StemCell Therapy

During one such visit a senior executive noticed that two of my colleagues, sitting next to each other, supported their system (two different implementations of the same software) across two different geographies. They happened to have the name of the systems they support, pinned to a board at their desks. The executive wanted us to take a picture of the two cubicles and email to him. We were quite surprised at the request. Before moving on to speak to other people he asked a couple of questions and realized the guys were sharing each other’s experiences and leveraging the lessons learnt from one deployment for the other geography.  It turned out that this does not happen in their organization, in fact their internal teams hardly communicate as they are part of different business units and geographies

Read full article on at inPharmatics

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ScienceDaily (Mar. 8, 2012) UT Southwestern Medical Center investigators have identified a genetic manipulation that increases the development of neurons in the brain during aging and enhances the effect of antidepressant drugs.

The research finds that deleting the Nf1 gene in mice results in long-lasting improvements in neurogenesis, which in turn makes those in the test group more sensitive to the effects of antidepressants.

"The significant implication of this work is that enhancing neurogenesis sensitizes mice to antidepressants -- meaning they needed lower doses of the drugs to affect 'mood' -- and also appears to have anti-depressive and anti-anxiety effects of its own that continue over time," said Dr. Luis Parada, director of the Kent Waldrep Center for Basic Research on Nerve Growth and Regeneration and senior author of the study published in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Just as in people, mice produce new neurons throughout adulthood, although the rate declines with age and stress, said Dr. Parada, chairman of developmental biology at UT Southwestern. Studies have shown that learning, exercise, electroconvulsive therapy and some antidepressants can increase neurogenesis. The steps in the process are well known but the cellular mechanisms behind those steps are not.

"In neurogenesis, stem cells in the brain's hippocampus give rise to neuronal precursor cells that eventually become young neurons, which continue on to become full-fledged neurons that integrate into the brain's synapses," said Dr. Parada, an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, its Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The researchers used a sophisticated process to delete the gene that codes for the Nf1 protein only in the brains of mice, while production in other tissues continued normally. After showing that mice lacking Nf1 protein in the brain had greater neurogenesis than controls, the researchers administered behavioral tests designed to mimic situations that would spark a subdued mood or anxiety, such as observing grooming behavior in response to a small splash of sugar water.

The researchers found that the test group mice formed more neurons over time compared to controls, and that young mice lacking the Nf1 protein required much lower amounts of anti-depressants to counteract the effects of stress. Behavioral differences between the groups persisted at three months, six months and nine months. "Older mice lacking the protein responded as if they had been taking antidepressants all their lives," said Dr. Parada.

"In summary, this work suggests that activating neural precursor cells could directly improve depression- and anxiety-like behaviors, and it provides a proof-of-principle regarding the feasibility of regulating behavior via direct manipulation of adult neurogenesis," Dr. Parada said.

Dr. Parada's laboratory has published a series of studies that link the Nf1 gene -- best known for mutations that cause tumors to grow around nerves -- to wide-ranging effects in several major tissues. For instance, in one study researchers identified ways that the body's immune system promotes the growth of tumors, and in another study, they described how loss of the Nf1 protein in the circulatory system leads to hypertension and congenital heart disease.

The current study's lead author is former graduate student Dr. Yun Li, now a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Other co-authors include Yanjiao Li, a research associate of developmental biology, Dr. Rene McKay, assistant professor of developmental biology, both of UT Southwestern, and Dr. Dieter Riethmacher of the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.

See the article here:
Genetic manipulation boosts growth of brain cells linked to learning, enhances effects of antidepressants

The New Medicine Service (NMS) offered by Engalnd’s  NHS community pharmacies came into effect since 1st October 2011. NMS is a patient adherene service and focuses on patients with long term conditions that have been prescribed new medicines.

It is hoped that NMS will lead to the following outcomes:

• improve medicines adherence
• increase patient engagement with their condition and medicines, which will support them in making decisions about their treatment and self management
• reduce medicines wastage
• reduce hospital admissions due to adverse events associated with medicines
• increase reporting of medicine adverse reactions by pharmacists and patients
• positive patient assessments
• provide evidence base on the effectiveness of the service
• enable the development of outcome and/or quality measures for community pharmacy

But the Service since launch has seen severe criticism from pharmacists’ over several issues, especially how the pharmacist is re-imbursed for the providing the service which also involved patient counselling.

