What You Need to Know About JAKs, TYKs, and Clinical Trials

“My own physician assistant, Monique, she's priceless. I can't live without her; she works with me on the research side. So if the value of a PA in an office has to be demonstrated, I'll just show you her picture,” said Neal Bhatia, MD, ahead of the 2023 Fall Clinical Dermatology Conference for PAs and NPs. Bhatia, the director of clinical dermatology at Therapeutic Clinical Research in San Diego, California, is presenting 3 sessions at the meeting, including what attendees need to know about JAKs and TYKs, as well as the PAs and NP's role in clinical trials and research.

Bhatia’s presentations include:

• JAKs and TYKs – What You Need to Know: June 10th, 1:50pm ET, Citron Ballroom North
• Understanding Clinical Trials: June 10th, 3:30pm ET, Citron Ballroom North

Bhatia: Hi there. This is Dr. Neal Bhatia. I'm director of clinical dermatology at Therapeutic Clinical Research in San Diego. And I'll be speaking at the Fall Clinical Nurse Practitioner and PA meeting in Orlando this coming week. One of my talks is going to be the difference defining between what is a JAK inhibitor and what is a TYK2 inhibitor and all the things that make them both unique and similar at the same time. Some of the important nuances are the lab monitoring because again, tyrosine kinase 2 is mainly immune specific, it doesn't have the impact on bone metabolism, lipid metabolism, or hematopoiesis, that the JAK inhibitors do. At the same time, the versatility of the JAK inhibitors really gives us a lot of opportunities for where we can put them, especially given the number of cytokine profiles that are modulated. Soit'll be really interesting what we're going to do, but I'll try to make sure I put some of it in English so we can all understand even more. So again, it's just the fun of using new drugs that finally get to treat diseases that really weren't easy to control. And I think that'll be a good overview for all of us.

The second is kind of linked to my basic job, which is about doing clinical research and what's the role of physician assistants and nurse practitioners in many respects. I found some good information on, you know, who can be a primary investigator, what is the responsibility of the sub investigator, and even more about some of the nuts and bolts of clinical research that really distinguish it from regular practice. You know, we can't convert medical assistants into research coordinators, you have to be well-firewalled off. And clinical research is a business. It's a very significant business with a lot of consequencesof things that go wrong, but it can be alsovery rewarding when things do go well. So definitely just some things to kind of discuss the overview.

My own physician assistant, Monique, she's priceless. I can't live without her. And she works with me on the research side. We do a lot of the regulatory and all the other work together. So, if the value of a PA in an office has to be demonstrated, I'll just show you her picture. Then we'll be good. So anyway, looking forward to seeing everyone at the meeting and everyone take care.

[Transcript edited for clarity]