HIMSS Survey: 70% of clinicians use mobile devices to view patient information

HIMSS Survey: 70% of clinicians use mobile devices to view patient information. The least used features of mobile devices include: management of chronic care diseases at 22.94 percent, analysis of patient data at 21.18 percent, and facilitation of remote patient monitoring at 20 percent.

SOURCE: MobiHealth News, 2/26/2014. Author: Aditi Pai.

Article Below.

Sixty-nine percent of providers use a mobile device to view patient information and 36 percent use mobile technologies to collect data at the bedside, according to HIMSS survey of 170 individuals who held a wide variety of positions in healthcare organizations.

In order to participate in the survey, respondents were either responsible for developing the organization’s policy on mobile technology, a member of a committee that is responsible for developing the organization’s policy on mobile technology, or responsible for ensuring that the organization’s mobile technology was implemented and operational.

Clinicians use mobile devices most to view patient information (69.4 percent). After that, clinicians most use mobile devices to look up non patient health information (64.7 percent), educate and train others on the device (48.8 percent), and get clinical information (41.8 percent).

The least used features of mobile devices include management of chronic care diseases at 22.94 percent, analysis of patient data at 21.18 percent, and facilitation of remote patient monitoring at 20 percent.

Additionally, when respondents were asked to identify the extent to which organizations leveraged technology to impact patient care, they were most likely to indicate that mobile technology was leveraged for pharmacy management, which includes tasks such as medication reminders and medication reconciliation.

Sixty-nine percent of clinicians said their organizations supplied them with smartphones, 67 percent were supplied with pagers, 56 percent were supplied with cellular phones, and 43 percent were supplied with tablets designed for healthcare. When clinicians were asked to identify the areas in which they would either add to or expand the use of mobile devices at their organizations, a majority, 63 percent, wanted tablets designed for healthcare. Another 30 percent wanted smartphones, 14 percent identified cellular phones and 8 percent pointed to pagers.

According to the respondents, 77 percent of the apps they used were developed by third parties, 52 percent indicated that clinicians used apps developed by the organization’s HIT vendor and 32 percent of clinicians indicated they used apps that were developed internally.

Thirty five percent of people said their organization supplies at least one app for patient or consumer use.

Medical Study News: Antibody May Be Detectable in Blood Years Before MS Symptoms Appear

Antibody May Be Detectable in Blood Years Before MS Symptoms Appear. If results can be replicated in larger populations, these findings may help to detect MS earlier

Full Press Release Follows.

SOURCE: American Academy of Neurology

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An antibody found in the blood of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) may be present long before the onset of the disease and its symptoms, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014.

"If our results can be replicated in larger populations, our findings may help to detect MS earlier in a subgroup of patients," said study author Viola Biberacher, MD, with Technical University in Munich, Germany. "Finding the disease before symptoms appear means we can better prepare to treat and possibly even prevent those symptoms. This finding also demonstrates that the antibody development to the KIR4.1 protein, a protein found in some people with MS, precedes the clinical onset of disease suggesting a role of the autoantibody in how the disease develops."

For the study, 16 healthy blood donors who were later diagnosed with MS were compared to 16 healthy blood donors of the same age and sex who did not develop MS. Scientists looked for a specific antibody to KIR4.1. Samples were collected between two and nine months before the first symptoms of MS appeared.

Next, researchers looked at antibody levels in the blood at additional time points up to six years before and then after disease onset in those who had the KIR4.1 antibody in their blood.

All of the healthy controls tested negative for the KIR4.1 antibody. Of those who later developed MS, seven people tested positive for the antibodies, two showed borderline activity and seven were negative.

In the study, KIR4.1 antibodies were found in the people with pre-clinical MS several years before the first clinical attack. Concentrations of the antibody varied at different time points during pre-MS in individual people. 

"The next step is to confirm these findings in larger groups and determine how many years before onset of disease the antibody response develops," said Biberacher.

The study was supported by the German Ministry for Education and Research and the German Competence Network for Multiple Sclerosis.

Learn more about MS at www.aan.com/patients.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 27,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, Parkinson's disease and epilepsy.

For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit http://www.aan.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube.

SOURCE American Academy of Neurology

CONTACT: Rachel Seroka, rseroka@aan.com, (612) 928-6129, Michelle Uher, muher@aan.com, (612) 928-6120

Pronutria Closes $12.25M Series B, Launches 2 Clinical Trials

Pronutria® Announces Launch of Two Clinical Trials. Closes $12.25 Million in Series B Financing to Advance ProNutrein™ Product Candidates

Full Press Release Follows.

SOURCE: Pronutria

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Pronutria, the only company with a discovery engine and pipeline of pharmaconutrient products, announced today the beginning of two clinical trials evaluating its lead ProNutrein™ product candidates. The company is utilizing its ProNutrein™ discovery platform to identify and develop protein pharmaconutrients, protein nutrients identified in food with beneficial impact in many areas of human health, including muscle, metabolic and gastrointestinal health. Pronutria also announced the closing of a $12.25 million financing that will fund the advancement of the ProNutrein™ pipeline as well as the development of additional candidates as medical foods and supplements, and in a separate business unit, as therapeutics.
Pronutria's two clinical studies are evaluating its lead ProNutrein™ candidates for beneficial effects on muscle and metabolism in age appropriate healthy volunteers. In relevant preclinical models of muscle growth and thermogenesis, these candidates have demonstrated substantial efficacy. Pronutria is evaluating these lead programs for development as nutritional supplements and medical foods, and is building off published, positive clinical amino acid data. The company expects to complete these trials by the end of the second quarter of 2014.

