Emery Pharma Logo
Emery Pharma Logo

Emery Pharma has officially expanded its state-of-the-art laboratories which feature a brand-new High-resolution Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer, enabling Emery Pharma to expand its service offerings. The extension of its new laboratory is streamlined to support the research and development of large molecule drugs including, biologics, antibody-drug conjugates, biosimilars and more. 

Emery Pharma's expertise continues to grow with the addition of Dr. Rodney Bannwart. Dr. Bannwart has considerable experience in pharmaceutical analysis, holding advanced scientific positions at Pfizer, Abbott, Novartis, and Alcon. "Rodney is a pharmaceutical veteran and previously jumpstarted Alcon's Biologics Mass Spectrometry capabilities with great success. We are excited for him to lead the new Large Molecule Analytical Division at Emery Pharma," said Dr. Neel Bose, CSO.

In addition to the High-resolution Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer, the newly established laboratory features brand-new instruments for Ultrahigh Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) equipped with a Diode Array Detector (DAD), Charged Aerosol Detector (CAD), and Refractive Index (RI) detector, Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), and Semi-Preparative High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). With the addition of these new top-of-the-line instruments, Emery Pharma continues to offer quality, flexibility, and innovative concepts to help accelerate the drug development process.

About Emery Pharma

Emery Pharma is a full-service contract research laboratory, specializing in supporting preclinical drug development, including analytical, bioanalytical solutions, microbiology & cell biology services, drug and impurity characterization, and general R&D and cGMP/GLP support.

Emery Pharma's primary focus is finding solutions for our Clients' toughest R&D challenges and tailoring solutions to fit each Client's unique needs. The experienced scientific team will manage the process: from drug discovery, proof-of-concept, data management, data analysis, to gathering insights. The team excels at solving scientific challenges and addressing any issues early in the process, so Clients don't experience unnecessary setbacks. 

Emery Pharma is equipped to support the development of small molecule drugs, biologics, biosimilars, gene therapies, botanical drugs, and more. Learn more about Emery Pharma by visiting www.emerypharma.com or [email protected]. 

Fusion Marketplace

Two additional medical staffing agencies have joined Fusion Marketplace, a healthcare staffing job platform that gives traveling healthcare professionals the power to take their careers into their own hands. 

Next Move, Inc. and Coast Medical Service have joined the platform, which aims to make the lives of healthcare travelers simple and efficient. Fusion Marketplace is bringing transparency to their careers in a time where stability hasn't been guaranteed for the last few years. 

"The addition of these two agencies is so beneficial for our healthcare travelers," said Fusion CEO Steve Koesters. "They're bringing more job opportunities across multiple specialties in facilities all across the country, ultimately putting the traveler in the driver's seat."

There was a high demand for quality healthcare professionals as the pandemic wreaked havoc on the nation's healthcare system. The healthcare staffing industry is normalizing now, meaning agencies, facilities, and healthcare professionals are finally starting to catch their breath. 

However, there is still a demand for healthcare travelers and Fusion Marketplace is making it easier for healthcare travelers and facilities to connect in a quick and transparent way. The additional partnership of Coast Medical Services and Next Move, Inc. is adding more options to the healthcare travelers using it to take control of their careers. 

To learn more about Fusion Marketplace and to create your traveler profile, go to fusionmarketplace.com or download the Fusion Marketplace app, available now in the App Store and Google Play Store. 

About Fusion Marketplace:

Fusion Marketplace is a staffing recruitment platform where healthcare travelers are in control. Healthcare travelers now have more career, agency, recruiter, and lifestyle choices in one convenient location. Unknowns known. Learn more at fusionmarketplace.com

WestsideMed
WestsideMed Logo

Out of the many primary care medical services WestsideMed provides patients in the Atlanta area, its focus on primary care is especially helpful. It's key to ensuring a patient remains healthy in the long term. Thanks to a new partnership with digital media agency Sprinkles Media, WestsideMed is pushing the importance of chronic condition management via its site.

Learning About Chronic Condition Management

While specializing in urgent care in Atlanta, WestsideMed ensures that patients that require further, long-term care will receive the help they need. Specifically through chronic condition management.

Chronic conditions, or medical conditions that persist for three months or longer, can take a heavy toll on a patient. WestsideMed dedicates itself to educating patients, both old and new, about its chronic condition management services.

"Chronic condition management is a form of primary care that aims to improve a patient's life through regular screenings and exams. Additionally, medical professionals educate patients about various health conditions to help in effective management," nurse practitioner Ariel Esteves explains.

For the urgent care and primary care provider in Atlanta, chronic care also involves compassionate, forward-facing service that ensures that patients are receiving the best care possible. 

More importantly, however, is the urgent care provider's dedication to mapping out a road to in-depth treatment and possible recovery.

"Effectively treating chronic diseases is one of the most important foundations of healthcare. At WestsideMed, this program crafts individual health care services for patients to help address and even prevent health conditions."

