Funding, Deals & Partnerships: BIOLOGICS & MEDICAL DEVICES; BioMed e-Series; Medicine and Life Sciences Scientific Journal – http://PharmaceuticalIntelligence.com
Chasing change: Innovation and patent activity during COVID-19
A report on the pandemic’s impact on the global R&D community and innovation lifecycle
Reporters: Aviva Lev-Ari, Ph.D., RN & Gail S. Thornton, M.A.
Published by Clarivate Derwent
In just a few short months, COVID-19 swept through the world. While many aspects of everyday life have altered as the pandemic has gripped the globe, society at large has been and remains remarkably resilient.
To understand the impact of COVID-19 on the world’s innovators, we asked organizations from a cross-section of industries globally about how the pandemic has affected their organizations’ innovation strategies.
Other related article published in this Open Access Online Scientific Journal include the following:
Corticosteroid, Dexamethasone Improves Survival in COVID-19: Deaths reduction by 1/3 in ventilated patients and by 1/5 in other patients receiving oxygen only
Health-Care CEOs Outline Strategies at J.P. Morgan Conference
Chiefs at Johnson & Johnson, CVS discuss what’s next on a range of industry issues
One of the biggest health conferences of the year for investors, the J.P. Morgan Health-Care Conference, is taking place this week in San Francisco. Here are some of the hot topics covered at the four-day event, which wraps up Thursday.
BioMarin Mulls Payment Plans
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. CEO Jean-Jacques Bienaimé said he would consider pursuing installment payment arrangements for the biotech’s experimental gene therapy for hemophilia. At the conference, Mr. Bienaimé told the Wall Street Journal that the one-time infusion, Valrox, is likely to cost in the millions because studies have shown it can eliminate bleeding episodes in patients, and current hemophilia treatments taken chronically can cost millions over several years. “We’re not trying to charge more than existing therapies,” he said. “We want to offer a better treatment at the same or lower cost.”
Johnson & Johnson Warns on Pricing
As politicians hammer drug prices, Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky suggested companies need to police themselves. At the conference, Mr. Gorsky told investors that drug companies should price drugs reasonably and be transparent. “If we don’t do this as an industry, I think there will be other alternatives that will be more onerous for us,” Mr. Gorsky says. Some drugmakers pulled back from price increases in mid-2018 amid heightened political scrutiny, but prices went up for many drugs at the start of 2019.
Marijuana-Derived Drugs Show Promise
GW Pharmaceuticals PLC last year secured the first U.S. FDA approval of a prescription drug derived from the marijuana plant to treat rare forms of epilepsy. Discussing the drug, Epidiolex, GW CEO Justin Gover told the Journal that the launch is going well and that there is a lot of demand. GW is pursuing additional uses of Epidiolex and is developing other experimental cannabinoid-based drugs to treat diseases including autism. “We’ve broken through all the stigma,” he said. “We’ve shown how cannabinoids can be bona fide medical treatments.”
CVS Discusses New Stores
CVS Health Corp. Chief Executive Larry Merlo began showing initial concepts the company will be testing as it begins piloting new models of its drugstores that incorporate its Aetna combination. The first new test store will open next month in Houston, he told investors, and it will include expanded health-care services including a new concierge who will help patients with questions.
Aetna Savings On the Way
Mr. Merlo also spelled out when the company will achieve the initial $750 million in synergies it has promised from the CVS-Aetna deal. In the first quarter, he said the company will see benefits from consolidating corporate functions. Savings from procurement and aligning lists of covered drugs should be seen in the first half, he says. Medical-cost savings will start affecting results toward the end of the year, he noted.
Lilly Cuts Price
Drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co. expects average net US pricing for its drugs–after rebates and discounts–to decline in the low- to mid-single digits on a percentage basis this year, Chief Financial Officer Josh Smiley told the Journal. Lilly’s net prices had risen during the first half of 2018, but dropped in the third quarter as the company took a “restrained approach,” Mr. Smiley said. Lilly, which hasn’t yet reported fourth-quarter results, took some list price increases for cancer drugs in late December but hasn’t raised prices in the new year, he said.
Role of Informatics in Precision Medicine: Notes from Boston Healthcare Webinar: Can It Drive the Next Cost Efficiencies in Oncology Care? Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 1: Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)
Role of Informatics in Precision Medicine: Notes from Boston Healthcare Webinar: Can It Drive the Next Cost Efficiencies in Oncology Care?
Reporter: Stephen J. Williams, Ph.D.
