Tuesday, October 30, 2012

New Partnerships Formed

CellepathicRx based in Cleveland Ohio along with Duke University have formed a new company called Improved Patient Outcomes Inc. The partnership combines CellepathicRx’s mHealth mobile platform and Duke University’s research-backed patient behavioral content to focus on improving patient adherence and outcomes.

CellepathicRx’s mobile behavioral health platform is focused on initiating and sustaining patient communication. The platform targets patients to help them understand and adhere to medication regimens, clinical trial protocols, health coaching, and health and wellness programs.

CellepathicRX’s mHealth platform is joining up with Duke University’s behavioral management program content that currently covers 75 disease states. This academic and industry partnership is delivering proven behavioral coaching content to patients, right on their mobile phones, via SMS, via texts, mobile web, and email. The partnership also helps health plans and payers communicate with thousands of patients and identify those at risk for medication non-compliance. Patients with complicated needs can then be flagged for an over-the-phone nurse intervention.

A Virginia partnership established through the University of Virginia’s “Cancer Technology Partnership Initiative”, was awarded funding for three projects to bring university and industry researchers together to accelerate treatments for brain, breast, and pancreatic cancers.

The following public-private collaborations will each receive $90,000 to $100,000 to further research:

  • UVA researchers are working with a Charlottesville-based biotechnology firm ITI Health Inc. to develop  molecular-based imaging techniques to detect liver metastases in pancreatic cancer
  • UVA researchers are partnering with Reston-based nano-pharmaceutical company Parabon NanoLabs to produce and test a nano-pharmaceutical drug for simultaneous treatment and real-time monitoring of glioblastoma multiforme
  • UVA researchers are partnering with Jefferson Lab and Dilon Technologies Inc. to improve the speed and accuracy of cancer surgical procedures by developing advanced imaging tools.
In another venture in California, the University of California system has joined with representatives from five UC campuses to form the University of California Biomedical Research Acceleration, Integration, and Development (UC BRAID) program.

The UC Research Exchange (UC ReX), an unprecedented cross-campus searchable database of patient-level study data from all UC medical centers was one of the successful results. UC ReX enables physicians and scientist to identify and recruit patients from across the five health campuses based on diagnosis and demographics. The objective is to expand clinical trial networks, enhance outcomes research, and facilitate quality-of-care studies.