
afraid to bring a fresh mind to these
large entrenched problems. In fact,
we believe Einstein had it right
when he said “you cannot solve a
problem with the same conscious-
ness that created it.” Trust your
instincts when something seems
off to you and follow the data fier-
cely. The industry needs creative
problem solvers like you so go out
there and explore what’s possible.
Expect to face adversity, especially
where money is holding the power
in the room, but have conviction in
your beliefs (and your data!) and
always do your best.
Can you provide more details
about Sen-Jam Pharmaceuti-
cal’s recent partnership with a
pharmaceutical manufacturer,
Manufacturing & Controls
(CMC), of your anti-inflamma-
tory injectable, and how this
collaboration will impact your
product development and
distribution?
Our partnership with KVK-Te-
ch is a massive accelerant to our
drug development activities. By
working closely and early with
our incredibly capable colleagues
at this world-class manufacturing
and controls organization, we are
able to produce the highest quality
product in the most efficient means
possible. KVK and Sen-Jam forged
an initial partnership around our
oral mast cell modulator and
recently entered a third drug
development project together with
the plans of developing the first
mast cell modulating injectable
for hospital use. We believe this
product offers a much needed tool
for physicians to transform care in
that setting.
BEAUTY PRIME II 49