• Personalized Medicine is Here

    As defined by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, “Personalized Medicine” refers to the tailoring of medical treatment to the individual characteristics of each patient…to classify individuals into subpopulations that differ in their susceptibility to a particular disease or their response to a specific treatment.  Preventative or therapeutic interventions can then be concentrated on those who will benefit, sparing expense and side effects for those who will not.  (Quote obtained from http://www.personalizedmedicinecoalition.org/about)

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  • Big Zach’s ‘Talking Sticks’

    This wonderful video shines a loving spotlight clearly and compassionately on the creative heart and lively soul beating inside Zachary “Big Zach” Haught. “Big Zach” uses simple ‘coffee sticks’ he picks up at his local Starbucks to tell stories, dramatize scenes from movies he has seen or video games he has played, create songs and enjoy his art. A 3D episode about Zach and his art is in development. Zach’s Mom, Jennifer is desperately seeking a cure for his disease, [...]

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  • Oscar Winner to Film the Future of Medicine.

    Our mission at Pacific Film Foundation (PFF) is to tell the world about Personalized Medicine, a new form of medicine being born.  New, DNA-based therapeutics are being discovered, developed, researched (including via dramatic clinical trials, which we are filming), manufactured, distributed and delivered to patients. Our job as filmmakers is to show the dramatic stories of the pioneering physician-scientists, of the heroic patients enrolled in clinical trials and of the innovative biomedical institutions and companies providing these therapeutics. Our educational [...]

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  • Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the NIH

    May 20, 2010:  This interview was conducted by the Pacific Film Foundation with Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the NIH (National Institutes of Health).  The occasion was a Senate Briefing co-hosted by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and FasterCures.org, entitled, “Leveraging Federal Investment to Speed the Development of Promising Therapies for Patients.”

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  • The Importance of Clinical Trials

    Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D., MD Anderson Cancer Center emphasizes the importance of Clinical Trials, which are conducted in a series of steps, called phases – each phase is designed to answer a separate research question. Phase I:  Researchers test a new treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluates its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects. Phase II:  The treatment is given to a larger group of people to see if [...]

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  • Gene Therapy Successes

    When Ted Friedmann, M.D., M.A., and his laboratory team set up the experiment that led to the seminal paper in the field, published in the March 3, 1972 issue of Science Magazine, he anticipated a time when gene therapies might be available to humans, and even to provide hope and successful treatments for life-threatening diseases affecting humanity.  That day has come, and in this short interview at the 2010 American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Conference, Dr. [...]

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Breaking the Code: My Personalized Medicine Video

  • Corey Plays Little League: Give to The Foundation for Retinal Research

    Corey Plays Little League: Give to The Foundation for Retinal Research

    LEBER’S CONGENITAL AMAUROSIS Nancy Haas received a wonderful Mother’s Day Present, knowing her son, Corey could play Little League baseball without help – thanks to gene therapy! Under the direction of a team at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, led by Jean Bennett, MD, PhD, F.M. Kirby Professor of Ophthalmology and Katherine A. High, William H. Bennett Professor of Pediatrics, both at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, eight-year-old Corey Haas of Hadley, N.Y., received gene therapy for a rare [...]

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  • Dr. Cartier-Lacave Stops ALD: Give to the Stop ALD Foundation

    Dr. Cartier-Lacave Stops ALD: Give to the Stop ALD Foundation

    LEBER’S CONGENTIAL AMAUROSIS:  GIVE TO THE FOUNDATION FOR RETINAL RESEARCH Dr. Nathalie Cartier, Director of Research at INSERM, Hospital Saint Vincent de Paul, University Rene Descartes, Paris, led the team that arrested the progression of the rare and fatal degenerative disorder adnenoleukodystrophy (ALD), also known as “Lorenzo’s Oil” disease. The inherited disease keeps the body from breaking down fat molecules, which clog and then destroy nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. ALD, which affects about one in 20,000 [...]

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  • Big Zach’s Talking Sticks:  Give to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

    Big Zach’s Talking Sticks: Give to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

    MITOCHONDRIAL AUTISM WITH DYSAUTONOMIA This wonderful video, part of our My Video Story library, shines a loving spotlight clearly and compassionately on the creative heart and lively soul beating inside “Big Zach” Haught. “Big Zach” uses simple ‘coffee sticks’ he picks up at his local Starbucks to tell stories, dramatize scenes from movies he has seen or video games he has played, create songs and enjoy his art. A 3D episode about Zach and his art is in development. Zach’s [...]

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