BioCorRx Inc., an over-the-counter publicly traded company with a $10 million market cap (OTC: BICX), is attracting the interest of drug abuse experts and the co-founder of a well-known institutional investor.
The Anaheim-based company offers the non-addictive BioCorRx Recovery Program that is comprised of cognitive behavioral therapy and BICX102, an implant filled with naltrexone—a medication used to manage alcohol or opioid dependence.
It recently formed a three-member scientific advisory board with “some of the world’s leading experts in our field to support BioCorRx as we continue to seek FDA approval for BICX102,” Chief Executive Brady Granier said.
The three members are:
• Dr. David Gastfriend, chief medical officer of Cambridge, Mass.-based startup DynamicCare Health, a technology platform that aims to help with substance use by rewarding healthy behavior. He led research on American Society of Addiction Medicine criteria for placing patients in addiction treatment programs, which is now standard in more than 30 states.
• Dr. Evgeny Krupitsky, vice director for research and chief of the department of addiction at Bekhterev National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Neurology, and chief of the laboratory of clinical psychopharmacy of addiction at St. Petersburg State Pavlov Medical University in Russia.
• Dr. George Woody, professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and the principle investigator at the school’s Delaware Valley Node National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network. He is a reviewer for many journals and has authored or co-authored more than 200 publications.
Separately, the company also added two independent directors, Louis Lucido and Luisa Ingargiola, to its board.
Lucido retired as chief operating officer of Los Angeles-based DoubleLine Group LP in December, where he was a co-founder of a firm that now has more than $100 billion assets under management. He had previously served as a group managing director at TCW Group, and prior to that chief investment officer of Delphi Financial Group Inc.
Ingargiola is chief financial officer of Avalon GloboCare Corp. (Nasdaq: AVCO), where she helped with its Nasdaq uplisting last year. The New Jersey-based biotech company traded at $3.63 for a $270 million market cap at print time.
The addition of the two members expanded the board to five.
Lucido and Ingargiola bring a wide range of relevant experience as the company plans for a Nasdaq uplisting, Granier said.
Outpatient Opening
Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, a Tenet Healthcare Corp. hospital, recently opened a nearly 13,000-square-foot outpatient surgery center on its campus. The new center has four operating rooms and services include ear, nose and throat surgery, general surgery, gynecological surgery, orthopedic surgery and pain management.
“The healthcare needs of our community continue to grow,” hospital Chief Executive Kenneth McFarland said, adding that the new center provides “more access, newer technology and greater operating capacity.”
The center cost $2 million.
KPC Healthcare Inc. recently opened a new cardiac catheterization laboratory at Anaheim Global Medical Center. It will provide services including 24/7 heart attack treatment, right and left heart catheterization, stent placement and intra-aortic balloon pump insertion.
The for-profit healthcare system has four hospitals in OC.
Scott Rifkin, regional chief operating officer, noted heart disease’s status as the leading cause of deaths—each year 735,000 Americans have a heart attack. He said the new laboratory is equipped with the latest technology and equipment, allowing it to expand the scope of its existing cardiac services.
Job Cuts, Then Growth?
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. Chief Executive Joe Turgeon told the Business Journal in February that he intends to grow the Irvine’s R&D facility.
However, it’s cutting 40 jobs at the Irvine office first, according to the state’s Employment Development Department. The company in October reported 129 employees at the 56,000-square-foot facility.
The job cuts are part of a plan to reduce its workforce by 40% because it sold a portfolio of its revenue-generating drugs to concentrate on developing two new others. The Henderson, Nevada-based company employed 240 prior to the sale.
Bits & Pieces
MemorialCare recently named Tony Garcia as chief nursing officer of its Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach. The two facilities employ more than 1,900 registered nurses. Garcia came from Tenet Healthcare, where he served in a similar role.
