Mar 24 2015
Pharmaco-Kinesis Corporation (PKC) announced today that it will develop innovative cloud-linked biosensors in partnership with the Ohio Clinical Trials Collaborative (OCTC) of Ohio. This undertaking seeks to transform medical practice away from reactive medicine to proactive prevention through real time, continuous cloud-linked monitoring driven by PKC's innovative SMART (Simultaneous Multiplexed Automated Real Time Telemedicine) platform.
Additional important applications of PKC's platform technology are food safety testing, environmental monitoring and military biodefense testing. PKC is the recipient of prestigious Frost & Sullivan awards for New Product Innovation in 2013 and Best Practices in 2014.
The OCTC will support PKC through medical consulting, research, and clinical trial validation services. "Our partnership with Ohio's esteemed research medical corridor is mutually advantageous. The OCTC brings together and manages the medical infrastructure necessary to develop, test and launch innovative medical devices, and we are most grateful that the OCTC has agreed to contribute to our development effort. PKC recently executed a series of global agreements with the OCTC. These agreements will enable PKC to conduct the medical research and human clinical trials related to PKC's product lines. In conjunction with the OCTC and Ohio's premier research universities and globally-renowned hospitals, PKC will create innovative cloud-linked biosensors that address unmet medical needs. Our cardinal objective is to access the massive medical resources of the state of Ohio to develop a platform technology that helps America transform from the mindset of an 'acute health care system' to one of an 'early detection, cloud-based health care system.' We would like launch pilot projects in Ohio and in the next few years demonstrate that PKC's cloud-based biosensor technology could help Ohio's citizens reduce their ever-rising health care costs, and in turn empower America to better understand the state of health in their body. With knowledge at their fingertips, it will hopefully encourage patients to enter hospital care at the earliest possible stage of disease where it is possible to better manage illness at a reduced cost to the patient and our healthcare system. A successful outcome would pave the way to implement the technology in a market launch across the USA and globe. Together, we will make a greater impact on the treatment and diagnosis of human diseases and improve real-time patient care practice," said Frank Adell, CEO of PKC.
A gold standard method for testing is time-consuming and often requires using sensitive antibodies. Individual tests may cost $600-1,000 and 24-48 hours can pass before the results are available to the physician. These facts contribute to rising health care costs, prolonged hospitalization and added stress for the patient. Recent innovations in new biosensor technology offer real hope that physicians will be able to soon achieve real-time, point-of-care practice in the near future. Such technology would also help improve the cost and delivery of health care overall.
The strategic partnership will draw upon each organization's complementary strengths for biosensor development across a broad spectrum of diseases and infections. The initial focus will be development of biosensors for ovarian cancer (OVASMART™), kidney health (RENALSMART™), food pathogen and infectious disease (PATHSMART™) and traumatic brain injury (NEUROSMART™). In addition, the OCTC will support clinical trial development of PKC's Metronomic Biofeedback Pump (MBP), a fully implantable smart infusion device designed to locally deliver chemotherapies or medication over time to a target site. World-renowned medical science researchers and clinicians across Ohio with expertise in oncology, nephrology, infectious disease, neuroscience, and food science will contribute their knowledge and skills to this partnership. These teams will be tasked to identify and validate new biosensors for these and other applications, and support PKC's clinical trial validations that are integral to gaining federal regulatory approval for new medical devices.
The effectiveness of this collaboration will be further maximized by drawing upon commercial partners of the OCTC. ClinicalRM, an Ohio contract research organization, will provide clinical site management and data analysis services to the partnership. San Diego-based PacificGMP, an expert in antibody manufacture, will supply the quality antibodies necessary for research and commercialization of PKC's biosensors. When appropriate, the OCTC will lead in identifying academic and institutional grant funding to help defray some of the development costs. Moreover, PKC intends to establish an Ohio operating division to closely tie these activities together with its engineering and technology activities in Los Angeles.
Said John Peterson, PhD, Executive Director at the OCTC, "It is our pleasure to be selected as PKC's development partner. This announcement signals an exciting collaboration between an extremely innovative medical device company and Ohio's thriving research medical enterprise. The PKC-OCTC strategic partnership exemplifies how Governor Kasich's initiative for the OCTC can bring new business and job growth to Ohio, and make medical care innovation even more accessible to our citizens. It is a showcase example of the strategic medical research and development partnerships the OCTC intends to develop with other biotechnology and medical device destinations across the world."