What Are Chronic Conditions?

What conditions fall under the umbrella of chronic condition management? While any illness or medical ailment which lasts more than three months applies, the most common chronic conditions patients struggle with are cancer, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, thyroid issues, and arthritis.

"Chronic condition management isn't just addressing a health issue and providing medication or advice. It involves developing an in-depth, personalized healthcare plan that best helps individual patients."

With chronic conditions, no one treatment is a cure-all for every patient. As such, medical professionals at WestsideMed take every variable into account when assisting patients.

Programs develop through patients providing their medical background to primary care doctors in Atlanta. The environment, family medical history, and disease severity all help doctors develop a comprehensive plan.

This aspect of primary care aims to help treat symptoms and limit the severity of progressive diseases like cystic fibrosis and cancer.

With WestsideMed, patients dealing with pressing, unexpected medical issues can walk in and expect an effortless urgent care experience in Atlanta.

More About WestsideMed

WestsideMed is a primary care and urgent care provider in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Doctors and medical professionals aim to help patients all over the Atlanta area by offering a safe environment for everyone. 

For more information about the services WestsideMed provides, visit the website at https://www.westsidemedatl.com/

A recently published article in Experimental Biology and Medicine (Volume 247, Issue 14, July, 2022) identifies a potential cause of disproportionate COVID-19 disease severity in certain racial/ethnic groups. The study, led by Dr. Douglas Jay Perkins, Director of the University of New Mexico Center for Global Health (New Mexico, USA), reports that hospitalized patients who self-reported as American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) had higher SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in peripheral blood and more severe COVID-19.  

From the start of the pandemic onward, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected certain racial/ethnic groups, including American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations who have experienced high rates of infection, hospitalization, and mortality. Several studies have found that detection of SARS-CoV-2 in peripheral blood is associated with the development of severe COVID-19 and mortality. However, data are largely unreported for SARS-CoV-2 viral load dynamics and COVID-19 severity in some groups of patients. 

In this study, Perkins and colleagues examined viral load dynamics and disease severity in a diverse cohort of hospitalized patients at the University of New Mexico Hospital. The group found that the strongest predictor of severe COVID-19 in the study population was the average viral load in peripheral blood. The AI/AN patients had comparable comorbidities to the other groups, yet more severe COVID-19, twice the length of hospital stay, and higher viral loads in peripheral blood during hospitalization. Self-reported race/ethnicity as AI/AN was the strongest predictor of elevated viral loads in peripheral blood. These findings show that detection of SARS-CoV-2 in peripheral blood is associated with severe COVID-19. The group is currently exploring novel treatment interventions that target SARS-CoV-2 in peripheral blood as a strategy for improving patient outcomes, especially in vulnerable populations. 

Dr. Perkins said: "We are grateful to present findings that address the disproportionate COVID-19 disease burden in our American Indian brothers and sisters. It is our great hope that such findings can provide a scientific foundation to foster the development of improved prevention and treatment strategies for those most affected by COVID-19."

Dr. Steven R. Goodman, Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Biology and Medicine, said, "Dr. Perkins and colleagues have presented clear evidence that the strongest predictor of severe COVID-19 in their patient cohort was SARS-CoV-2 viral load in peripheral blood. Further, they demonstrated that those who self-reported as American Indian and or Alaska Native had more severe COVID-19 and higher peripheral blood viral load. This provides a strong case for more frequent detection of SARS-CoV-2 in the peripheral blood being an important factor for more severe COVID-19 observed in epidemiological studies on American Indian and Alaska Native populations."

Experimental Biology and Medicine is a global journal dedicated to the publication of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research in the biomedical sciences. The journal was first established in 1903. Experimental Biology and Medicine is the journal of the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine. To learn about the benefits of society membership visit www.sebm.org. If you are interested in publishing in the journal, please visit http://ebm.sagepub.com/.

For more information, please contact [email protected].

Prolocor Logo
Prolocor Logo

Prolocor, Inc., a healthcare startup developing an innovative precision diagnostic test with the potential to predict the risk of thrombosis by quantifying FcγRIIa on the surface of platelets, today announced the closing of an oversubscribed $3.2 million seed round. The round was led by Green Park & Golf Ventures, with participation from Labcorp and a group of angel investors.  

Prolocor also announced the receipt of a $2 million Phase II grant from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Funds from this grant will be used to support the analytical validation of platelet expression of FcγRIIa as a precision tool.

Dr. Clay Heighten, Managing Partner at GPG Ventures, remarked, "We are inspired by the work of Co-Founder and CSO Dr. David Schneider in advancing the understanding of thrombotic risk in coronary artery disease and are excited to participate in moving the technology from the lab to the clinic. Dr. Peter DiBattiste is eminently qualified to coordinate the clinical studies, which are expected to prove the value of the Prolocor test." 