"These trials demonstrate our unique ability to advance multiple lead ProNutrein™ candidates from product conception to human data in multiple indications in less than a year in a highly capital efficient manner," said Robert Connelly, Chief Executive Officer of Pronutria. "Pronutria's world-leading understanding of amino acid pharmacology has positioned us to rapidly build a pipeline of orally administered protein products that can have life changing benefits for millions."

Pronutria was founded in 2011 by Flagship VentureLabs™, the innovation foundry of Flagship Ventures. The $12.25 million Series B financing was led by Flagship and includes private investors. Pronutria expects to fund its activities through a combination of partnerships and investment. The company has raised $23 million to date. 
"Pronutria has very effectively converted its unique vision into reality with multiple clinical candidates," said Dr. Noubar Afeyan, Chairman of Pronutria and Managing Partner and CEO of Flagship Ventures. "The company has hit an important inflection point with a validated platform where it will rapidly advance its candidates in important medical areas initially as medical foods and dietary supplements and eventually as therapeutics."
Pronutria is unlocking the vast untapped potential of the individual proteins in the human diet to impact human health. The company's ProNutrein™ platform delivers single proteins orally that, through the normal digestive process, release specific combinations of amino acids. Over 40 years of clinical trial work has validated the impact of specific amino acids on a range of important conditions including muscle loss, metabolic disease, and rare genetic diseases. Delivering these validated amino acid combinations in protein form couples the clinical benefit with physiochemical and pharmacokinetic control. 

About Pronutria
Pronutria is transforming medicine with ProNutrein™ products, protein nutrients identified in the human diet, for the dietary management of disease, including diabetes, obesity, muscle loss, and diseases with impaired nutrient absorption. ProNutrein™ products are orally consumed pure protein products that trigger specific health benefits through precise and reproducible delivery of amino acids. Pronutria is the only company with access to a library containing over a billion protein nutrients and the tools to select them for specific indications and population segments. Pronutria offers an unprecedented platform with the ability to develop many first and best in class ProNutrein™ products. For more information, please visitwww.pronutria.com. PRONUTRIA AND PRONUTREIN are trademarks of Pronutria, Inc.

About Flagship VentureLabs
Flagship VentureLabs™ is the innovation foundry of Flagship Ventures. VentureLabs has been creating innovative, game changing companies since its founding in 2000. It is the first institution dedicated to entrepreneurial innovation and parallel entrepreneuring, where the acts of technology invention and entrepreneuring are performed in concert by a team of world-class innovators and professional entrepreneurs. The VentureLabs team innovates, invents, iterates, founds and builds startups using a unique, systematic approach that results in the creation of best-in-class new ventures. More than 25 life science and technology startups have been created within VentureLabs, including recently launched Joule Unlimited, Midori Renewables, Moderna Therapeutics, and Seres Health. For more information, please visit www.flagshipventures.com/venturelabs.

About Flagship Ventures
Realizing entrepreneurial innovation is the mission of Flagship Ventures. The firm operates through two synergistic units: VentureLabs™ which invents and launches transformative companies, and Venture Capital, which finances and develops innovative, early-stage companies. Founded in 2000, and based inCambridge, Massachusetts, Flagship Ventures manages over $900 million in capital. The Flagship team is active in three principal business sectors: therapeutics, health technologies and sustainability/clean technology. Flagship's portfolio ventures include: Accuri Cytometers (acquired by Becton Dickinson), Adnexus (acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb), Acceleron (NASDAQ: XLRN), Agios (NASDAQ: AGIO), BIND Therapeutics (NASDAQ: BIND), Hypnion (acquired by Eli Lilly), Morphotek (acquired by Eisai), Receptos (NASDAQ: RCPT) and Tetraphase (NASDAQ: TTPH). Additional notable portfolio companies include: Affinnova, Joule Unlimited, and Moderna Therapeutics. For more information, please visitwww.flagshipventures.com. 

