Treating mental disorders is a tricky business. There are some powerful drugs that target some of the more serious imbalances in brain chemicals that are linked to depression, but little is known regarding the optimal treatment of patients—including the effectiveness of those medications.
MYnd Analytics Inc., a predictive analytics company in Mission Viejo, formed a collaboration with insurer Horizon Healthcare Services Inc. in Newark, N.J., nonprofit healthcare network Hackensack Meridian Health in Edison, N.J., and medical technology firm Cota Inc. in New York to conduct a clinical study for the treatment of patients with depression based on MYnd’s technology platform PEER Online. The study is comprised of 600 patients.
PEER stands for Psychiatric EEG (electroencephalogram) Evaluation Registry. The test aims to provide objective, personalized data obtained through EEG—to help physicians with medication prescribing decisions. The EEG is a test used to evaluate brain disorders by measuring brain waves to provide evidence of how a brain functions over time.
Cota, which develops healthcare software used to analyze, visualize, report and manage oncological patient data, will perform data gathering and analytics, and assign a score to each study participant.
Horizon is the oldest and largest insurer in New Jersey, with 3.8 million members.
Hackensack Meridian is comprised of two academic medical centers, two children’s hospitals and nine community hospitals and more than 120 nonhospital care sites, including ambulatory care, surgery centers, long-term care, and assisted living communities and rehabilitation centers. It has over 28,000 employees and more than 6,000 physicians.
MYnd recently traded at $3.62 per share for a $16 million market cap. It announced an uplisting from the over-the-counter market to NASDAQ in July.
Skilled Nursing
Summit Healthcare REIT Inc. acquired a 10% interest in nine skilled nursing facilities totaling 1,285 beds in Connecticut for $60 million. The acquisitions were made through Summit Fantasia Holdings III LLC, a joint venture between Summit Healthcare Operating Partnership LP, a wholly-owned Summit subsidiary, and Fantasia Investment III LLC, which is affiliated with Fantasia Holding Corp. in Hong Kong.
The senior housing-focused healthcare real estate investment trust also bought 90-bed Pennington Gardens Assisted Living and Memory Care in Chandler, Ariz. this month for $13.4 million. The purchase was made through Summit Chandler LLC, another wholly-owned subsidiary.
The REIT had ownership interests in 41 senior housing facilities as of Aug. 10.
Seniors
Long Beach-based SCAN Health Plan, a senior-focused insurance provider, has appointed medical directors Dr. Magda Lenartowicz and Terence Offenberger to oversee clinical programs for Independence at Home. Lenartowicz was previously medical director in geriatrics at Encino Hospital Medical Center and works as a hospice and palliative care physician with Rozeroom Hospice, both in Los Angeles. Offenberger was market medical director for United Health Plan Southern California, a unit of UnitedHealth Group in Minneapolis, Minn.
The community service program aims to help seniors and their care providers remain home, providing care such as medication management and counseling. The team, including Chief Medical Officer Dr. Romilla Batra, is comprised of five members. The Business Journal reported the initiative in its July 7 issue.
Clinical Trial
Allegro Ophthalmics LLC announced positive data in its second 80-patient Del Mar phase two trial studying the use of its lead drug candidate, Luminate, as a therapy for patients with diabetic macular edema. The study evaluated Luminate as both a sequential and a combination therapy with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor, the latter being current gold standard for treating the disease.
The San Juan Capistrano-based biotechnology company is also developing Luminate as an integrin peptide therapy for other vitreoretinal diseases.
Bits & Pieces
Kure It Cancer Research in Irvine gave $100,000 grant to UC Irvine Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center supporting two projects: kidney cancer and colon therapy development. Kure It is a nonprofit organization founded in 2007 and incorporated in 2010 by Irvine-based US Storage Centers Chairman and Founder Bafry Hoeven to help fund research in kidney and other underfunded cancers. … U.S. News & World Report recognized eight of Prime Healthcare’s hospitals, including Huntington Beach Hospital, in its best hospitals list. The Ontario-based health system was recognized in heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, geriatrics, diabetes and endocrinology.
