Category Archives: Medical

Application programming interface, Collaboration, eMix, Health Care, Health informatics, Medical, Medical imaging, Open Image Exchange, Partnerships

eMix integrates PACSGEAR API to Enable Medical Image Sharing

PACSGEAR today announced an agreement with eMix, a cloud-based virtualized electronic medical information exchange, to participate in the Open Image Exchange, a cloud-based network designed to securely share medical images and information. PACSGEAR will incorporate the application programming interface (API) from eMix to upload images and reports for cloud-based sharing and storage.

“We are pleased to have eMix join the network,” said Eli Rapaich, PACSGEAR’s CEO. “The success of the Open Image Exchange continues to be based on incorporating open APIs, which improves access to medical images and other health information,” Rapaich said.

“Being part of the Open Image Exchange improves access between healthcare institutions, physicians, and patients,” said Florent Saint-Clair, eMix general manager. “Our anytime, anywhere approach to securely sending patient information with eMix has now been adopted by over 450 customers. Open Image Exchange broadens our ability to connect with even great numbers of customers.”


Assay Depot, AstraZeneca, Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals, Medical, Partnerships, Research

Assay Depot, AstraZeneca Launch Virtual Research Laboratory for Drug Researchers

Assay Depot Inc. today announced the launch of a virtual research laboratory. Developed in partnership with AstraZeneca, the virtual laboratory is a vendor relationship management (VRM) system that gives researchers easy access to a distributed network of thousands of research service providers located inside and outside the company.

“We brought together features of today’s favorite consumer websites to create a virtual laboratory that empowers scientists,” stated Kevin Lustig, Assay Depot’s CEO. “A small group of talented scientists can now run an entire drug discovery program, from concept to clinic, from a laptop computer.”

The private virtual laboratory (aka Research Exchange) enables researchers to search for research services and vendors, communicate with experts, purchase services, and rate and review services. In one simple and intuitive interface, scientists identify experts, initiate research collaborations, and track entire projects to completion.

Researchers can access the virtual laboratory from anywhere they access the Internet, including tablets and mobile devices. They can view their colleagues’ ratings and reviews, view past transactions and determine at a glance which vendors have current legal agreements.

“The virtual drug discovery era has arrived,” said Chris Petersen, Assay Depot’s CIO. “Enabling research scientists to access any service and any expert in just a few mouse clicks can dramatically improve productivity, reduce costs and promote innovation.”

A private virtual laboratory enables complete transparency across global research operations while retaining local control over research sourcing decisions. It simplifies legal and compliance verification, standardizes sourcing governance and serves as a versatile all-in-one platform that benefits the entire chain of pharmaceutical stakeholders, including discovery research, supply chain and consumer health.


Apache Hadoop, Big Data, Hadoop, HBase, MapReduce, Medical, NextBio, Partnerships

NextBio, Intel Collaborate to Optimize Hadoop for Genomics Big Data

Image representing nextbio as depicted in Crun...

NextBio and Intel announced today a collaboration aimed at optimizing and stabilizing the Hadoop stack and advancing the use of Big Data technologies in genomics. As a part of this collaboration, the NextBio and Intel engineering teams will apply experience they have gained from NextBio’s use of Big Data technologies to the improvement of HDFS, Hadoop, and HBase. Any enhancements that NextBio engineers make to the Hadoop stack will be contributed to the open-source community. Intel will also showcase NextBio’s use of Big Data.

“NextBio is positioned at the intersection of Genomics and Big Data. Every day we deal with the three V’s (volume, variety, and velocity) associated with Big Data – We, our collaborators, and our users are adding large volumes of a variety of molecular data to NextBio at an increasing velocity,” said Dr. Satnam Alag, chief technology officer and vice president of engineering at NextBio. “Without the implementation of our algorithms in the MapReduce framework, operational expertise in HDFS, Hadoop, and HBase, and investments in building our secure cloud-based infrastructure, it would have been impossible for us to scale cost-effectively to handle this large-scale data.”