The answer perhaps can be found by applying predictive analytics to identify patients who are more likely to deviate or other likely to exhibit non-compliance in adhering to the prescription.

Express Scripts has developed a set of proprietary computer models that predict, up to a year in advance, which patients are at risk of not following through on their prescribed drug therapy. details

FICO an analytics service provider also provides medication adherence ranking based on predictive analytics details

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The New Medicine Service (NMS) offered by Engalnd’s  NHS community pharmacies came into effect since 1st October 2011. NMS is a patient adherene service and focuses on patients with long term conditions that have been prescribed new medicines.

It is hoped that NMS will lead to the following outcomes:

• improve medicines adherence
• increase patient engagement with their condition and medicines, which will support them in making decisions about their treatment and self management
• reduce medicines wastage
• reduce hospital admissions due to adverse events associated with medicines
• increase reporting of medicine adverse reactions by pharmacists and patients
• positive patient assessments
• provide evidence base on the effectiveness of the service
• enable the development of outcome and/or quality measures for community pharmacy

But the Service since launch has seen severe criticism from pharmacists’ over several issues, especially how the pharmacist is re-imbursed for the providing the service which also involved patient counselling.

The answer perhaps can be found by applying predictive analytics to identify patients who are more likely to deviate or other likely to exhibit non-compliance in adhering to the prescription.

Express Scripts has developed a set of proprietary computer models that predict, up to a year in advance, which patients are at risk of not following through on their prescribed drug therapy. details

FICO an analytics service provider also provides medication adherence ranking based on predictive analytics details

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Source: Data Sneak Peek: Groups Involved in Patient Adherence Teams

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Via Scoop.it – inPharmatics

Companies on the forward edge are putting a heavy emphasis on digital in their commercial models — but how can mobile technologies assist pharmaceutical and biotech firms in this transition?   Tablets to support the sales force – While sales forces are shrinking, they still play a vital role in educating prescribers on new medications. The pharma industry, taking the lead of companies like GSK, is starting to incent sales reps based on quality of service versus amount of sales (read more here in the WSJ). One of the tools that is helping deliver better service is the tablet. Reps with an iPad can deliver more interactive and engaging product information, capture signatures for compliance and make the most of a few quick minutes with a doctor in the time it would take a laptop to boot up.   Online and mobile drug sampling programs – Companies now have the ability to leverage PDMA-compliant mobile apps and websites that allow physicians to request free product samples that they can distribute to their patients to gauge efficacy and assist with adherence. Because the Internet never sleeps, physicians can do this no matter what shifts they are working, independent of time zone or location, 24 hours a day.   Direct-to-HCP mobile advertising – It used to be that most online and mobile advertisements for drugs were placed only in industry magazines, blogs and online communities geared toward healthcare professionals and general consumer websites. We see this changing, with emergence of mobile networks focused on healthcare such as Tomorrow Networks, which is comprised of more than 50 medical apps. Pharma companies can now buy ad placements in mobile apps made exclusively for physicians and other healthcare professionals. A physician can be looking up treatment information at the point of care and see an ad for a medication that is relevant to their patient’s ailment. That’s incredibly powerful for the physician and advantageous for the advertiser.   mDetails – Physicians want to learn about the best drugs and treatments for their patients. mDetails are multimedia mobile product presentations that provide information about drugs in a way that allows physicians to absorb detailed information at their own pace — and in their own time. Because mDetails are distributed on smartphones – it lets physicians fit pharma product education into ‘found time’ at any point during their day that’s convenient for them.   By employing a multi-channel approach and by helping healthcare professionals do their jobs better instead of just selling to them, pharmaceutical companies can reach their target audiences and develop deeper value-based relationships. The aforementioned examples are just a few of the ways that pharmaceutical companies can leverage the ever-growing mobile channel; there are many more evolving every day.
Via http://www.mhimss.org

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Via Scoop.it – inPharmatics
UK Government launches G-Cloud store with 257 cloud computing suppliers. Offering the public sector around 1,700 cloud computing services for year-long contracts. The G-Cloud initiative, dubbed CloudStore, aims to bring a broader range of cloud computing suppliers to the government market and increase the flexibility in procurement contracts
Via http://www.govstore.net

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Source: Data Sneak Peek: Groups Involved in Patient Adherence Teams

Source:
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Via Scoop.it – inPharmatics