There are 50 million people living with chronic coronary artery disease in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Of these, over two million suffer from acute coronary syndrome every year. In each case, the doctor and patient must decide whether to use more powerful therapy to prevent thrombosis — increasing the risk of bleeding — or less-intensive therapy — reducing bleeding risk at the expense of more thrombotic events such as heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular-related death. Prolocor's precision tool will guide treatment decisions, effectively matching the intensity of therapy with the risk of events.

According to Dr. DiBattiste, Co-Founder and CEO of Prolocor, "The combined funding from the seed round and the NIH SBIR grant will allow us to make significant progress towards validating FcγRIIa as a precision tool for patients with cardiovascular disease." With this funding in hand, the company plans to establish a CLIA-certified laboratory and complete an ongoing prospective, observational multicenter non-interventional cohort study in 800 patients who have experienced heart attacks.

ABOUT PROLOCOR, INC.

Founded by a team that deeply understands thrombosis and cardiovascular disease, Prolocor is building its strategy around platelet FcγRIIa and embarking on a journey to commercialize an innovative precision diagnostic test that quantifies FcγRIIa on the surface of platelets. For more information on Prolocor, please visit the company's website at www.prolocor.com and follow us on LinkedIn. 

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements include projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives, intentions and expectations with respect to future financial results, events, operations, services, product development and potential, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "plans" and similar expressions. Although Prolocor's management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Prolocor, that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, future clinical data and analysis, including post marketing, decisions by regulatory authorities regarding whether and when to approve any device or application that may be filed for any such product candidates and other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of such product candidates, the fact that product candidates if approved may not be commercially successful, the future approval and commercial success of therapeutic alternatives, Prolocor's ability to benefit from external growth opportunities, to complete related transactions and/or obtain regulatory clearances, and risks associated with intellectual property. Other than as required by applicable law, Prolocor does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements.

CONTACT
Mika Stojanovic
TNG Creative, LLC
[email protected]

SpendMend
SpendMend

SpendMend, a leading provider of solutions to optimize the cost cycle for the healthcare industry, today announced the successful completion of its purchase of Trulla, one of the healthcare industry's leading providers of pharmacy procurement software. 

Trulla was founded in 2018 by company CEO, Curtis McEntire, a former executive in pharmacy sourcing and supply chain at Intermountain Healthcare, one of the largest healthcare providers in the Intermountain West of the United States. 

The acquisition of Trulla should enable SpendMend's pharmacy division to further expand its suite of solutions aimed at helping healthcare systems, hospitals, and clinics reduce annual pharmacy costs and better manage 340B program compliance and optimization. Concurrent to the acquisition, SpendMend is releasing SpendMend Trulla, an advanced Pharmacy Procurement Software application aimed at helping pharmacy buyers select the right NDCs and suppliers while navigating overly complex drug purchasing processes.

The current release of Trulla is designed to enable health systems to maximize pharmacy savings through superior pricing algorithms, product standardization, and supplier selection. In addition to the flagship procurement module, Trulla also offers an advanced pharmacy analytics module, as well as a host of pharmacy distribution center consulting services.

"I founded Trulla to help health systems capture previously unattainable cost savings," states, Curtis McEntire, "I could not be prouder of the solution we've created and its impact on reducing pharmacy costs and helping healthcare facilities to drive better patient care."

"We are thrilled to integrate Trulla software into the larger SpendMend suite of pharmacy solutions," states Rob Nahoopii, PharmD, MS, ACE, Sr. VP of Pharmacy Services at SpendMend. "In the last year, we've provided compliance and optimization services for over 300 pharmacies. We believe every one of those clients could benefit immediately by using the Trulla solution."

The acquisition of Trulla by SpendMend is made in partnership with Morgan Stanley Capital Partners (MSCP) as part of a strategic initiative to expand the value of the SpendMend Pharmacy division. Investment funds managed by MSCP invested in SpendMend in early 2022, recognizing the company as a leader in cost-cycle management and compliance management services to hospitals.

Existing Trulla clients will not experience any disruption to services as a result of the acquisition. The newly acquired group will continue operations as usual. Curtis McEntire will continue to manage division operations from his company headquarters in Draper, Utah.

About SpendMend

SpendMend is the leading provider of tech-enabled, cost-savings solutions in the healthcare industry. Combining the use of data, proprietary technology, and rigorous analytics with its healthcare focus and expertise, SpendMend partners with healthcare networks to expose the dark data to improve and optimize their costs in meaningful and collaborative ways. SpendMend's mission is to help its clients improve their patient care through innovative cost-savings solutions.

About Trulla

Trulla, the healthcare industry's leading provider of pharmacy procurement software, leverages a senior leadership team with over 100 years of combined pharmacy experience. The company delivers a set of solutions, including pharmacy procurement software, a pharmacy analytics reporting platform, and a host of pharmacy distribution center consulting services.