“Intel is firmly committed to the wide adoption and use of Big Data technologies such as HDFS, Hadoop, and HBase across all industries that need to analyze large amounts of data,” said Girish Juneja, CTO and General Manager, Big Data Software and Services, Intel. “Complex data requiring compute-intensive analysis needs not only Big Data open source, but a combination of hardware and software management optimizations to help deliver needed scale with a high return on investment. Intel is working closely with NextBio to deliver this showcase reference to the Big Data community and life science industry.”

“The use of Big Data technologies at NextBio enables researchers and clinicians to mine billions of data points in real-time to discover new biomarkers, clinically assess targets and drug profiles, optimally design clinical trials, and interpret patient molecular data,” Dr. Alag continued. “NextBio has invested significantly in the use of Big Data technologies to handle the tsunami of genomic data being generated and its expected exponential growth. As we further scale our infrastructure to handle this growing data resource, we are excited to work with Intel to make the Hadoop stack better and give back to the open-source community.”


Apache Hadoop, Big Data, Hadoop, HDFS, MapReduce, Medical, NextBio, Partnerships

NextBio, Intel Collaborate to Optimize Hadoop for Genomics Big Data

Image representing nextbio as depicted in Crun...

NextBio and Intel announced today a collaboration aimed at optimizing and stabilizing the Hadoop stack and advancing the use of Big Data technologies in genomics. As a part of this collaboration, the NextBio and Intel engineering teams will apply experience they have gained from NextBio’s use of Big Data technologies to the improvement of HDFS, Hadoop, and HBase. Any enhancements that NextBio engineers make to the Hadoop stack will be contributed to the open-source community. Intel will also showcase NextBio’s use of Big Data.

“NextBio is positioned at the intersection of Genomics and Big Data. Every day we deal with the three V’s (volume, variety, and velocity) associated with Big Data – We, our collaborators, and our users are adding large volumes of a variety of molecular data to NextBio at an increasing velocity,” said Dr. Satnam Alag, chief technology officer and vice president of engineering at NextBio. “Without the implementation of our algorithms in the MapReduce framework, operational expertise in HDFS, Hadoop, and HBase, and investments in building our secure cloud-based infrastructure, it would have been impossible for us to scale cost-effectively to handle this large-scale data.”

“Intel is firmly committed to the wide adoption and use of Big Data technologies such as HDFS, Hadoop, and HBase across all industries that need to analyze large amounts of data,” said Girish Juneja, CTO and General Manager, Big Data Software and Services, Intel. “Complex data requiring compute-intensive analysis needs not only Big Data open source, but a combination of hardware and software management optimizations to help deliver needed scale with a high return on investment. Intel is working closely with NextBio to deliver this showcase reference to the Big Data community and life science industry.”

“The use of Big Data technologies at NextBio enables researchers and clinicians to mine billions of data points in real-time to discover new biomarkers, clinically assess targets and drug profiles, optimally design clinical trials, and interpret patient molecular data,” Dr. Alag continued. “NextBio has invested significantly in the use of Big Data technologies to handle the tsunami of genomic data being generated and its expected exponential growth. As we further scale our infrastructure to handle this growing data resource, we are excited to work with Intel to make the Hadoop stack better and give back to the open-source community.”


Apache Hadoop, Big Data, Hadoop, HBase, HDFS, MapReduce, Medical, NextBio, Partnerships

NextBio, Intel Collaborate to Optimize Hadoop for Genomics Big Data

Image representing nextbio as depicted in Crun...

NextBio and Intel announced today a collaboration aimed at optimizing and stabilizing the Hadoop stack and advancing the use of Big Data technologies in genomics. As a part of this collaboration, the NextBio and Intel engineering teams will apply experience they have gained from NextBio’s use of Big Data technologies to the improvement of HDFS, Hadoop, and HBase. Any enhancements that NextBio engineers make to the Hadoop stack will be contributed to the open-source community. Intel will also showcase NextBio’s use of Big Data.

