What sets BioVie Inc (NASDAQ:BIVI) apart from many of its biotechnology peers is the fact it has appointed a Chief Social Impact Officer whose role is to drive the company’s people-focused social impact initiatives.
Holding this position is Sarah Hoit, who has a personal connection to Alzheimer's, the neurodegenerative disease which is the focus of BioVie’s clinical research efforts. Her husband died from Alzheimer’s in 2022.
“It has a really profound effect, and so, I'm going to devote the rest of my career to solving this disease and bringing the world together to do so,” she told Proactive.
As BioVie’s Chief Social Impact Officer, Hoit helps drive the company’s non-clinical work around improving brain health, which included starting Social Impact Partners, a global brain health initiative.
A key theme of Social Impact Partners is collaboration, as it brings together an alliance of for-profit and non-profit sector leaders with the shared goal of improved brain health and finding solutions in the fight against Alzheimer’s Disease.
Along with BioVie, other partners of the initiative include Spinnaker Venture Partners, CaringKind, IXL Center, Us Against Alzheimer's and Global Innovation Management (GIM) Institute.
She said there is a lot of information about longevity and healthy ageing that can help individuals to improve their brain health and a goal of the initiative is to get that information out there.
“[We are hoping] we can cut the rates of dementia tremendously while we are working on the science,” Hoit said.
An example of its work is its inaugural Innovation Olympics held earlier this year.
This brought together 34 students from eight universities to develop business concepts, products or services to address brain health and healthy ageing in an eight-week consulting program, led by the initiative’s partners IXL Center and GIM Institute.
“I wish every company could think about this the way BioVie does, together we are stronger,” Hoit said. “BioVie is a company with a heart.”
Contact the author at emily.jarvie@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow her on Twitter @emilyjjarvie