New National Drug Terminology Adds Value to Canadian Digital Health Solutions
TORONTO, March 5, 2020 /CNW/ - A national drug terminology created by Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) and Health Canada is enhancing medication safety and providing value for patients, health care providers and health systems across Canada.
The Canadian Clinical Drug Data Set (CCDD) is a national drug terminology that enables the sharing of drug data between different systems for e-prescribing, medication profiles and secondary use such as adverse drug monitoring. The CCDD ensures the consistent representation of medication characteristics such as ingredients, strengths and forms.
The CCDD was developed by terminology experts at Infoway and the Health Products and Food Branch of Health Canada, who engaged an advisory group of vendors, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, safety organizations and jurisdictional representatives to transform and enhance existing Health Canada drug content.
The CCDD has been rapidly deployed into digital health systems across the country, including electronic medical records (EMRs), pharmacy management systems (PMS) and drug information systems (DIS). The terminology is updated monthly, in English and French, and is available at no cost through Health Canada.
"The CCDD can support digital health initiatives such as e-prescribing, e-medication reconciliation, hospital discharge reports and adverse drug reaction reporting," said Jamie Bruce, Executive Vice President, Infoway. "For prescribers and pharmacists who are using PrescribeIT®, Canada's national e-prescribing service, the CCDD is improving clinical workflows and it's also increasing patient safety by supporting drug interaction checking and allowing prescriptions to be sent to provincial DIS."
Infoway helps to improve the health of Canadians by working with partners to accelerate the development, adoption and effective use of digital health across Canada. Through our investments, we help deliver better quality and access to care and more efficient delivery of health services for patients and clinicians. Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government. Visit www.infoway-inforoute.ca/en/.
About PrescribeIT®
Canada Health Infoway is working with Health Canada, the provinces and territories, and industry stakeholders to develop, operate and maintain the national e-prescribing service known as PrescribeIT®. PrescribeIT® will serve all Canadians, pharmacies and prescribers and provide safer and more effective medication management by enabling prescribers to transmit a prescription electronically between a prescriber's electronic medical record (EMR) and the pharmacy management system (PMS) of a patient's pharmacy of choice. PrescribeIT® will protect Canadians' personal health information from being sold or used for commercial activities. Visit www.prescribeit.ca/.
Media Inquiries:
Karen Schmidt Director, Corporate/Internal Communications Canada Health Infoway 416.595.3167 Email Us Follow @Infoway
Inquiries about PrescribeIT®
Tania Ensor Senior Director, Strategy, Marketing & Stakeholder Relations, PrescribeIT® Canada Health Infoway 416.595.3411 Email Us
Follow @PrescribeIT_CA
SOURCE Canada Health Infoway
Tissue-digging nanodrills do just enough damage
Scientists advance case for use of molecular machines to treat skin diseasesHOUSTON – (March 5, 2020) – Molecule-sized drills do the damage they are designed to do. That’s bad news for disease.Scientists at Rice University, Biola University and the Texas A&M Health Science Center have further validation that their molecular motors, light-activated rotors that spin up to 3 million times per second, can target diseased cells and kill them in minutes. The team led by Biola molecular biochemist Richard Gunasekera and Rice chemist James Tour showed their motors are highly effective at destroying cells in three multicellular test organisms: worms, plankton and mice. A study in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces shows the motors caused various degrees of damage to tissues in all three species. The journal plans to designate the paper as an open-access ACS Editors’ Choice.The project’s original goal was to target drug-resistant bacteria, cancer and other disease-causing cells and destroy them without damaging adjacent healthy cells. Tour has argued cells and bacteria have no possible defense against a nanomechanical drilling force strong enough to punch through their walls.