Companies on the forward edge are putting a heavy emphasis on digital in their commercial models — but how can mobile technologies assist pharmaceutical and biotech firms in this transition?   Tablets to support the sales force – While sales forces are shrinking, they still play a vital role in educating prescribers on new medications. The pharma industry, taking the lead of companies like GSK, is starting to incent sales reps based on quality of service versus amount of sales (read more here in the WSJ). One of the tools that is helping deliver better service is the tablet. Reps with an iPad can deliver more interactive and engaging product information, capture signatures for compliance and make the most of a few quick minutes with a doctor in the time it would take a laptop to boot up.   Online and mobile drug sampling programs – Companies now have the ability to leverage PDMA-compliant mobile apps and websites that allow physicians to request free product samples that they can distribute to their patients to gauge efficacy and assist with adherence. Because the Internet never sleeps, physicians can do this no matter what shifts they are working, independent of time zone or location, 24 hours a day.   Direct-to-HCP mobile advertising – It used to be that most online and mobile advertisements for drugs were placed only in industry magazines, blogs and online communities geared toward healthcare professionals and general consumer websites. We see this changing, with emergence of mobile networks focused on healthcare such as Tomorrow Networks, which is comprised of more than 50 medical apps. Pharma companies can now buy ad placements in mobile apps made exclusively for physicians and other healthcare professionals. A physician can be looking up treatment information at the point of care and see an ad for a medication that is relevant to their patient’s ailment. That’s incredibly powerful for the physician and advantageous for the advertiser.   mDetails – Physicians want to learn about the best drugs and treatments for their patients. mDetails are multimedia mobile product presentations that provide information about drugs in a way that allows physicians to absorb detailed information at their own pace — and in their own time. Because mDetails are distributed on smartphones – it lets physicians fit pharma product education into ‘found time’ at any point during their day that’s convenient for them.   By employing a multi-channel approach and by helping healthcare professionals do their jobs better instead of just selling to them, pharmaceutical companies can reach their target audiences and develop deeper value-based relationships. The aforementioned examples are just a few of the ways that pharmaceutical companies can leverage the ever-growing mobile channel; there are many more evolving every day.
Via http://www.mhimss.org

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http://microarray.wordpress.com/feed/

Via Scoop.it – inPharmatics
UK Government launches G-Cloud store with 257 cloud computing suppliers. Offering the public sector around 1,700 cloud computing services for year-long contracts. The G-Cloud initiative, dubbed CloudStore, aims to bring a broader range of cloud computing suppliers to the government market and increase the flexibility in procurement contracts
Via http://www.govstore.net

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16-11-2011 11:19 For more on Jesuits and their mission, visit: http://www.nationaljesuitnews.com Jesuit Father Kevin FitzGerald is a Research Associate Professor in the Division of Biochemistry and Pharmacology of the Department of Oncology and the Dr. David P. Lauler Chair for Catholic Health Care Ethics. He is also a member of the Center for Clinical Bioethics, the Advisory Board for the Center for Infectious Disease (CID), and the Angiogenesis, Invasion, Metastasis Program at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. His research interests have included the investigation of abnormal gene regulation in cancer and ethical issues in human genetics, including the ethical and social ramifications of molecular genetics research. He is an expert on ethical issues in personalized medicine, pharmacogenomics, human cloning research, stem cell research, and genetic testing.

Link:
Where Science Meets Faith: Anticipating the Future - Video

26-01-2012 07:54 Air date: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 3:00:00 PM Timedisplayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local Category: Wednesday Afternoon Lectures Description: Patients with diseased or injured organs may be treated with transplanted organs. There is a severe shortage of donor organs which is worsening yearly due to the aging population. Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering apply the principles of cell transplantation, material sciences, and bioengineering to construct biological substitutes that may restore and maintain normal function in diseased and injured tissues. Stem cells may offer a potentially limitless source of cells for tissue engineering applications and are opening new options for therapy. Recent advances that have occurred in regenerative medicine will be reviewed and applications of these new technologies that may offer novel therapies for patients with end-stage tissue and organ failure will be described. The NIH Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series includes weekly scientific talks by some of the top researchers in the biomedical sciences worldwide. For more information, visit: The NIH Director's Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series Author: Anthony Atala, MD, Wake Forest School of Medicine Runtime: 00:51:29 Permanent link: videocast.nih.gov