Boston Healthcare sponsored a Webinar recently entitled ” Role of Informatics in Precision Medicine: Implications for Innovators”. The webinar focused on the different informatic needs along the Oncology Care value chain from drug discovery through clinicians, C-suite executives and payers. The presentation, by Joseph Ferrara and Mark Girardi, discussed the specific informatics needs and deficiencies experienced by all players in oncology care and how innovators in this space could create value. The final part of the webinar discussed artificial intelligence and the role in cancer informatics.
Below is the mp4 video and audio for this webinar. Notes on each of the slides with a few representative slides are also given below:
Please click below for the mp4 of the webinar:
worldwide oncology related care to increase by 40% in 2020
big movement to participatory care: moving decision making to the patient. Need for information
cost components focused on clinical action
use informatics before clinical stage might add value to cost chain
Key unmet needs from perspectives of different players in oncology care where informatics may help in decision making
Needs of Clinicians
– informatic needs for clinical enrollment
– informatic needs for obtaining drug access/newer therapies
2. Needs of C-suite/health system executives
– informatic needs to help focus of quality of care
– informatic needs to determine health outcomes/metrics
3. Needs of Payers
– informatic needs to determine quality metrics and managing costs
– informatics needs to form guidelines
– informatics needs to determine if biomarkers are used consistently and properly
– population level data analytics
What are the kind of value innovations that tech entrepreneurs need to create in this space? Two areas/problems need to be solved.
innovations in data depth and breadth
need to aggregate information to inform intervention
Different players in value chains have different data needs
Data Depth: Cumulative Understanding of disease
Data Depth: Cumulative number of oncology transactions
technology innovators rely on LEGACY businesses (those that already have technology) and these LEGACY businesses either have data breath or data depth BUT NOT BOTH; (IS THIS WHERE THE GREATEST VALUE CAN BE INNOVATED?)
NEED to provide ACTIONABLE as well as PHENOTYPIC/GENOTYPIC DATA
data depth more important in clinical setting as it drives solutions and cost effective interventions. For example Foundation Medicine, who supplies genotypic/phenotypic data for patient samples supplies high data depth
technologies are moving to data support
evidence will need to be tied to umbrella value propositions
Informatic solutions will have to prove outcome benefit
How will Machine Learning be involved in the healthcare value chain?
increased emphasis on real time datasets – CONSTANT UPDATES NEED TO OCCUR. THIS IS NOT HAPPENING BUT VALUED BY MANY PLAYERS IN THIS SPACE
Interoperability of DATABASES Important! Many Players in this space don’t understand the complexities integrating these datasets
Other Articles on this topic of healthcare informatics, value based oncology, and healthcare IT on this OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL include:
Following are a sampling of several relevant articles comprising health innovation and technology, which may ultimately lead to a good patient experience.
When a health journalist found out her 4-year-old son had a brain tumor, her family faced an urgent choice: proven but punishing rounds of chemotherapy, or a twice-a-day pill of a new “targeted” therapy with a scant track record.
Dr. Elaine Schattner has authored numerous articles on cancer — as a doctor and patient. She is a freelance journalist and former oncologist who lives in New York City. She is writing a book about public attitudes toward cancer.
A life-long patient with scoliosis and other chronic medical conditions, and a history of breast cancer, Elaine’s current interests include physicians’ health, cancer, and medical journalism.
A cancer researchers takes cancer personally: Dr. Tony Blau, who started All4Cure, an online platform for myeloma clinicians and researchers to interact directly with patients to come up with a customer treatment plan.
SOURCE
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Julia Louis-Dreyfus Acts Out: The actress on challenging comedy’s sexism, fighting cancer, and becoming the star of her own show.
Thanks to Wendy Lund, CEO of GCI Health (gcihealth.com) and her team for compiling part of this list.
Interoperability, patient matching could be fixed by smartphone apps, RAND says: Patients need quality information. A physician at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences believes that the healthcare community must improve reports by making them more accessible to patients.
Sometimes Patients Simply Need Other Patients: Finding a support community is also getting easier, through resources like the Database of Patients’ Experiences, which houses videos of patients speaking about their experiences.
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At These Hotels and Spas, Cancer is No Obstacle to Quality Care: A trend among spas and wellness resorts shows the increasing integration of safe wellness treatment options for cancer patients.
A New Standard in Health Care – Farrer Park Hospital, Singapore’s First Fully Integrated Healthcare/Hospitality Complex
Author: Gail S. Thornton, M.A.