“Now it has been taken to a whole new level,” Tour said. “The work here shows that whole organisms, such as small worms and water fleas, can be killed by nanomachines that drill into them. This is not just single-cell death, but whole organism, with cell death in the millions. “They can also be used to drill into skin, thereby suggesting utility in the treatment of things like pre-melanoma,” he said.The researchers saw different effects in each of the three models. In the worm, C. elegans, the fast motors caused rapid depigmentation as the motors first caused nanomechanical disruption of cells and tissues. In the plankton, Daphnia, the motors first dismembered exterior limbs. In both cases, after a few days, most or all of the organisms died. For mouse models, researchers applied the nanomachines in a topical solution to the skin. Activating the fast motors caused lesions and ulcerations, demonstrating their ability to function in larger animals. “That mouse skin changes due to the ‘drilling’ by the nanomachines might be the one of most interesting aspects of the study to scientists,” said Gunasekera, an adjunct faculty member and former visiting scientist at Rice and currently associate dean and a professor of biochemistry at Biola. He is co-lead author of the paper with Thushara Galbadage, an associate professor of public health at Biola. “It could mean direct topical treatment to skin conditions such as melanomas, eczema and other skin diseases,” Gunasekera said. “This paper is significant because it’s the first testing of nanomachines where we’ve proven its effectiveness in vivo. All other studies done so far were done in vitro.” He suggested the motors could be used for therapeutic parasite control as well as local treatment of such diseases as skin cancer. Co-authors of the paper are Ciceron Ayala-Orozco, an academic visitor at Rice and postdoctoral fellow at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Rice postdoctoral researchers Dongdong Liu and Victor García-López; Rice alumnus Brian Troutman, a senior project engineer at Lockheed Martin; Rice academic visitor Josiah Tour; Robert Pal, a Royal Society University Research Fellow at Durham (U.K.) University;Sunil Krishnan, a professor of radiation oncology at MD Anderson, and Jeffrey Cirillo, a Regents’ Professor and director of Texas A&M’s Center for Airborne Pathogen Research and Tuberculosis Imaging. Tour is the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice.The Discovery Institute, the Welch Foundation and the National Institutes of Health supported the research. -30-Read the abstract at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.9b22595.This news release can be found online at https://news.rice.edu/2020/03/05/tissue-digging-nanodrills-do-just-enough-damage/Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.Related materials:Motorized molecules drill through cells: http://news.rice.edu/2017/08/30/motorized-molecules-drill-through-cells-2/Tour Group: http://www.jmtour.comRichard Gunasekera: https://www.biola.edu/directory/people/richard-gunasekeraDepartment of Chemistry: https://chemistry.rice.eduWiess School of Natural Sciences: http://natsci.rice.eduImages for download:https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2020/03/0309_MACHINES-1-WEB.jpgHigh-resolution confocal images show the effects of light-activated molecular drills on cells inside a worm. Before activation, at left, the injected drills remain dark. At right, after 15 minutes of exposure to light, fluorescent signals show widespread damage in the transparent nematodes. The drills developed at Rice University are intended to target drug-resistant bacteria, cancer and other disease-causing cells and destroy them without damaging adjacent healthy cells. (Credit: Thushara Galbadage/Biola University)https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2020/03/0309_MACHINES-2-WEB.jpgHigh-resolution confocal images show the effects of light-activated molecular drills on cells inside a worm. Before activation, at top, the injected drills remain dark. At bottom, after 15 minutes of exposure to light, fluorescent signals show widespread damage in the transparent nematodes. The drills developed at Rice University are intended to target drug-resistant bacteria, cancer and other disease-causing cells and destroy them without damaging adjacent healthy cells. (Credit: Thushara Galbadage/Biola University)https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2020/03/0309_MACHINES-3-WEB.jpgDaphnia, a species of plankton, were exposed to molecular machines developed at Rice University in lab experiments to determine the effects of the microscopic drills on tissue. At left is a healthy plankton with all of its appendages. At right, the daphnia has only two of its appendages after 10 minutes of exposure to light-activated nanomachines. The drills are intended to target drug-resistant bacteria, cancer and other disease-causing cells and destroy them without damaging adjacent healthy cells. (Credit: Alison Buck/Biola University)Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,962 undergraduates and 3,027 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 4 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.
Western Hospital using innovative approach to reduce emergency department wait times
ALBERTON, PE, March 5, 2020 /CNW/ - Residents of West Prince now have faster access to emergency department (ED) care at Western Hospital with an innovative, on-line technology.