Read more:
Regenerative Medicine: Current Concepts and Changing Trends - Video

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Via Scoop.it – inPharmatics
Privacy controlled & safe social network for Healthcare launched by Jonathan Schwartz, Ex-CEO Sun Microsystems. The networks available at http://www.carezone.com  Connects Caregivers With family members and allows health-care workers share information about aging or ill parents, spouses and children
Via http://www.bloomberg.com

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Via Scoop.it – inPharmatics
Privacy controlled & safe social network for Healthcare launched by Jonathan Schwartz, Ex-CEO Sun Microsystems. The networks available at http://www.carezone.com  Connects Caregivers With family members and allows health-care workers share information about aging or ill parents, spouses and children
Via http://www.bloomberg.com

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

bluebird bio, a world leader in the development of innovative gene therapies for severe genetic disorders, today announced the appointment of David M. Davidson, M.D., to the role of chief medical officer.

“David brings a wealth of gene therapy, rare disease and clinical drug development expertise to bluebird bio during an exciting time in our company’s growth,” said Nick Leschly, chief executive officer of bluebird bio. “Operationally, David’s deep gene therapy and translational medicine experience will help guide bluebird bio’s clinical development efforts and regulatory strategies. With the addition of David to our team, we are well positioned to maximize the high priority opportunities available to us through our broad product platform.”

Prior to joining bluebird bio, Dr. Davidson served as a senior medical director at Genzyme Corporation where he led clinical research for programs in Phases 1 through 4 across a wide range of therapeutic areas for more than a decade. Most recently, Dr. Davidson was the medical leader for Genzyme’s gene therapy and Pompe disease enzyme replacement therapy programs. In addition to Dr. Davidson’s translational medicine experience, he has also worked on a number of commercial products, including Fabrazyme® and Myozyme®/Lumizyme®, and was integral in crafting the new drug application that resulted in the approval of Welchol®. Prior to Genzyme, Dr. Davidson was a medical director at GelTex Pharmaceuticals. Previously, he completed clinical and research fellowships in infectious diseases at the Harvard Longwood Combined Infectious Diseases Program. Dr. Davidson received a B.A. from Columbia University and his M.D. from New York University School of Medicine. In addition, he completed an internal medicine internship, residency training and an endocrinology research fellowship at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

“bluebird bio’s platform has the potential to be truly transformative,” said Dr. Davidson. “It is rare to be presented with an opportunity to develop a novel, clinically validated platform with promising early proof-of-concept data in two indications that can have such a dramatic effect across a broad set of severe genetic diseases. In the next two years, bluebird looks to have its ALD program well into a Phase 2/3 trial and two other programs nearing completion of Phase 1/2 trials for beta-thalassemia and sickle cell disease. I look forward to this exciting challenge and the potential to have a fundamental and meaningful impact on patients and their families.”

About bluebird bio

bluebird bio is developing innovative gene therapies for severe genetic disorders. At the heart of bluebird bio’s product creation efforts is its broadly applicable gene therapy platform for the development of novel treatments for diseases with few or no clinical options. The company’s novel approach uses stem cells harvested from the patient’s bone marrow into which a healthy version of the disease causing gene is inserted. bluebird bio’s approach represents a true paradigm shift in the treatment of severe genetic diseases by eliminating the potential complications associated with donor cell transplantation and presenting a one-time potentially transformative therapy. bluebird bio has two later stage clinical products in development for childhood cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (CCALD) and beta-thalassemia/sickle cell anemia. Led by a world-class team, bluebird bio is privately held and backed by top-tier life sciences investors, including Third Rock Ventures, TVM Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Forbion Capital Partners, Easton Capital and Genzyme Ventures. Its operations are located in Cambridge, Mass. and Paris, France. For more information, please visit http://www.bluebirdbio.com.

See the article here:
bluebird bio Appoints David Davidson, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer

Via Scoop.it – inPharmatics

pharmaceuticals Researchers say pharmaceutical and other life sciences companies are ramping up their uses of analytics…
Via smartdatacollective.com

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The invention of an internet set top box has nothing to do with healthcare or  clinical trial at first look. But if HP and other companies are capable of delivering the research, then internet on any display device could change the way clinical trial is practiced at-least beginning with EDC. Yes I agree it is bit far fetched wild thought, but why not. It can also perhaps bring some transformation into patient waiting rooms in hospitals. HP’s invention along with Microsoft Kinect for PC is capable of bringing some big changes to healthcare  practice, mostly notably in TeleHealth.