Co-Editor: The VOICES of Patients, HealthCare Providers, Caregivers and Families: Personal Experience with Critical Care and Invasive Medical Procedures
Farrer Park Hospital, Singapore’s newest private healthcare service provider, headed by newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Timothy Low, M.D., is a private, acute tertiary institution that represents an innovation in hospital administration, incorporating the latest technology to support better decision making for better patient outcomes and shorter hospital stays along with the beauty of nature and art to enhance the patient experience. The hospital, opened in March 2016, is sited within Singapore’s first, fully integrated healthcare and hospitality complex, called Connexion, which is Asia’s first, integrated lifestyle hub for healthcare and wellness. Connexion houses the 220-bed Farrer Park Hospital with its more than 300-accredited specialists and 18 operating rooms, a 10-floor specialist Medical Center, along with a five-star hotel and spa. In 2016, Farrer Park Hospital was awarded best new hospital of the year in Asia Pacific by Global Health and Travel Awards.
Image SOURCE: Photograph courtesy of Farrer Park Hospital, Singapore. An integrated healthcare and hospitality complex, called Connexion, Asia’s first, integrated lifestyle hub for healthcare and wellness, which includes Farrer Park Hospital.
The hospital is also a teaching site for undergraduate medical training, providing enhanced medical care, service quality and professional integrity and value. Supported by approximately 600 hospital staff, specialists at Farrer Park Hospital provide a range of services, such as cardiology, oncology, orthopedic surgery, gastroenterology and ophthalmology. A 24-hour emergency department provides attention for acute illnesses and the hospital has the most modern facilities for diagnostic imaging, nuclear medicine, radiotherapy and clinical laboratories.
Image SOURCE: Photographs courtesy of Farrer Park Hospital, Singapore. Left is a deluxe suite, top right is Farrer Park Hospital lobby, bottom right is Farrer Park Hospital building.
Medical tourism — the process of traveling outside your country of residence to receive medical care — represents a worldwide, multi-billion-dollar business that is expected to grow considerably in the next decade. Interestingly, Singapore’s medical tourism market is projected to grow by 8.3 percent annually and reach revenue of USD $1.36 billion a year by 2018.
My first question is: Why has Singapore emerged in the past few years as an international healthcare and research hub?
Dr. Low: With Singapore’s excellent patient services and its dedication to research and wellness, the country continues to remain as the top destination for those seeking medical care. By providing convenience and trust in our medical sector, there is no doubt that it will continue to expand and grow. Our dedication is towards the patient, cutting-edge technology and personalized care. This makes Singapore a multi-faceted medical hub and a center of excellence. Patient can receive excellent standard of medical treatment, comparable to the Europe and the USA.
Currently, we are attracting foreign patients who expect five- or six-star hotel service, because we’re a private hospital. That’s why I’m strict about appearances. We have to look as groomed, and we need to be as personable, as those in hospitality and the airlines.
Please describe the concept behind Farrer Park Hospital as Singapore’s first, fully integrated healthcare and hospitality complex.
Dr. Low: The Farrer Park Hospital was designed and built to be a hospital of the future, combining innovation in medical care and medical education. The hospital was initially created by medical specialists to respond to the growing challenges of healthcare in Singapore and, more broadly, throughout the Asia Pacific region. We have ‘reimagined’ private healthcare in order to enhance medical care, service quality, professional integrity and value.
We are leading the way in healthcare innovation as we are a premier institution for medical care and education that is based upon three important tenets for the patient — comfort, fairness and value. In fact, our top accredited medical staff, along with state-of-the-art equipment and technology, contributes to increased efficiency, reduced cost, and most, importantly improved patient outcomes.
As an innovation in hospital administration, Farrer Park Hospital embraces technology and improves medical care through its state-of-the-art equipment that facilities telemedicine consulting services across the world. To create a conducive environment for medical professionals, the hospital’s 18 operating rooms are linked via fiber-optic connections to various locations through the Connexion complex, including the hospitals’ education center and lecture hall, teaching clinics and tutorial rooms as well as the hotel’s function rooms. In addition to being equipped with the latest in useful medical technology, the hospital has state-of-the-art information technology which enables seamless and rapid flow of information between the admission services, inpatient areas, operating theaters, diagnostic and therapeutic centers, clinical laboratories and medical clinics. We also are the country’s first private hospital to become a teaching site, with the medical students from Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at Nanyang Technological University.
What is the type of environment you are creating at Farrer Park Hospital?