The creative approach to care provides patients with non-critical needs, who meet a certain criteria, the option to immediately connect with a doctor by video rather than waiting to see the ED doctor on site during emergency department hours. During the video consultation, nurses and other medical staff are on hand at Western Hospital to take the patient's vitals, facilitate examination and testing or provide medications as needed.
"The award-winning virtual care model at Western Hospital is an excellent example of using new, innovative technology to reduce wait times and enhance rural health care for Islanders," said Health and Wellness Minister James Aylward. "Given the success we've seen so far we're looking at expanding this model to Kings County Memorial Hospital to improve emergency department access for people and benefit communities in that area of the province as well."
This model for ED care at Western Hospital is being offered as a pilot program and was developed collaboratively by Heath PEI and Maple, a Canadian virtual care provider.
"The response from our patients has been incredible and overwhelmingly positive", said, community hospitals west administrator Paul Young. "We are so excited to have partnered with Maple to create this innovative model that can help effectively reduce wait times for our patients, support the workload of our ED physician and help provide more stable, quality services to our patients."
"We count ourselves very lucky to have found a health system whose bold vision for Canadian healthcare matches ours," said Dr. Brett Belchetz, a practicing emergency department physician and the CEO and Co-founder of Maple. "While Maple has demonstrated the potential of online health care for more than four years now — many days seeing more patients than the three busiest EDs in the country combined — we've made some of our most exciting strides alongside the teams at Western Hospital and Health PEI, who have enthusiastically embraced technological solutions that will drive innovation forward for the entire country."
"I am very pleased to see this efficient approach to ED care at Western Hospital in addition to the other great supports such as the tele-rounding initiative to provide the best care possible to patients, said Minister Aylward. "This model also allows Western Hospital to offer some urgent care services to people even during times when physicians cannot be on-site at the hospital emergency department which is helping to enhance rural health overall."
About Maple Maple is a technology platform that tackles some of the world's most meaningful issues in healthcare, starting with timely and convenient access to doctors and other healthcare providers. It allows patients to connect directly with doctors for medical care in minutes from their smartphone or computer 24/7, and also provides custom technological solutions for hospitals looking to advance their delivery of care. Learn more at getmaple.ca.
SOURCE Maple.
Western Hospital using innovative approach to reduce emergency department wait times
ALBERTON, PE, March 5, 2020 /CNW/ - Residents of West Prince now have faster access to emergency department (ED) care at Western Hospital with an innovative, on-line technology.
The creative approach to care provides patients with non-critical needs, who meet a certain criteria, the option to immediately connect with a doctor by video rather than waiting to see the ED doctor on site during emergency department hours. During the video consultation, nurses and other medical staff are on hand at Western Hospital to take the patient's vitals, facilitate examination and testing or provide medications as needed.
"The award-winning virtual care model at Western Hospital is an excellent example of using new, innovative technology to reduce wait times and enhance rural health care for Islanders," said Health and Wellness Minister James Aylward. "Given the success we've seen so far we're looking at expanding this model to Kings County Memorial Hospital to improve emergency department access for people and benefit communities in that area of the province as well."
This model for ED care at Western Hospital is being offered as a pilot program and was developed collaboratively by Heath PEI and Maple, a Canadian virtual care provider.
"The response from our patients has been incredible and overwhelmingly positive", said, community hospitals west administrator Paul Young. "We are so excited to have partnered with Maple to create this innovative model that can help effectively reduce wait times for our patients, support the workload of our ED physician and help provide more stable, quality services to our patients."
"We count ourselves very lucky to have found a health system whose bold vision for Canadian healthcare matches ours," said Dr. Brett Belchetz, a practicing emergency department physician and the CEO and Co-founder of Maple. "While Maple has demonstrated the potential of online health care for more than four years now — many days seeing more patients than the three busiest EDs in the country combined — we've made some of our most exciting strides alongside the teams at Western Hospital and Health PEI, who have enthusiastically embraced technological solutions that will drive innovation forward for the entire country."