If nothing else it would atleast bring internet to the masses much faster and cheaper than Android, 3G, and LTE, WiMax all put together, for the simple reason that most of the households that are capable of benefiting from the internet has access to TV as well. atleast in India

Take a look at news coverage “ HP India Research Labs brings Internet TV for the masses with the help of a TV set top box that cost less than $150″ news by Times of India

HP Labs has recently came out with what they call as “Internet TV Set Top Box for the masses” the product is called  Vayu Internet Device or VInD. HP Labs India has created the product which was reviewed by Times of India News paper. The solution enables people to receive internet content on even the most basic TV sets and manage all screen operations using basic TV remotes.

More About HP Labs Vayu Experience Platform

The HP product offers the following solutions,

Task Genie: This is a store of  apps, Yes apple has tons of them , but how many of them are useful , and several of those apps are me too products. Before anyone shouts shoot him let me tell you I have an iPhone4 loaded with 319 apps, I don’t think any one can beat that, and yet I don’t use almost 300 of them at-least once in a month, despite the fact that except one or 2 games most  other are serious apps. Yes I agree among the 300 are several apps which are me too copy cat apps which offers same function, like contact management and duplicate remover, SMS apps, chat solutions. The point is more the apps the better is not true, its the quality that matters that’s were Android fails

Web Tuner: This allows the user to create web categories, such as say News or Tech or Nature, and within each he can have the particular websites he is most interested in

Libraries: allows users to store photos, videos, music and documents in the set-top box’s hard disk. Users can tag and share them with others who have similar set-top boxes.

Contacts and Whiteboard: Users can create and store a contacts list. They can share content or have a video-conference with others who have similar set-top boxes.

Pairing with mobile phone: The set-top box can be paired with mobile phones. So, if it is paired with the user’s phone,he  can send messages to his  TV

Sensor: VInD comes with a built-in Zigbee sensor network. VInD detects the motion and sends an alert to the paired phone.

Keyboard and mouse: Vayu, which uses aLinux  operating system, can also be used as a regular PC, with a keyboard and mouse with a browser and with the TV acting as the monitor. It can be a wired or a wireless keyboard and mouse. This is were I think ViND can bring some advantage in clinical research space, every clinical trial monitoring room has  a TV

Tech Specs#: VInD has 1 GB of built-in RAM, 8GB of flash memory and the ability to add an additional 300 GB hard-disk. It comes with built-in Zigbee sensor network, USB ports, Wi-Fi, ethernet and Bluetooth 2.1 and infrared connectivity. It connects to the TV via HDMI and regular AV channel ports. It also supports GPRS, 3G and HSDPA through the use of a USB modem. It has in-built microphone and speakers and a display

Microsoft has released the Kinect for PC. It was reported that Microsoft is keen to see kinect taking an active part in Healthcare industry. Doctors are using Kinect to help stroke patients regain movement full St0ry Here. Then later there was news that Microsoft and Asus have built a laptop with Kinect motion-sensing technology.

Of-course HP is not the first to come out with this kind of  technology,

 most of the existing expensive solutions are not  comprehensive and too focused on living room with limited or no net browsing capability.

iChip Technolgies has announced their solution called @Box which claimed to bring internet to any display device including even the office projector. @Box is smaller than palm and would be sold in standard package with a key board, track ball, power adaptor and a cable to connect to the TV and would cost less than $100

iChip Technologies which was based in India was later acquired by Techfarm Ventures US-based incubator and early stage investor in technology companies. Gordon Campbell, Chief Executive Officer of Techfarm, is also the CEO and Co-founder of Personal Web (PW) Systems, a company incorporated in the US.

Techfarm Ventures had earlier invested in PortalPlayer, which went in for an IPO in 2004, and subsequently got bought out by nVIDIA in January 2007. Techfarm has earlier incubated more than a dozen companies such as the first Ethernet chip and graphics controller

Neuros Technology produces a similar product that works on Ubuntu platform called Neuros LINK, which seems to be more closer to the HP solution

Logitech and Google has released Revue a solution based on Android

Apple is talking about Apple TV for sometime

UK based Telecom operator Vodafone has launched Webbox a product that seems to draw power from Vodafones EDGE/GSM/3G network using Opera Mini Browser

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Via Scoop.it – inPharmatics

pharmaceuticals Researchers say pharmaceutical and other life sciences companies are ramping up their uses of analytics…
Via smartdatacollective.com

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