Dr. Low: Our care philosophy extends beyond healing and the management of disease to engaging with our patients as partners in pursuit of good health and providing an oasis for healing and relaxation. Throughout our facility, patients will find that attention has been given to every aspect and detail of our facility – from the comfort of our patients, to its impact on the environment, to the speed and ease of obtaining medical attention and to the maintenance of hygiene.
As healthcare players go, we are small and that has made us very aware of our challenges. As such, we have encouraged a culture of innovation, to grasp opportunities quickly. Healthcare is a very traditional industry, resistant to change and thus tend to be laggards in technology. Farrer Park Hospital, however, embraces technology. The seamlessness of information flow was the focus at the onset of the project. This hospital was planned technologically to be relevant for the next 20 years.
Being an institution built by healthcare practitioners has its advantages. We achieve painstaking perfection in our attention to detail. The hospital has many practical features that serve the needs of practitioners and patients while the hoteliers add details for comfort, luxury and aesthetics.
Our hospital is also supported by a hospital staff, who provide a range of specialty services, such as cardiology, oncology, orthopedic surgery, gastroenterology and ophthalmology, along with a 24-hour emergency clinic, which provides immediate care for acute illnesses. The hospital also has the most modern facilities for diagnostic imaging, nuclear medicine, radiotherapy and clinical laboratories. There is even a holistic service which focuses on screening, preventive medicine and lifestyle enhancement.
What is your perspective of engaging with patients?
Dr. Low: The hospital’s care philosophy extends beyond healing and the management of disease to engaging patients in pursuit of good health. Healing does not end after a successful operation. It is not just about coming to the hospital for a procedure and then recuperating at home. It is about having the best and most comfortable services to get the patient on their feet. And having a family support structure close by, where relatives can stay close to the hospital, is essential in the rehabilitation process. That is why, as part of Connexion, the hospital is Asia’s first, integrated lifestyle hub for healthcare and wellness that is linked to a five-star hotel and spa.
Patients are treated by an experienced team of medical and health specialists in an environment meticulously designed to maximize comfort and efficiency while promoting well-being, rest and recovery.
How are you positioned technologically to be a leader in developing first-rate patient care?
Dr. Low: We have taken the lead in many areas. Our facility is wired completely, any tests and treatments is automated whenever possible and the information is sent in real time to all stakeholders who require it. Our doctors can access this technology and make decisions as if they are in the hospital anywhere in the world.
What type of physician are you attempting to attract?
Dr. Low: The environment at Farrer Park Hospital is about clinical and service excellence, supported by physical and technological constructs that facilitates both these endeavors. We are building a culture of fairness and promoting decision making that is free from self-interest and toward better patient outcome. The doctors who join us must be aware that we take our code of comfort, fairness and value seriously.
What is the thinking behind the philosophy of incorporating nature and art into healthcare in Farrer Park Hospital?
Dr. Low: The architecture of Farrer Park Hospital and Connexion reflects the deep commitment to creating a true learning environment. Synergies between our hospital along with a closely linked hotel stimulate many innovations for improving the healthcare experience. The concept of a hospital near a hotel is not new, however, to integrate it to the level that we have is something novel. We followed a biophilic architecture approach throughout the facility, incorporating nature and art to enhance healing. Hospitals are traditionally not the best place for recuperation. We strive to have the restful ambiance of a hotel, in addition to proximity of doctors and family under the same roof, as well as using technology to enable seamless and speedy decision making; all this in support of better patient outcome and shorter stays.
You could say we are different in how we view private healthcare. A traditional hospital would not carve out 15 gardens at multiple levels throughout the facility so that patients and families can have places to feel the warmth of the sun and breathe fresh air whenever they like. The facility also hosts a private collection of over 700 commissioned Asian paintings meant to enhance the healing environment.
In land-scarce Singapore, a typical businessperson would not have fewer paid parking lots, making them one and a half times the size of a standard lot to allow a patient on crutches to comfortably extend the car door fully to disembark. A standard project manager would not insist that contractors construct a curved sink so that surgeons will not have water dripping down his elbows after scrubbing his or her hands, or a bath bench with a cut out that allows patients to sit while washing themselves. This may seem unnecessary but these innovative approaches translate to actual benefits to people who ‘value’ them.
Everyone has the same end goal, a good experience and better patient outcome. Our strategy is simple. We take our responsibilities to patients, their families and the clinicians seriously. Attend to their needs, anticipate their wants, and find the best way to address these concerns through innovation and technology. This ultimately brings value to patients.