"I am very pleased to see this efficient approach to ED care at Western Hospital in addition to the other great supports such as the tele-rounding initiative to provide the best care possible to patients, said Minister Aylward. "This model also allows Western Hospital to offer some urgent care services to people even during times when physicians cannot be on-site at the hospital emergency department which is helping to enhance rural health overall."
About Maple Maple is a technology platform that tackles some of the world's most meaningful issues in healthcare, starting with timely and convenient access to doctors and other healthcare providers. It allows patients to connect directly with doctors for medical care in minutes from their smartphone or computer 24/7, and also provides custom technological solutions for hospitals looking to advance their delivery of care. Learn more at getmaple.ca.
SOURCE Maple.
Increased programs from an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant help serve those with Parkinson’s
OTTAWA, ON, March 6, 2020 — On Friday afternoon, the Hon. Lisa MacLeod, MPP and Jeremy Roberts, MPP met with representatives from Parkinson Canada at its Nepean office to hear how a three-year, $637,300 Grow grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) in 2016 has made a difference in the delivery of services for people with Parkinson’s disease. Denise Amyot, a member of OTF’s Board of Directors, was there as well to hear the group’s evaluation about the significant impact the grant has had to improve well-being for people with Parkinson’s and their care partners in those regions.
“I’m proud of the opportunities that this grant has provided to the thousands of individuals and families who have been touched by Parkinson’s,” said Lisa MacLeod, MPP for Nepean and Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries. “From supports for people living with Parkinson’s to the volunteers who work tirelessly to create much-needed programming, this grant has truly made a difference in communities across the province.”
With the support of this grant, Parkinson Canada hired three Community Development Coordinators, each based in the regions involved with the grant, Southwestern Ontario, parts of Eastern Ontario, and in the Thunder Bay area. Over the three-year duration, they reached 9,644 individuals with a connection to Parkinson’s and grew the number of support groups from 20 to 31 groups, increasing its reach from 2,500 to 3,000 participants. With the help of the grant, coordinators connected with local healthcare and other community services providers, and held over 200 education sessions, distributing resources on a broad variety of topics to help people with Parkinson’s and care partners live better lives. They also managed a network of over 120 volunteers in the three regions that continues to thrive and serve those with Parkinson’s.
“The work done by groups like Parkinson Canada never ceases to amaze me,” said Jeremy Roberts, MPP. “I am very happy to see the positive outcomes that have come about as a result of this Ontario Trillium Foundation grant.”
“Our successful results were based on Parkinson Canada’s ability to build connections using the established support group service delivery model, to improve knowledge and well-being of people with Parkinson’s and care partners. We also provide evidence-based disease-specific education resources through local education events and workshops, and by engaging with community partners through various channels to increase awareness,” saidOlivier Bonnet, Managing Director for Parkinson Canada in Ontario. “There are still many opportunities to better serve the community. As the incidence of Parkinson’s is growing, coupled with the aging population, and lack of services in rural and remote areas in Ontario make it much more difficult for those to access appropriate care and treatment.”
Parkinson’s is a brain disease that touches almost every aspect of daily living, including: movement, mood, speech, ability to smell, eating and drinking, sleep, and processing cognitive information. More than 100,000 Canadians currently live with the disease, with approximately 40,000 diagnosed in Ontario. Another 25 people are diagnosed each day in this country.
About Parkinson Canada: Parkinson Canada is the definitive voice of Canadians living with Parkinson’s disease, since 1965. From diagnosis to discovery, Parkinson Canada provides education and services to support people with Parkinson’s, their families, and healthcare teams; online, by telephone and in person. Parkinson Canada advocates with federal, provincial and territorial governments on issues that matter to the Parkinson’s community in Canada. Visit online www.parkinson.ca
About Ontario Trillium Foundation: The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations. OTF awarded $108 million to 629 projects last year to build healthy and vibrant communities in Ontario. Visit online www.otf.ca
Canada Life to make Dialogue's virtual health care a standard benefit for more than one million Canadians
WINNIPEG, March 5, 2020 /CNW/ - Canada Life today announced that it is working with Dialogue Technologies Inc., to become the first insurer in Canada to make virtual health care a standard benefit for employers with Canada Life group benefits plans, with up to 400 plan members.
