UC Irvine Health recently stepped up its partnership with Corona Regional Medical Center, a midsized hospital just across the Riverside County line, by opening a high-risk pregnancy clinic.
UC Irvine Health, which includes 412-bed UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, comprises the clinical, medical education and research enterprises of the University of California-Irvine.
The health enterprise and Corona Regional, which has 160 acute-care beds, signed an affiliation deal in November 2014. The pact initially was focused on maternal fetal medicine, cancer services, and development of telemedicine services for stroke patients.
UC Irvine Health’s high-risk pregnancy program in certain cases provides to Corona Regional patients the consultation services of perinatologists, or doctors who treat such pregnancies, and neonatologists, who care for high-risk newborns.
Several factors lead to the categorization of pregnancies as high-risk, including maternal diabetes, a history of miscarriage, high blood pressure, or the expectation of multiple births.
The UC Irvine Health affiliation also has spawned an expansion project at Corona Regional, which is owned by King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services Inc. It’s getting an entirely new building, including an emergency room nearly twice the size of its current facility. Corona-area residents have traveled to UC Irvine Health for decades to get trauma care, complex neurosurgery, and high-risk perinatal care and oncology.
Separately, UC Irvine Health said the Washington, D.C.-based accreditation organization Joint Commission renewed certification of its comprehensive stroke and cerebrovascular center.
Alphaeon Reports on Trial
Irvine-based Alphaeon Corp. said this month that its DWP-450 botulinum toxin type A neuromodulator, which could be a potential rival of Allergan PLC’s Irvine-developed Botox neurotoxin, met its primary endpoints in a pair of third-phase clinical trials.
Alphaeon specializes in what it calls “lifestyle healthcare,” or products paid for by patients out of their own pockets. It also calls itself a social commerce company and includes a social network for board-certified doctors.
The company said in a news release that the studies showed improvement in patients with frown lines between their eyebrows.
Trial results mark “a significant milestone for Alphaeon,” said Chris Marmo, the company’s president of beauty. He added that it was “a great advancement” in the regulatory process and that the company was looking forward to offering DWP-450 to doctors.
Alphaeon presented the trial results at the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery meeting in Las Vegas.
Institute Firm Names Execs
Tech Knowledge Associates, a bioengineering company incubated by La Palma-based Innovation Institute, hired two new leaders.
George Hampton is its new president, and Jeffery Niederhausen will serve as chief financial officer. Both are new positions. Both came from Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives. Hampton will be based in Dayton, Ohio, and Niederhausen in Cincinnati.
The Innovation Institute’s purpose is to develop healthcare products and services. It consists of a medical technology incubator, an investment fund, and a shared services group.
The institute was established in 2013 with an investment from Irvine-based St. Joseph Health. Its other investor-owners are Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange; Mitchellville, Md.-based Bon Secours Health System; and the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady in Baton Rouge, La.
Each institution has contributed at least $10 million to become a member-owner.
Bits & Pieces
Los Angeles-based Prototypes, a nonprofit provider of residential and outpatient addiction treatment and mental health services that has locations in Orange County, said this month that it was combining with San Francisco-based HealthRIGHT 360. Financial terms were undisclosed. Prototypes and HealthRIGHT said in a news release that they expected the deal to close June 30. The combined group will operate as HealthRIGHT 360, have an annual operating budget of more than $115 million, and serve almost 40,000 clients across OC and other parts of California. … Irvine-based Lombard Medical Inc. said it completed its first live case training workshop using its Altura endovascular stent graft device when it trained German doctors to use it. Lombard is launching Altura in Europe and noted that Germany is the world’s third largest abdominal aortic aneurysm stent graft market, with an estimated $74 million in annual implant revenues. … Santa Ana-based BioLargo Inc. said it’s working on a prototype development project with a team at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. BioLargo makes iodine-based devices to treat disinfection.