How does nature and art come together at Farrer Park Hospital?
Dr. Low: The hospital, hotel and specialist center share and enjoy 15 gardens created at multiple levels in the building. One of the gardens, The Farm @ Farrer, grows fruits, vegetables and herbs for the hotel kitchens, and at the same time, is a large outdoor green space for recovering patients to stroll and sun. Uniquely, Farrer Park Hospital patients enjoy meals prepared by chefs in the hotel’s kitchens and confectionery.
Our inpatient food service, for example, is also automated, so whatever appears on the electronic screen on a patient’s personal tablet matches their dietary restrictions. The menu is a matrix of over 200 items customized by hotel chefs and our hospital nutritionist. Food that is fresh, delicious and safe for patient consumption is our primary focus.
Not only do we benchmark ourselves with hospitals, but also we take our inspiration from other industries. We believe to be at the top, you need to look beyond, break through and recreate process models and apply them for use in healthcare.
Image SOURCE: Photograph of Chief Executive Officer Timothy Low, M.D., courtesy of Farrer Park Hospital, Singapore.
Chief Executive Officer of Farrer Park Hospital, Timothy Low, M.D., brings a strong leadership background in managing award-winning hospitals. Prior to his current role, Dr. Low served as CEO of Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore. Through his leadership, the hospital established itself as a six-star private healthcare provider, clinching 14 local and regional awards including the prestigious Asian Hospital Management Award as well as the the ‘National Work Redesign Model Company’ by Spring Singapore, a governing agency for innovation in Singapore. Under his leadership, revenues exceed 42 percent to over USD $100 million.
Having also served in senior management positions for pharmaceutical and medical device industries in the Asia Pacific region, Dr. Low’s breath of exposure allowed him to pioneer the establishment of a global contract research organization, validating Singapore as its regional headquarters.
With more than 28 years of experience in the health care industry with such leading companies as Covidien, Covance and Schering-Plough, Dr. Low brings with him a strong background of leadership within the business and medical community. With his vast experience and contributions to the industry, Dr. Low is listed in the ranks of Stanford Who’s Who.
Dr. Low received his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and is also a graduate of the NUS Graduate School of Business, Stanford University Executive Program and the Singapore Management University Asia Pacific Hospital Management Program.
Cardiac Surgery Theatre in China vs. in the US: Cardiac Repair Procedures, Medical Devices in Use, Technology in Hospitals, Surgeons’ Training and Cardiac Disease Severity
Oracle Health Sciences: Life Sciences & HealthCare — the Solutions for Big Data
Healthcare and life sciences organizations are facing unprecedented challenges to improve drug development and efficacy while driving toward more targeted and personalized drugs, devices, therapies, and care. Organizations are facing an urgent need to meet the unique demands of patients, regulators, and payers, necessitating a move toward a more patient-centric, value-driven, and personalized healthcare ecosystem.
Meeting these challenges requires redesigning clinical R&D processes, drug therapies, and care delivery through innovative software solutions, IT systems, data analysis, and bench-to-bedside knowledge. The core mission is to improve the health, well-being, and lives of people globally by:
Optimizing clinical research and development, speeding time to market, reducing costs, and mitigating risk
Accelerating efficiency by using business analytics, costing, and performance management technologies
Establishing a global infrastructure for collaborative clinical discovery and care delivery models
Scaling innovations with world-class, transformative technology solutions
Harnessing the power of big data to improve patient experience and outcomes
Oracle Life Sciences Data Hub. Better Insights, More Informed Decision-Making. Provides an integrated environment for clinical data, improving regulatory …
This Knowledge Zone was specifically developed for partners interested in reselling or specializing in Oracle Life Sciences solutions. To become a specialized …
Oracle Health Sciences Suite of. Life Sciences Solutions. Integrated Solutions for Global Clinical Trials. Oracle Health Sciences provides the world’s broadest set …
10:15AM 11/13/2014 – 10th Annual Personalized Medicine Conference at the Harvard Medical School, Boston
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
REAL TIME Coverage of this Conference by Dr. Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN – Director and Founder of LEADERS in PHARMACEUTICAL BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE, Boston http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com
10:15 a.m. Panel Discussion — IT/Big Data
IT/Big Data
The human genome is composed of 6 billion nucleotides (using the genetic alphabet of T, C, G and A). As the cost of sequencing the human genome is decreasing at a rapid rate, it might not be too far into the future that every human being will be sequenced at least once in their lifetime. The sequence data together with the clinical data are going to be used more and more frequently to make clinical decisions. If that is true, we need to have secure methods of storing, retrieving and analyzing all of these data. Some people argue that this is a tsunami of data that we are not ready to handle. The panel will discuss the types and volumes of data that are being generated and how to deal with it.