“NextBio is positioned at the intersection of Genomics and Big Data. Every day we deal with the three V’s (volume, variety, and velocity) associated with Big Data – We, our collaborators, and our users are adding large volumes of a variety of molecular data to NextBio at an increasing velocity,” said Dr. Satnam Alag, chief technology officer and vice president of engineering at NextBio. “Without the implementation of our algorithms in the MapReduce framework, operational expertise in HDFS, Hadoop, and HBase, and investments in building our secure cloud-based infrastructure, it would have been impossible for us to scale cost-effectively to handle this large-scale data.”

“Intel is firmly committed to the wide adoption and use of Big Data technologies such as HDFS, Hadoop, and HBase across all industries that need to analyze large amounts of data,” said Girish Juneja, CTO and General Manager, Big Data Software and Services, Intel. “Complex data requiring compute-intensive analysis needs not only Big Data open source, but a combination of hardware and software management optimizations to help deliver needed scale with a high return on investment. Intel is working closely with NextBio to deliver this showcase reference to the Big Data community and life science industry.”

“The use of Big Data technologies at NextBio enables researchers and clinicians to mine billions of data points in real-time to discover new biomarkers, clinically assess targets and drug profiles, optimally design clinical trials, and interpret patient molecular data,” Dr. Alag continued. “NextBio has invested significantly in the use of Big Data technologies to handle the tsunami of genomic data being generated and its expected exponential growth. As we further scale our infrastructure to handle this growing data resource, we are excited to work with Intel to make the Hadoop stack better and give back to the open-source community.”


CollabRx, M&A Activity, Medical, Tegal

Tegal Corporation Acquiring CollabRx, Inc.

Tegal Corporation today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire CollabRx, Inc., a privately held technology company in the rapidly growing market of interpretive content and data analytics for genomics-based medicine.

CollabRx offers cloud-based expert systems that provide clinically relevant interpretive knowledge to institutions, physicians, researchers and patients for genomics-based medicine in cancer and other diseases to inform health care decision making. With access to approximately 50 clinical and scientific advisors at leading academic institutions and a suite of tools and processes that combine artificial intelligence-based analytics with proprietary interpretive content, the company is well positioned to participate in the $300 billion value-added “big data” opportunity in the US health care market (as reported by McKinsey Global Institute), over half of which specifically targets areas in cancer and cancer genomics.1

The Chief Executive Officers of the two constituent companies, Thomas Mika of Tegal and James Karis of CollabRx, plan to serve as co-CEOs of the combined, publicly traded company, with headquarters in San Francisco, CA. Tegal entered into an employment agreement with Mr. Karis that will become effective at the closing, and Mr. Karis will also be appointed to Tegal’s Board of Directors. Tegal will continue to operate under its current name and ticker symbol for the time being, but plans to seek stockholder approval at its upcoming annual meeting in September 2012 for an amendment to its Certificate of Incorporation, changing its corporate name to CollabRx, Inc.

Originally founded in 2008 by Silicon Valley Internet pioneer Jay (Marty) Tenenbaum, CollabRx has developed clinical advisory networks, expert systems, proprietary tools and processes, and a pipeline of commercial data products and applications (“apps”) for cancer. CollabRx Therapy Finders™, its first commercial product, provides sophisticated, credible, personalized, and actionable information to physicians and patients for rapidly determining which medical tests, therapies, and clinical trials may be considered in cancer treatment planning with a specific emphasis on the tumor genetic profile.

CollabRx Therapy Finders™ are web-based apps that serve as one type of user interface to access proprietary CollabRx content. CollabRx content is dynamically updated and organized in a knowledgebase that includes information on molecular diagnostics, medical tests, clinical trials, drugs, biologics and other information relevant for cancer treatment planning. Capturing how highly respected practicing physicians use this information in the clinical setting further refines the knowledgebase.

