Fixing a broken heart: Exploring new ways to heal damage after a heart attack

medicalxpress | April 23, 2019

For people who survive a heart attack, the days immediately following the event are critical for their longevity and long-term healing of the heart's tissue. Now researchers at Northwestern University and University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) have designed a minimally invasive platform to deliver a nanomaterial that turns the body's inflammatory response into a signal to heal rather than a means of scarring following a heart attack. Tissue engineering strategies to replace or supplement the extracellular matrix that degrades following a heart attack are not new, but most promising hydrogels cannot be delivered to the heart using minimally invasive catheter delivery because they clog the tube. The Northwestern-UC San Diego team has demonstrated a novel way to deliver a bioactivated, biodegradable, regenerative substance through a noninvasive catheter without clogging.

Spotlight

Injection systems that are attached to the patient's body (on-body delivery system OBDS) minimize possible risks, that can occur when drugs are administered by conventional needle-based injection systems (NIS). 

Spotlight

Injection systems that are attached to the patient's body (on-body delivery system OBDS) minimize possible risks, that can occur when drugs are administered by conventional needle-based injection systems (NIS). 

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VIEWS AND ANALYSIS, PHARMACY MARKET

Altro Pharmaceuticals Teams Up With LSPedia to Provide Cutting-Edge Technology for FDA DSCSA Compliance

PRNewswire | July 31, 2023

LSPedia, a leading SaaS provider specializing in product traceability solutions for the pharmaceutical industry, has partnered with Altro Pharmaceuticals, enabling Altro customers to easily comply with the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) ahead of the FDA's final deadline on November 27, 2023. Altro provides expertise and services to pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesale distributors, helping them expand their businesses, streamline supply chain operations, increase efficiency, and more. Now, its services include proven, worry-free turnkey DSCSA compliance, thanks to LSPedia's easy-to-use, comprehensive OneScan software suite. Sandy Greco, President of Altro Pharmaceuticals, noted, "Getting DSCSA right is essential to the smooth flow of business in the pharma supply chain, so we take it incredibly seriously, and we absolutely want our customers to succeed with it. LSPedia has the industry's best track record for user experience, scalability, and success – we can say for sure we're offering the best service available." LSPedia's OneScan Suite enables manufacturers and wholesalers to quickly achieve full compliance with all DSCSA requirements, including serialization, sending and receiving EPCIS data, verification, and interoperability. Further, the solution includes access to LSPedia's Investigator for Exceptions Management, the industry's gold standard for alerting, resolving, and preventing EPCIS transaction errors. "Altro is a perfect partner for LSPedia," said LSPedia CEO Riya Cao. "With so little time left before the compliance deadline, access and convenience are essential. Altro supports its customers with a deep service portfolio, and there's every reason it should include easy, complete DSCSA compliance." About LSPedia LSPedia is a leading provider of turnkey DSCSA compliance and SaaS solutions in the pharmaceutical industry. CMOs, manufacturers, 3PLs, wholesale distributors, dispensers, and healthcare providers use LSPedia's OneScan solution to make, move, track, verify, ship, and receive serialized products at every point in the supply chain. As the largest processor of serialized data in the industry, LSPedia builds solutions with workflow, automation, and data security at their core. OneScan delivers flexible integrations, high-performance product verification, and state-of-the-art EPCIS data exchange; LSPedia's Investigator platform is the gold standard for serialization exceptions management, as the first collaborative platform to resolve EPCIS errors and supply chain issues in real time.

