October 28, 2016 | New partnerships and products from BBK Worldwide, Emulate, Veeva, and more. 

A first-of-its-kind study of 900,000 hospital admissions from an integrated health system has yielded insights into shifts in the epidemiology of multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) in the community. New research, funded by OpGen and conducted by Intermountain Healthcare and Enterprise Analysis Corporation (EAC) found that Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) and ESBL harboring Gram-negative rods were the most common organisms treated by the Intermountain Healthcare system over an eight-year period between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2015. The study examined data from Intermountain Healthcare over an eight-year period to characterize the trends occurring in C. difficile and MDROs. The abstracted electronic data was pulled from patients seen at Intermountain’s 22 hospitals and affiliated clinics who had clinical cultures positive for antibiotic resistant Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria and/or laboratory tests positive for toxigenic C. difficile. The researchers discovered that resistant organisms were found in 1.4 percent of the 900,000 hospital admissions during the study period with most originating from the ambulatory setting. Press release

Sonoma based AFFIRMATIVhealth presenters of RE:mind is teaming up with San Francisco based mobile health provider, AidCube. Together, AFFIRMATIVhealth and AidCube will deliver a personalized protocol-based mobile tool for individual support and follow-up to RE:mind program participants, those affected by mild cognitive impairment and early stage Alzheimer's disease. Launching this new mobile technology enables remote interaction with cognitive health specialists and RE:mind participants. The app integrates with the participants personalized protocol to include protocol compliance advice, videos, questionnaires, activity tracking, and reminders focused on supplements, diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management. The app also enables dialogue through secure messaging, text and video. "We have put a lot of effort into making our mobile platform very flexible, enabling providers to deliver their expert knowledge and receive patient feedback through a simple and user friendly app. We are thrilled to partner with AFFIRMATIVhealth, who will be leveraging our platform to support individuals and families in their efforts to reverse cognitive decline," says Allan Murphy Bruun, CEO of AidCube. Press release

BBK Worldwide announced that its full-service patient travel and card reimbursements program, RSG (Ready. Set. Go.) designed specifically for patients and the clinical study community has improved patient recruitment and retention across five major global studies, processing more than 5,000 travel-related transactions and boosting retention by an average of 58%. BBK’s RSG Arrive manages all travel-related logistics – operational and financial – for patients and site staff. Press release

Emulate announced a strategic collaboration with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp) that seeks to integrate Emulate’s Organs-on-Chips technology into preclinical drug evaluation and testing services. Emulate’s proprietary technology attempts to recreate the natural physiology of human tissues and organs, and is designed to provide a predictive model of human response to diseases, medicines, chemicals and foods with greater precision and detail than other preclinical options. The collaboration will combine the advanced technology capabilities of Emulate and the end-to-end drug development expertise of Covance Drug Development, with the goal of qualifying and commercializing the Organs-on-Chips technology as a new platform to enhance preclinical drug development for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Emulate also announced that it has expanded its Series B financing with an additional $17 million in equity funding, bringing the total amount raised in the Series B round to $45 million.  The expanded funding from the Series B financing will be used to augment the translation of Emulate’s Organs-on-Chips technology into a commercially available Human Emulation System. Press release

Veeva announced that inVentiv Health is expanding its adoption of the Veeva Vault Clinical Suite to expedite site activation for clients. inVentiv Health is building on its successful use of Veeva Vault eTMF by adopting Veeva Vault Study Startup to accelerate document-intensive site activation and speed time to first patient enrollment. Vault Study Startup will help inVentiv streamline complex activities related to site activation, including ethics committee and Ministry of Health submissions and approvals, document distribution and tracking, and site contract transactional activities.

Veeva also announced that ICON is streamlining its regulatory and quality operations with Veeva Vault applications to increase transparency and enable greater collaboration with sponsors. Press release

Quanticate announced that it has named Alan Morgan as the company's Chief Operating Officer. Reporting to Quanticate's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Underwood, Morgan will work across Quanticate's global office network (US, UK, India, South Africa, and Poland) to build and expand upon the company’s reputation for outstanding customer service and expertise across clinical data services. Press release

The Forerunner Group announced that it has launched its RXTransparent Compliance platform, the first and only end-to-end drug supply chain tracking solution to provide comprehensive Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) compliance. The RXTransparent Compliance platform provides visibility and transparency throughout the entire pharmaceutical supply chain, including traceability beyond the loading dock to the individual dose. Press release