Role of Informatics, SW and HW in PM. Big data and Healthcare
How Lab and Clinics can be connected. Oncologist, Hematologist use labs in clinical setting, Role of IT and Technology in the environment of the Clinicians
at BWH since 1987 at 75% – push forward the Genomics Agenda, VA system 25% – VA is horizontally data integrated embed research and knowledge — baseline questionnaire 200,000 phenotypes – questionnaire and Genomics data to be integrated, Data hierarchical way to be curated, Simple phenotypes, validate phenotypes, Probability to have susceptibility for actual disease, Genomics Medicine will benefit Clinicians
Data must be of visible quality, collect data via Telephone VA – on Med compliance study, on Ability to tolerate medication
–>>Curation of data is very different than statistical analysis of Clinical Trial Data
–>>Integration of data at VA and at BWH are tow different models of SUCCESSFUL data integration models, accessing the data is also using a different model
–>>Data extraction from the Big data — an issue
–>>Where the answers are in the data, build algorithms that will pick up causes of disease: Alzheimer’s – very difficult to do
–>>system around all stakeholders: investment in connectivity, moving data, individual silo, HR, FIN, Clinical Research
Computer Scientist and Medical Student. Were the technology is going?
Messy situation, interaction IT and HC, Boston and Silicon Valley are focusing on Consumers, Google Engineers interested in developing Medical and HC applications — HUGE interest. Application or Wearable – new companies in this space, from Computer Science world to Medicine – Enterprise level – EMR or Consumer level – Wearable — both areas are very active in Silicon Valley
IT stuff in the hospital HARDER that IT in any other environment, great progress in last 5 years, security of data, privacy. Sequencing data cost of big data management with highest security
Constrained data vs non-constrained data
Opportunities for Government cooperation as a Lead needed for standardization of data objects
Questions from the Podium:
Where is the Truth: do we have all the tools or we don’t for Genomic data usage
Question on Interoperability
Big Valuable data — vs Big data
quality, uniform, large cohort, comprehensive Cancer Centers
Volume of data can compensate quality of data
Data from Imaging – Quality and interpretation – THREE radiologist will read cancer screening
Event Details: Date/Time: Monday, September 8, 2014, 5:30-7PM EDT Venue: Pfizer Cambridge Seminar Room (ground floor) Location: Pfizer Inc., 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139 . Click here for a map to the location. (Corner of Portland and Albany street, Cambridge, MA 02139) RSVP: To confirm your attendance please RSVP online through this website. This is an ONLINE REGISTRATION-ONLY event (there will not be registration at the door).
The Role of Innovation Districts in Metropolitan Areas to Drive the Global and Local Economy: Cambridge/Boston Case Study
Join Pfizer Cambridge at our new residence for a fascinating evening led by Vise-President and Founding Director, Bruce Katz of Brookings Institution, followed by a networking reception with key partners in our new Cambridge residence; Boston-Cambridge big pharma and biotech, members of the venture capital community, renowned researchers, advocacy groups and Pfizer Cambridge scientists and clinicians.
Boston/Cambridge is one of most prominent biomedical hubs in the world and known for its thriving economy. Recent advances in biomedical innovation and cutting-edge technologies have been a major factor in stimulating growth for the city. The close proximity of big pharma, biotech, academia and venture capital in Boston/Cambridge has particularly been crucial in fostering a culture ripe for such innovation.
Bruce Katz will shed light on the state of the local and global economy and the role innovation districts can play in accelerating therapies to patients. Katz will focus on the success Boston/Cambridge has had thus far in advancing biomedical discoveries as well as offer insights on the city’s future outlook.
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. Mr. Katz is Founding Director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, which aims to provide decision makers in the public, corporate, and civic sectors with policy ideas for improving the health and prosperity of cities and metropolitan areas.