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Pharmacy Market

Catalyst Clinical Research Announces the Acquisition of Genpro Research

PRNewswire | July 21, 2023

Catalyst Clinical Research an industry-leading provider of specialized clinical development solutions, announced today it has acquired Genpro Research ("Genpro"), a Massachusetts-based global clinical research organization with staff in the US, India, and Ireland. Genpro is a next generation services and technology partner for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical devices industry with expertise in biometrics, medical writing, RWE, and AI enabled automation product development. Genpro will continue to be led by Dr. Sachin Marulkar and the existing management team. Commenting on the announcement, Catalyst CEO Nick Dyer said, "We are hugely enthusiastic about the addition of Genpro to our family. We share the opportunity to expand our global footprint, broaden and deepen our services, and to use the AI platform to create value for ourselves and customers in a range of labor-intensive document creation processes. In addition, our approach to prioritizing culture and treating our teams like family are similar and will act as a critical foundation for our combined company as we move forward." Genpro CEO Dr. Sachin Marulkar added, "By joining Catalyst, we will continue to expand our biometrics, scientific reporting and technology offerings, have access to more opportunities globally, and provide our clients with additional products and services. We are excited to utilize the synergies in advancing our AI/ML technology platform to create beneficial new tools and improve the efficiency of clinical research. Catalyst is highly aligned with our purpose, values, and our relationship-driven focus. We look forward to stepping into these opportunities while still acting with the speed and flexibility our customers value and maintaining the collaborative culture that is so important to our employees." This acquisition adds more than 120 team members in India with expertise in biometrics and medical writing further bolstering Catalyst's robust functional service offerings. This further enables biopharma, MedTech and CRO clients (current and future) to access Catalyst's specialized clinical research services, along with broader expertise in global time zones, new solutions, and early access to innovative automation platforms. Melissa Church, Senior Vice President, Strategy at Catalyst, expressed the strategic significance of the acquisition, emphasizing its importance in advancing Catalyst's commitment to providing top-notch specialized clinical development solutions. She stated, "Catalyst is extremely intentional in its acquisition approach, ensuring we choose organizations that are additive to our capabilities and match well with our people-first culture. In Genpro we are gaining a very talented team delivering function specific biometrics and medical writing services which fits squarely in our strategic growth plan supporting both our Catalyst Flex and Catalyst Oncology solutions. This creates more value for our customers, collaborators, partners and investors long term." Highlighting scientific and innovation focus of the deal, Kapil Khambholja, Genpro's CSO and Practice Head of Medical Writing, Real-World Evidence, and Health Economics and Outcomes Research (RWE & HEOR) emphasised both company's shared commitment for advancing therapies beyond milestones to transforming lives. Dr Kapil stated, "This partnership will propel Genpro's automation roadmap forward, aligning strategically with Catalyst's interests. We are also thrilled to see Genpro's scientific initiatives gaining momentum, and we eagerly anticipate collaborating with Catalyst's dedicated team to inspire advancements of breakthrough therapies touching lives." About Catalyst Clinical Research Catalyst is a clinical research organization (CRO) that provides highly customizable solutions to the global biopharmaceutical industry through two established, branded solutions: Catalyst Oncology and Catalyst Flex. The company provides full-service oncology CRO offerings through Catalyst Oncology and multi-therapeutic Client- or Catalyst-managed functional services through Catalyst Flex. With around 1000 staff and offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions, Catalyst's flexible service model is built from more than a decade of listening to customers, devising customer-centric solutions, and helping customers drive breakthrough clinical studies by leveraging expert teams and innovative technologies. Catalyst is a portfolio company of QHP Capital, a leading healthcare and life sciences investment firm. About Genpro Research Genpro Research is a technology and services partner dedicated to serving the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical devices industries. By providing expertise in biostatistics, data sciences, medical writing & evidence synthesis, the focus has been on thoughtful service execution on clinical studies. And, as an experienced technology provider, Genpro uses Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Natural Language Processing algorithms for clinical development and post-launch activities, Genpro's central commercial platform called MaiA is used for Evidence Generation and Study Report Automation that brings depth and clarity to enable informed decision making.

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PHARMA TECH

GoodRx and MedImpact Announce Program to Ensure Seamless Access to Affordable Prescriptions

businesswire | September 14, 2023

GoodRx a leading resource for healthcare savings and information, and MedImpact, the independent pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) and health solutions company, announced a new savings solution designed to integrate GoodRx’s prescription pricing in a seamless experience at the pharmacy counter. Now, when an eligible MedImpact member fills a prescription for a generic medication, it will automatically compare their benefit and the GoodRx price and then deliver the lowest one. The amount paid will be applied to the member’s deductible. “This solution allows us to meet Americans where they are by providing them with low prices on their prescriptions without the need for them to compare costs on their own,” said Cynthia Meiners, Strategic Program Development Officer at GoodRx. “We are bringing together the best of what GoodRx does with the best of what MedImpact does to make it incredibly convenient for MedImpact’s members to start and stay on their prescribed treatments, and to fully integrate their clinical data. We truly feel the future of healthcare lies in these types of integrations.” The collaboration achieved by integrating GoodRx’s price comparison technology with MedImpact’s advanced technology platform allows both companies to deliver more savings without any additional work on the part of the consumer. In addition, members will benefit from the seamless data integration this program provides. Through MedImpact’s rigorous drug safety review, which includes thousands of health and safety checks, patients will be alerted about any negative drug interactions. “We are delivering to clients a full portfolio of health, wellness and savings solutions and we see this program as an important part of it,” Marcus Sredzinski, Pharm D, General Manager and MedImpact Senior Vice President. “This delivers hassle-free savings to members, while helping payers capture clinical and adherence data they may have otherwise missed.” GoodRx is actively working to access new lives by expanding its prescription savings reach by partnering with pharmacy benefit managers and their plan sponsors to collaboratively integrate into the insurance benefit market. Through these programs with CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and MedImpact, GoodRx savings are seamlessly integrated at point-of-sale with three major PBMs that reach over 60% of insured lives. This new program will become available to eligible MedImpact members starting January 1, 2024. About GoodRx GoodRx is a leading resource for healthcare savings and information that makes healthcare affordable and convenient for all Americans. We offer consumers free access to transparent and lower prices for brand and generic medications, affordable and convenient medical provider consultations via telehealth, and comprehensive healthcare research and information. Since 2011, we have helped consumers save over $60 billion and are one of the most downloaded medical apps over the past decade. GoodRx periodically posts information that may be important to investors on its investor relations website at https://investors.goodrx.com. We intend to use our website as a means of disclosing material nonpublic information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors and potential investors are encouraged to consult GoodRx’s website regularly for important information, in addition to following GoodRx’s press releases, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and public conference calls and webcasts. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, GoodRx’s website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this press release. About MedImpact For more than 30 years, MedImpact has been building, delivering, and reimagining pharmacy benefit solutions for healthcare payers who face complex and dynamic challenges. As the leading independent PBM, we offer clients the clarity they need to make care and cost decisions; control over a powerful suite of solutions that manage pharmacy spend; and confidence that comes from a proven PBM partner who is fully aligned with their goals and invested in their future.

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