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Recently, I had a chance to sit down with Evan Edwards one of the founders of Kaleo Pharmaceuticals who attended the annual “FABlogCon” (Food Allergy Bloggers Conference). Each year, people pour in from all over the country to find out how to get the most impact from blogs, get research information, meet sponsors and food manufacturers. Since Kaleo is a sponsor, Evan and his twin brother Eric make it their point to have at least one of them present along with their rock star staff to hang out with those they can now call friends. Evan and Eric love being around the communities they serve.
When Evan and Eric came up with the ideas for founding a groundbreaking company that makes voice-instructed auto-injectors for medications to help with both the anaphylaxis crisis (severe allergic reaction) and opioid crisis (opioid overdose), they did so on the premise of ensuring a patient-inspired design. Both brothers lived with food allergies growing up and continue to manage them in their own families today. Knowing they’d be at the event, I approached Kaleo about doing a story. When I met them last year, they talked about their ideas so I wanted to see if the team actually put their money where their mouth is and their heart where their patients are.
The company, interestingly enough, only makes two drugs. Auvi-Q which is a talking auto-injector device delivering epinephrine to help save lives when people go into an anaphylactic reaction and Evzio which is also an auto-injector containing (naloxone) geared at helping save lives from opioid overdose. With the opioid crisis in America and the growing trend in life-threatening food allergies, these drugs are needed more now than ever before. What I find interesting is these guys are not hidden in a boardroom tucked away making money and calling shots. They are in the trenches with patients listening and making changes to help people as they go along. This is a far different approach than what I’ve seen from other companies.
At last year’s FABlogCon event, many advocates/caregivers spoke to them about the rising costs of everything from foods to medication and even stresses of every day living with allergies that are different for everyone. We sometimes feel like we are surrounded by landmines of unsafe foods. The cost of U.S. healthcare is continuously rising and with so many high deductible health plans, though we need the life-saving meds, the out of pocket cost required by multiple sets (school, bookbag, daycare etc) was too much. Because of this issue, they really listened and felt the pain. They saw it in our eyes. They dealt with it from the heart and the pocket because as people themselves living with food allergies and caring for children who have them, they understand.
Kaleo found a way to make it affordable to families so those who had a script could get free injectors delivered to their homes. Whoaaaa!!! Did I just say free? Yes, the heck I did. Many times these programs have guidelines around having commercial insurance or not having it. What many don’t know for this program for Auvi-Q is right now (and for the last year) you can get it for zero even if you have commercial insurance and even if your insurance doesn’t cover it they give it to you for zero.
In talking with Evan we discussed everything from the company’s name Kaleo which in ancient Greek means having a purpose or a calling to knowing that when you work on a product you may have to use on yourself, it raises the bar and makes you realize that every product you work on deserves the same type of ingenuity and attention in design and delivery as the next. He also mentioned how employees often have allergies, manage allergies or have encountered people in families or communities with opioid addiction issues. He said they strive to regularly maintain a culture where they remind themselves to grow in the right way which for them is relational and not necessarily as much transactional. When they get stories about Auvi-Q or Evzio saving a life it is extremely humbling for them which is important for people in the industry they are in to feel regularly because there is a lot of pressure and stigma in communities and the media already. Evan stressed the conferences are emotional for him. It’s was apparent in his body language that this is true.
As we went on to discuss the opioid crisis, Evan shared the same passion as he did about the allergic crisis. He talked about the devastation with the opioid issue and how the stigma around who is addicted gets in the way. He wanted people to know ide of the addicted person being a throw-aways doing bad things or the corner junkie type needs to stop because all lives matter no matter where you come from. He also mentioned the reality is people like you and me are getting addicted every day. There was a time when you hurt something you iced it, rested and waited for it to heal. Now this treatment protocol often includes opioids for pain. This is not the worst thing when it’s done right. For this reason they make sure they have sales specialists that go into the field to speak with pain specialists regarding education and overprescribing of medications. Many also need to know that patients have to understand taking these medications along with other things like drinking alcohol can create issues with outcomes that aren’t optimal. He even mentioned the majority of those overdosing are not even doing so intentionally and stressed again education is key.
Kaleo has done a lot of things for the communities including donations of products to Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico during this year’s catastrophic hurricane season in the last year. They’ve helped save over 4600 lives due to opioid overdose through their addiction program alone and that’s 4600 families that were able to be with loved ones. That’s compassion! With the free Auvi-Q program for the allergic community and the over 257,000 doses of Evzio donated to first responders, EMTs and police to save lives, they are really doing what they can. They aren’t naïve and know what they are doing is not the solution for the opioid epidemic but if they can help save lives and help educate people they know this will continue to make some impact. Some say that people are going to continue to use so what’s the point. Evan said he doesn’t believe that. He went on to say “we believe everyone deserves a second chance and when you think about the fact that we helped save 4600 lives, that’s 4600 families that can be together.” The most selfless thing Evan said is that they really don’t want people to ever HAVE to use their products but they do need to be available for emergencies.
On a final note, Evan said, “our commitment is to figure out and navigate this extremely complex healthcare industry and pricing and reimbursement side to see how we can sustain it and right now we are doing ok.” It is my hope they can keep finding ways to help out the best way possible. Let’s face it folks, as we know, there are never any long-term promises about anything but one thing I know about these guys are the real deal and they’ll keep helping as long as they can.
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