Contact:  For Flagship Ventures:  Rachel Brenner
Ruder Finn
212.715.1623 
flagship@ruderfinn.com 
For Pronutria:    Robert Connelly 
617.868.0949
SOURCE Pronutria

Study Shows 3-D Heart Imaging Can Improve AF Treatment

Study Shows 3-D Heart Imaging Can Improve Atrial Fibrillation Treatment Full press release below. SOURCE: University of Utah Health Sciences SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A University of Utah-led study for treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation (A-fib) provides strong clinical evidence for the use of 3-D MRI to individualize disease management and improve outcomes. Results of the Delayed-Enhancement MRI Determinant of Successful Radio-frequency Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation (DECAFF) study will be published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Atrial fibrillation is a common arrhythmia, or an irregular heartbeat, that is a major cause of stroke, heart failure and death. For treatment, doctors have mostly relied on drugs, or more recently, on catheter ablation. Despite those two treatment options, outcomes remain mediocre mainly due to poor patient selection, says Nassir F. Marrouche, M.D., founder of the U's interdisciplinary Comprehensive Arrhythmia Research & Management Center (CARMA) and associate professor of internal medicine at the University's School of Medicine. "We've been treating A-fib based on patients' symptoms, duration of arrhythmia and associated co-morbidities. Instead we should be integrating the diseased, fibrotic heart tissue itself into our management plan." "Every cardiologist in the world knows that A-fib and atrial tissue disease are intertwined. But, until recently, we have been lacking noninvasive tools to define this relationship," he says. "We at CARMA have developed a significant breakthrough in the way A-fib is managed." The DECAFF study built on innovative work from CARMA, which invented the technology enabling heart tissue imaging with MRI. With these images, physicians can assess the extent of the disease using a novel staging system similar to the ones developed for cancer. "This is a major step for individualizing arrhythmia management." Conducted in partnership with 15 major medical centers across the United States, Europe, and Australia, Marrouche's landmark study demonstrated that the amount of atrial injury can effectively predict whether patients were likely to benefit from A-fib catheter ablation procedure. Using the enhanced MRI and the Utah Staging System, the hearts of 329 patients were scanned and staged on a scale of 1-4 before undergoing ablation and procedure outcomes were assessed at follow-up. What Marrouche and his worldwide study partners found reflected early published findings from CARMA at the U of U: that those with less extensive fibrotic tissue had a greater chance of responding to ablative treatment. According to the data, patients with less than 10 percent left atrial wall fibrosis (Utah Stage 1) showed good outcomes with ablation therapy while those with greater than 30 percent fibrosis (Stage 4) experienced significantly higher failure rates. Marrouche believes the study findings will encourage a shift in the way physicians treat patients with atrial fibrillation, specifically by integrating MRI into their A-fib management protocols. "MRI scanning of heart tissue is more and more becoming a screening test to predict people at risk for arrhythmias and its associated complications like stroke and heart failure," he says. He also believes atrial disease-causing arrhythmias should be screened for just like cancers and other common diseases. SOURCE University of Utah Health Sciences CONTACT: Kathy Wilets, 801-581-5717, kathy.wilets@hsc.utah.edu Web Site: http://healthcare.utah.edu

Medical Patent News: Curemark Enzyme Delivery System, Autism Sector

Curemark Receives Worldwide Patent Coverage For Enzyme Delivery System. The new patents, issued in Europe, Australia and Central America, extend to 2030 and can be utilized for multiple enzyme products including CM-AT, Curemark's proprietary autism drug. Full press release follows. SOURCE: Curemark RYE, N.Y., Feb. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Curemark, a drug research and development company focused on neurological disorders, announced that the company has been awarded 6 new patents for its enzyme delivery system. The new patents, issued in Europe, Australia and Central America, extend to 2030 and can be utilized for multiple enzyme products including CM-AT, Curemark's proprietary autism drug. "We are thrilled to receive these patents," stated Dr. Joan Fallon, Curemark founder and CEO. "They are a major step forward toward bringing our platform technology to children and adults around the world who need it." Curemark previously announced that it has begun the rolling submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of a New Drug Application (NDA) for CM-AT. The FDA has granted CM-AT the agency's Fast Track designation.  The Fast Track designation is provided to investigational new drugs that are intended to treat serious or life-threatening conditions and that have demonstrated the potential to meet unmet medical needs.  The FDA works closely with manufacturers to develop Fast Track designated products which allows for rolling pre-submission and seeks to expedite the review of these drugs. About Curemark LLCCuremark is a drug research and development company focused on the treatment of neurological and other diseases, especially those with dysautonomic components, by addressing certain key gastrointestinal/pancreatic secretory deficiencies. The company previously announced that its Phase III double blind randomized placebo controlled multicenter clinical trial of CM-AT for autism met its primary and secondary endpoints. To learn more about the company's innovative science, visitwww.curemark.com Safe-Harbor StatementThis news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results and experiences to differ materially from anticipated results and expectations expressed in such forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the mechanism of action of the Curemark products CM-AT, CM-4612 and CM-182 their potential advantages, their potential for use in treating diseases or disorders, as well as the timing, progress and anticipated results of the clinical development and regulatory processes concerning the Curemark products CM-AT, CM-4612 and CM-182. These statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations as to such future outcomes, and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual future experience and results to differ materially from the statements made. Factors that might cause such a material difference include, among others, risks that the results of clinical trials will not support our claims or beliefs concerning the effectiveness of the Curemark products CM-AT, CM-4612 and CM-182, our ability to finance our development of CM-AT, CM-4612 and CM-182 regulatory risks, and our reliance on third party researchers and other collaborators. We assume no obligation to update these statements, except as required by law. SOURCE Curemark LLC CONTACT: Michelle Manoff, (212) 843-8051, mmanoff@rubensteinpr.com