Upon the acquisition’s closing, Tegal will issue an aggregate of 236,433 shares of common stock, representing 14% of Tegal’s total shares outstanding prior to the closing, to former CollabRx stockholders in exchange for 100% of the capital stock of CollabRx, Inc. Tegal and certain former CollabRx stockholders will enter into a Stockholders Agreement providing for, among other things, registration rights, transfer restrictions and voting and standstill agreements. Tegal also will assume $500,000 of existing CollabRx indebtedness through the issuance of 5-year promissory notes in substitution for outstanding notes previously issued by CollabRx. In addition, Tegal will grant a total of 368,417 RSUs and options as “inducement grants” to newly hired management and employees, all subject to four-year vesting and other restrictions.

“Medicine is entering a new era of low cost genome sequencing and the proliferation of personalized treatments based on specific genetic mutations,” said James Karis, CEO of CollabRx. “With the technology platform and expert system leadership position that CollabRx has developed over the past few years, we believe that the new company is in a position to lead the market for accurate, credible and current genomic information in the cancer space. We are excited to be joining the Tegal management team in a well-resourced, publicly-traded entity.”

“This acquisition marks both the successful conclusion of a transition process and the beginning of a new chapter for Tegal Corporation,” said Thomas Mika, Tegal’s Chairman, President and CEO. “We are excited to help drive the rapid growth of this market while we meet a critical and consequential human need. This is a mission Tegal’s board has embraced wholeheartedly. I am very pleased to be working with James Karis as Co-CEO and fellow director, and look forward, along with the entire team at CollabRx and Tegal, to building a dynamic company in a new era of genomic medicine.”


Health care provider, LifeWatch, Medical, Medicine, Mobile, Smartphone

LifeWatch V: Smartphone with Healthcare Sensors Built In

LifeWatch AG, a wireless cardiac monitoring service and home sleep test provider in the U.S.,  today released LifeWatch V, a healthcare smartphone. The smartphone allows patients as well as health- and wellbeing-conscious consumers to self-operate a wide range of embedded medical sensors, wellness-related applications, cloud-based services and 24/7 call center support.

By using the barely visible sensors on the phone’s frame, patients as well as health- and wellbeing conscious consumers can track, capture, collect and analyze their health and medical measurements anywhere anytime. The features include ECG, body temperature, blood glucose, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, body fat percentage and stress levels (heart rate variability). All collected data can be retrieved from the cloud for a follow-up anytime anywhere. Users can thus take corrective action, plan their diets and activities, securely share the information with a health provider or family member, trend and analyze the data and more. Patients are also able to program the unit to remind them of their drug type, dose and intake time.

LifeWatch V was designed with a flexible service-product ecosystem in mind, allowing easy integration of services. The LifeWatch V handset unit includes a service enablement platform to support the transmission of medical data to be analyzed, evaluated and communicated to health professionals and call center personnel around the clock. The device wirelessly interacts with a cloud-based environment allowing users direct access to a wide range of valuable complementary medical and wellness related services.

LifeWatch intends to launch the healthcare solution smartphone world-wide. In the initial markets LifeWatch has identified several local partners to enter into strategic partnerships.


Florida, Government, Health Care, Health insurance, HIX, Medical, Partnerships, Xerox

Xerox to Build Health Insurance Marketplace for Florida Health Choices

Florida Health Choices, a corporation established by the state to improve access to health care, has selected Xerox to administer its Insurance Marketplace, a program designed to give small business and eligible individuals more flexibility in finding affordable health insurance and other services. The nine-year contract is valued at $68 million.

With partner CHOICE Administrators Exchange Solutions, Xerox will provide a cloud-based Web portal and online plan selection tool to give consumers and employers more information when making health insurance selections. The solution preserves the benefits of employer-sponsored insurance and eases the administrative burden for small businesses.

“We’re designing and supporting programs that increase access to health coverage for consumers,” said Will Saunders, group president, Government Healthcare Solutions, Xerox. “The solution we create in Florida will serve citizens and small business owners and help position the state as a leader in establishing a competitive and voluntary health insurance marketplace for small employers.”