Agenda:
5:30-6PM Registration/Gathering (please arrive by no later than 5:45PM EDT with a government issued ID to allow sufficient time for security check)
6-7PM Welcoming remarks by Cambridge/Boston Site Head and Group Senior Vice-President WorldWide R&D, Dr. Jose-Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos
Keynote speaker: Bruce Katz, Founding Director Metropolitan Policy Program Vice-president, The Brookings Institution
7-8PM Open reception and Networking
8PM Event ends
This May, Pfizer Cambridge sites are integrating and relocating our research and development teams into our new local headquarters at 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. The unified Cambridge presence represents the opportunity to interlace Pfizer’s R&D capability in the densest biomedical community in the world, to potentially expand our already existing collaborations and to embark on forging possible new connections. These events will further drive our collective mission and passion to deliver new medicines to patients in need. Our distinguished invited guests will include leaders in the Boston-Cambridge venture capital and biotech community, renowned researchers, advocacy groups and Pfizer Cambridge scientists and clinicians.
Online registration: If you are experiencing issues with online registration, please contact: Cambridge_site_head@pfizer.com
The unfortunate ending of the Tower of Babel construction project and its effect on modern imaging-based cancer patients’ management
Curator: Dror Nir, PhD
The story of the city of Babel is recorded in the book of Genesis 11 1-9. At that time, everyone on earth spoke the same language.
Picture: Pieter Bruegel the Elder: The Tower of Babel_(Vienna)
It is probably safe to assume that medical practitioners at that time were reporting the status of their patients in a standard manner. Although not mentioned, one might imagine that, at that time, ultrasound or MRI scans were also reported in a standard and transferrable manner. The people of Babel noticed the potential in uniform communication and tried to build a tower so high that it would reach the gods. Unfortunately, God did not like that, so he went down (in person) and confounded people’s speech, so that they could not understand each another. Genesis 11:7–8.
This must be the explanation for our inability to come to a consensus on reporting of patients’ imaging-outcome. Progress in development of efficient imaging protocols and in clinical management of patients is withheld due to high variability and subjectivity of clinicians’ approach to this issue.
Clearly, a justification could be found for not reaching a consensus on imaging protocols: since the way imaging is performed affects the outcome, (i.e. the image and its interpretation) it takes a long process of trial-and-error to come up with the best protocol. But, one might wonder, wouldn’t the search for the ultimate protocol converge faster if all practitioners around the world, who are conducting hundreds of clinical studies related to imaging-based management of cancer patients, report their results in a standardized and comparable manner?
Is there a reason for not reaching a consensus on imaging reporting? And I’m not referring only to intra-modality consensus, e.g. standardizing all MRI reports. I’m referring also to inter-modality consensus to enable comparison and matching of reports generated from scans of the same organ by different modalities, e.g. MRI, CT and ultrasound.
As developer of new imaging-based technologies, my personal contribution to promoting standardized and objective reporting was the implementation of preset reporting as part of the prostate-HistoScanning product design. For use-cases, as demonstrated below, in which prostate cancer patients were also scanned by MRI a dedicated reporting scheme enabled matching of the HistoScanning scan results with the prostate’s MRI results.
The MRI reporting scheme used as a reference is one of the schemes offered in a report by Miss Louise Dickinson on the following European consensus meeting : Magnetic Resonance Imaging for the Detection, Localisation, and Characterisation of Prostate Cancer: Recommendations from a European Consensus Meeting,Louise Dickinson a,b,c,*, Hashim U. Ahmed a,b, Clare Allen d, Jelle O. Barentsz e, Brendan Careyf, Jurgen J. Futterer e, Stijn W. Heijmink e, Peter J. Hoskin g, Alex Kirkham d, Anwar R. Padhani h, Raj Persad i, Philippe Puech j, Shonit Punwani d, Aslam S. Sohaib k, Bertrand Tomball,Arnauld Villers m, Jan van der Meulen c,n, Mark Emberton a,b,c,
Image of MRI reporting scheme taken from the report by Miss Louise Dickinson
The corresponding HistoScanning report is following the same prostate segmentation and the same analysis plans:
Preset reporting enabling matching of HistoScanning and MRI reporting of the same case.
It is my wish that already in the near-future, the main radiology societies (RSNA, ESR, etc..) will join together to build the clinical Imaging’s “Tower of Babel” to effectively address the issue of standardizing reporting of imaging procedures. This time it will not be destroyed…:-)
Knowing the tumor’s size and location, could we target treatment to THE ROI by applying imaging-guided intervention?
Author: Dror Nir, PhD
Article 9.6.Knowing the tumor’s size and location, could we target treatment to THE ROI by applying imaging-guided intervention?
Advances in techniques for cancer lesions’ detection and localisation [1-6] opened the road to methods of localised (“focused”) cancer treatment [7-10]. An obvious challenge on the road is reassuring that the imaging-guided treatment device indeed treats the region of interest and preferably, only it.