"We are always open to smart collaborations that help support the financial, physical and mental well-being of Canadians, and our relationship with Dialogue is a great example of this," says Ryan Weiss, Vice-President, Product & Experience, Group Customer, Canada Life. "Together we've developed a streamlined, proprietary virtual health care solution that will give more than one million Canadians easier access to high-quality health care."
Since 2016, Dialogue has focused on making employees and their families healthier, happier and more productive every day, helping them to access medical professionals in minutes, whenever they need it.
"As demand for virtual health care continues to grow, working with Canada Life to integrate Dialogue as a standard benefit is an important step towards improving access to quality care for all Canadians," says Cherif Habib, CEO of Dialogue. "Since its foundation, Dialogue has set the bar around safety and security standards, an outstanding user experience and high member utilization. Soon, more than one million people will have access to our platform, and we feel honoured to serve even more Canadians every day."
When this new standard benefit comes into effect for Canada Life plans this summer, employees and their dependents will have access to Dialogue's fully bilingual virtual health care platform, available through mobile app or web browser. Its integrated health care services can be accessed from anywhere in Canada, 24-hours a day, seven days a week, saving employees hours of time typically spent waiting for in-person, non-urgent care.
They will be able to chat live with a registered nurse or see a physician via secure video consultation for various health and medical issues, whether to diagnose a wide variety of conditions, provide medical advice, write a prescription or make a referral to a specialist when it is medically indicated.
The service is expected to help employers keep their employees happy, healthy, and performing at their highest potential.
About Dialogue Technologies Inc. Dialogue is the leading Canadian telemedicine provider pioneering virtual healthcare dedicated exclusively to the world's leading organizations. We drive real health outcomes through amazing healthcare experiences, an employee engagement playbook, and a relentless focus on patient safety and security.
About The Canada Life Assurance Company Canada Life is a leading insurance, wealth management and benefits provider focused on improving the financial, physical and mental well-being of Canadians. For more than 170 years, individuals, families and business owners across Canada have trusted us to provide sound guidance and deliver on the promises we've made.
As of January 1, 2020, Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life became one company – Canada Life, and today, we proudly serve more than 13 million customer relationships from coast to coast to coast.
SOURCE Canada Life
Phased manufacturing program will open opportunities for domestic and foreign medical device makers in India, says GlobalData
India’s plan to initiate a phased manufacturing program (PMP) to reduce import dependency will open opportunities to domestic and foreign medical device manufacturers in India, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
The company’s report, ‘X-Ray Systems – Diagnostic Imaging Market Analysis and Forecast Model’ reveals that the Indian X-Ray systems market, which accounted for more than 11% of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) medical devices market in 2019, is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5% through 2028.
Under PMP, domestic manufacturers will get financial benefits for manufacturing various components of medical devices. Initially, the Indian government plans to boost the domestic production of X-Ray systems and its components by giving tax reliefs and incentives to domestic manufacturers. Earlier, a similar scheme was initiated for mobile manufacturing that helped in creating a strong local mobile manufacturing hub in India.
Pratibha Thammanabhatla, Medical Devices Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “PMP will give a decent opportunity for domestic players to gain market share and at the same time, still allowing foreign firms to choose India as their manufacturing destination. In addition, with increase in domestic manufacturers, the share of imported devices is expected to gradually come down.”
However, challenges such as shortage of continuous power supply, proper infrastructure and high risk intellectual property protection are some of the challenges that need to be addressed to make India a manufacturing hub of medical devices.
Thammanabhatla concludes: “India is trying to increase the accessibility of quality products at affordable price to millions of people by encouraging domestic manufacturing of medical devices. PMP is expected to bring a paradigm shift and make India a global medical device manufacturing hub.”