Xerox will also provide eligibility determination and enrollment management services for the program, and operate a customer contact center to share information on marketplace offerings. These services will help Florida Health Choices handle the massive amounts of information involved with the marketplace quickly, efficiently and securely.

“We need a partner who can get a fully functional marketplace setup that is designed to serve Floridians now and into the future – delivering on both our short and long-term goals,” said Aaron Bean, chairman, board of directors, Florida Health Choices. “We’re confident Xerox will support us in establishing our marketplace quickly, while helping us to increase healthcare access to small business employees – one of our key priorities.”

Xerox has more than 40 years of experience working with government health agencies to enhance the efficiency of health programs and help ensure the health of citizens.


Clinical trial, Drug Information Association, Electronic data capture, Food and Drug Administration, Medical, Medidata, Medidata Solutions

Medidata Solutions to Show New Clinical Cloud Products, Enhancements at DIA

English: Medidata Solutions Logo

Medidata Solutions will showcase new products and features that broaden its clinical cloud platform at the upcoming Drug Information Association’s (DIA) Annual Meeting, June 24-28 in Philadelphia, Pa. Addressing new industry regulations, the need for broad safety reporting and improvements to site monitoring processes, these enhancements to Medidata’s comprehensive solutions will offer drug developers new capabilities for overcoming key research challenges.

“Sponsors are under more pressure than ever to cut costs, improve efficiency and adhere to increased regulations, requiring innovation and real-time operational analytics across the clinical research chain from concept to conclusion,” said Glen de Vries, president of Medidata Solutions. “We are continuously broadening our solution set to empower sponsors to improve their research clinical systems at every point in the clinical process, including trial planning, monitoring, site payments and safety.”

From booth #3101, Medidata will be providing demos of key products and new features to enable sponsors to achieve key goals, including:

  • Driving a New Monitoring Paradigm
    The company’s first
    solution for managing site quality and the latest addition to the
    Medidata Insights™ family of clinical business analytics offerings, Medidata
    Insights SQM™ combines advanced data visualization with seamless
    real-time data availability with the rest of Medidata’s platform to
    deliver turnkey site quality management – further enabling the
    industry’s shift to simplified remote monitoring of site and data
    quality resulting from the 2011 FDA clarification on source document
    verification (SDV).
  • Automating Safety Processes with Electronic Adverse Event Transfer
    To
    help drug developers meet post-marketing expedited reporting
    obligations within the new European pharmacovigilance legislation, Medidata
    Rave Safety Gateway™ expanded its capabilities for sites to
    electronically transfer non-serious safety case data – in addition to
    serious safety case data – to sponsors’ safety systems, eliminating
    paper-based manual processes, reducing query cycles between sites and
    sponsors’ safety groups and minimizing reconciliation between safety
    and clinical databases.
  • Ensuring Timely Investigator Payments
    Due to the
    complexity of triggering investigator payments from sponsor-set
    milestones, site payments are often delayed. The out-of-the box
    integration of Medidata
    CTMS™ and Medidata
    Rave® electronic data capture (EDC) improves the
    efficiency of clinical operations, streamlining workflows in areas
    such as site monitoring and site payments. Now, Medidata Rave EDC data
    is pulled into Medidata CTMS™ monitor reports, increasing the accuracy
    of reporting and timeliness of payment triggers.
  • Assuring Market Value Compliance and Faster Budget Agreements
    Designed
    for sponsors receiving investigator-sponsored proposals from sites, Medidata
    Grants Manager Investigator Initiated™ offers drug developers
    clarity and uniformity in judging pricing and conduct of their
    submitted funding requests.
  • Ensuring the Right Randomization Approach to Meet Study GoalsMedidata
    Balance™ now provides the block randomization methodology in
    addition to dynamic allocation randomization, extending its use to new
    segments of the life science industry by permitting researchers to use
    the approach that best suits their study goals.