A step in that direction was taken by a group of investigators from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada who evaluate the feasibility and safety of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging–controlled transurethral ultrasound therapy for prostate cancer in humans [7]. Their study’s objective was to prove that using real-time MRI guidance of HIFU treatment is possible and it guarantees that the location of ablated tissue indeed corresponds to the locations planned for treatment. Eight eligible patients were recruited.
The setup
Treatment protocol
The result
“There was excellent agreement between the zone targeted for treatment and the zone of thermal injury, with a targeting accuracy of ±2.6 mm. In addition, the temporal evolution of heating was very consistent across all patients, in part because of the ability of the system to adapt to changes in perfusion or absorption properties according to the temperature measurements along the target boundary.”
Technological problems to be resolved in the future:
“Future device designs could incorporate urinary drainage during the procedure, given the accumulation of urine in the bladder during treatment.”
“Sufficient temperature resolution could be achieved only by using 10-mm-thick sections. Our numeric studies suggest that 5-mm-thick sections are necessary for optimal three-dimensional conformal heating and are achievable by using endorectal imaging coils or by performing the treatment with a 3.0-T platform.”
Major limitation: “One of the limitations of the study was the inability to evaluate the efficacy of this treatment; however, because this represents, to our knowledge, the first use of this technology in human prostate, feasibility and safety were emphasized. In addition, the ability to target the entire prostate gland was not assessed, again for safety considerations. We have not attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of this treatment for eradicating cancer or achieving durable biochemical non-evidence of disease status.”
References
SIMMONS (L.A.M.), AUTIER (P.), ZATURA (F.), BRAECKMAN (J.G.), PELTIER (A.), ROMICS (I.), STENZL (A.), TREURNICHT (K.), WALKER (T.), NIR (D.), MOORE (C.M.), EMBERTON (M.). Detection, localisation and characterisation of prostate cancer by Prostate HistoScanning.. British Journal of Urology International (BJUI). Issue 1 (July). Vol. 110, Page(s): 28-35
WILKINSON (L.S.), COLEMAN (C.), SKIPPAGE (P.), GIVEN-WILSON (R.), THOMAS (V.). Breast HistoScanning: The development of a novel technique to improve tissue characterization during breast ultrasound. European Congress of Radiology (ECR), A.4030, C-0596, 03-07/03/2011.
Wendie A. Berg, Kathleen S. Madsen, Kathy Schilling, Marie Tartar, Etta D. Pisano, Linda Hovanessian Larsen, Deepa Narayanan, Al Ozonoff, Joel P. Miller, and Judith E. Kalinyak Breast Cancer: Comparative Effectiveness of Positron Emission Mammography and MR Imaging in Presurgical Planning for the Ipsilateral Breast Radiology January 2011 258:1 59-72.
Anwar R. Padhani, Dow-Mu Koh, and David J. Collins Reviews and Commentary – State of the Art: Whole-Body Diffusion-weighted MR Imaging in Cancer: Current Status and Research Directions Radiology December 2011 261:3 700-718
Eggener S, Salomon G, Scardino PT, De la Rosette J, Polascik TJ, Brewster S. Focal therapy for prostate cancer: possibilities and limitations. Eur Urol 2010;58(1):57–64).
Black, Peter McL. M.D., Ph.D.; Alexander, Eben III M.D.; Martin, Claudia M.D.; Moriarty, Thomas M.D., Ph.D.; Nabavi, Arya M.D.; Wong, Terence Z. M.D., Ph.D.; Schwartz, Richard B. M.D., Ph.D.; Jolesz, Ferenc M.D. Craniotomy for Tumor Treatment in an Intraoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging Unit. Neurosurgery: September 1999 – Volume 45 – Issue 3 – p 423
Medel, Ricky MD, Monteith, Stephen J. MD, Elias, W. Jeffrey MD, Eames, Matthew PhD, Snell, John PhD, Sheehan, Jason P. MD, PhD, Wintermark, Max MD, MAS, Jolesz, Ferenc A. MD, Kassell, Neal F. MD. Neurosurgery: Magnetic Resonance–Guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery: Part 2: A Review of Current and Future Applications. October 2012 – Volume 71 – Issue 4 – p 755–763
Bruno Quesson PhD, Jacco A. de Zwart PhD, Chrit T.W. Moonen PhD. Magnetic resonance temperature imaging for guidance of thermotherapy. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Special Issue: Interventional MRI, Part 1, Volume 12, Issue 4, pages 525–533, October 2000
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