International HPV Awareness Day, March 4, 2020
MONTREAL, March 4, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - Today marks the third International HPV Awareness Day, led by The International Papillomavirus Society (IPVS). The theme of the campaign is 'viral before the internet.' To participate in their campaign and get valuable information visit;
https://www.askabouthpv.org/campaign-toolkit.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has established goals to reach for 2030 for countries to be on the path towards cervical cancer elimination within the century. The link to the draft WHO global strategy can be found at:
Canada is uniquely positioned to be a major contributor to this important effort. A group of experts from across Canada developed a report with 105 recommendations for the implementation of actions both in Canada and internationally to reach the following WHO targets:
90% of girls fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by 15 years of age;
70% of women screened with a high-performance HPV test, twice in a lifetime screening at the ages of 35 and 45; and
90% of women identified with cervical disease receive treatment and care:
90% of women screened positive treated for precancer lesions;
90% of invasive cancer cases managed.
We encourage healthcare professionals to be more active and vocal about the safety and efficacy of HPV vaccination for people of all ages and about the value of cervical cancer screening. You can help accelerate cervical cancer elimination here in Canada and around the globe by discussing and recommending HPV vaccination and screening with your patients and colleagues.
In honour of InternationalHPV Awareness Day, please READ and SHARE this Canadian report:
Thank you for supporting International HPV Awareness Day!
About HPV Awareness: A Canadian registered charity whose mission is to spread awareness and knowledge about the human papillomavirus (HPV), the vaccines available, screening, and HPV-related cancers that include cancers of the tonsils, vocal cords, tongue, throat, anus, cervix, vulva, vagina and penis and overall sexual health. We empower people worldwide to have healthier relationships by reaching across cultural, geographical and ideological barriers with clear, simple, evidence-based education to all ages, including health care professionals and public health agencies. Our main objective is to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer by providing solutions for access to HPV prevention and cervical cancer screening.
Nexelis to Acquire Specialty Immunogenicity and Immune-Oncology Testing Laboratory ImmunXperts
LAVAL, QC and GOSSELIES, Belgium, March 4, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - Nexelis, a portfolio company of Ampersand Capital Partners, and a leading provider of assay development and advanced laboratory testing is pleased to announce the signing of a definitive agreement, subject to conditions precedent, to acquire ImmunXperts. The closing of the transaction is expected by the end of March.
Based in the Brussels South Charleroi Biopark within the town of Gosselies, ImmunXperts has developed and performs a full offering of immunogenicity and immuno-oncology in vitro functional and potency assays. These assays help pharmaceutical and biotech sponsors screen, select and optimize lead compounds before the initiation of in vivo trials. The company, whose CEO is Thibault Jonckheere, was co-created in 2014 by immunology expert Sofie Pattijn, who serves as ImmunXperts CTO, and investors including Sambrinvest. Both Dr Pattijn and Mr. Jonckheere will continue in senior leadership roles at Nexelis.
"ImmunXperts' immunology testing expertise will help Nexelis more broadly serve the needs of our customers" said Benoit Bouche, Nexelis President and Chief Executive Officer. "Nexelis will now have an unrivaled ability to efficiently develop immunogenicity assays, qualify and validate them in a regulated environment, and then ultimately perform them utilizing our high-throughput platforms in support of clinical trials."
Sofie Pattijn and Thibault Jonckheere added "We are proud of ImmunXperts' achievements over the past five years and are grateful for the support obtained from our investors and partners, our employees, and the Wallonia region. We are excited to continue our growth trajectory as part of Nexelis and serve as a European hub for the company."
About Nexelis
With unrivaled expertise in immunology on both sides of the client/CRO relationship, Nexelis is a leading provider of assay development and advanced laboratory testing. Our versatile team of scientists, working with our advanced technology platforms, were instrumental in the development, qualification, validation, and large-scale sample testing of assays that supported the FDA filing of almost 100 new molecular entities, including blockbuster vaccines and soluble large molecules. For more information, please visit www.nexelis.com
About ImmunXperts
ImmunXperts offers a wide range of in vitro immunology services with a strong focus on immunogenicity and immuno-oncology. The company helps biopharma companies select their best lead candidates by assessing all aspects of immune responses in donors and patients. Acting as a mobile development team, ImmunXperts complements its clients' expertise to deliver meaningful and potent screening tools. For more information, please visit www.immunxperts.com
About Ampersand Capital Partners
Founded in 1988, Ampersand is a middle-market private equity firm dedicated to growth-oriented investments in the healthcare sector. With offices in Boston and Amsterdam, Ampersand leverages its unique blend of private equity and operating experience to build value and drive superior long-term performance alongside its portfolio company management teams. Ampersand has helped build numerous market-leading companies across each of our core healthcare sectors, including Brammer Bio, Confluent Medical, Genewiz, Genoptix, Talecris Biotherapeutics, and Viracor-IBT Laboratories. For more information, please visit www.ampersandcapital.com
About Sambrinvest
Sambrinvest is a risk capital actor in the region of Charleroi in Belgium, with the objective to support the development of SMEs. Thanks to its expertise, it advises entrepreneurs at every development stage of their projects whilst respecting their management autonomy. Sambrinvest has been active for more than 30 years, with a specific focus on Biotechnology and Digital. For more information, please visit www.sambrinvest.be
SOURCE Nexelis
Redefining Cancer Treatment Shines Light on Cancer Immunotherapies
Campaign features the stories of Canadians impacted by different types of cancer
KIRKLAND, QC, March 4, 2020 /CNW/ - Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada launches a new public awareness campaign about cancer immunotherapy, a type of cancer treatment that uses the body's own immune system to fight cancer.1 The campaign, Redefining Cancer Treatment, aims to raise awareness and inform Canadians about cancer immunotherapy by sharing the stories of four Canadians from different parts of the country and their personal journeys.
"When most Canadians think of cancer treatment, typically cancer immunotherapy is not on their radar," said AnnA Van Acker, President and Managing Director, Merck Canada. "The goal of this campaign is to help educate Canadians about the different types of cancer treatments to help empower us all to have more informed conversations with our caregivers."
Shannon, a B.C. local, is one of the patients featured in the campaign. In 2005, not long after she was married, Shannon was diagnosed with melanoma. Despite precautionary methods, she got pregnant. By 2011, her cancer had significantly progressed, and she and her husband were told there was a strong chance neither she nor her unborn child would survive.
"Having cancer was hard enough but learning that there was a strong chance that neither myself nor our child would survive was devastating," said Shannon. "Despite the odds, I gave birth to our daughter, and then started on cancer immunotherapy. Being a mother has changed my life and motivated me to help others with advanced cancer learn about the treatment options available."
The campaign will run on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, and the patient stories will be also featured on the website, www.redefining-cancer-treatment.ca. Here, Canadians can learn more about different cancer treatment options and find useful resources for care and support.
"Cancer immunotherapy is a pillar in cancer care, alongside surgery, radiation and chemotherapy," said Dr. Krista Noonan, medical oncologist, B.C. Cancer Agency. "Continued research and development of cancer treatments are important and can contribute to improved outcomes for patients."
About Cancer Immunotherapy Cancer patients are treated with surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation, and cancer immunotherapy. Immuno-oncology, a field of medical research which uses the body's own immune system to fight cancer, is an additional pillar in cancer-care treatment.2Cancer immunotherapy is used to stop or slow the growth of cancer, stop cancer from spreading to other parts of the body, help the immune system work better to destroy cancer cells, and deliver toxins, such as radiation or chemotherapy, directly to cancer cells.3
There are several different types of cancer immunotherapy used to treat cancer.
About Merck Canada For more than 125 years, Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world's most challenging diseases in pursuit of our mission to save and improve lives. We demonstrate our commitment to patients and population health by increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today, Merck continues to be at the forefront of research to prevent and treat diseases that threaten people and animals – including cancer, infectious diseases such as HIV and Ebola, and emerging animal diseases – as we aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in the world.
In Canada, Merck markets a broad range of vaccines, pharmaceutical and animal health products and is one of the top R&D investors in Canada, with investments totaling $69 million in 2018 and more than $1 billion since 2000. Based in Kirkland, Québec, Merck employs approximately 680 people across the country. For more information about our operations in Canada, visit www.merck.ca and connect with us on YouTube and Twitter @MerckCanada.
