The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed flaws in the U.S. health-care system, including flaws that require patients and caregivers to take a more active and educated role. United Medical Equipment Business Solutions Network (“UME”) provides reliable resources and solutions to help providers work more proficiently, health-care systems work smarter, and patients live healthier lives.
“This pandemic is a watershed moment in American history, one we must seize upon to fix the most glaring problems in our health system. We can’t ignore one health crisis for the sake of another,” wrote American Medical Association CEO and executive VP James L. Madara, MD, in a recent article (https://ibn.fm/ixqFL).
A few of the flaws that Madara points out are unequal treatment based on location, ethnicity, affordability and access to health insurance. He calls for collaboration to disrupt the status quo and create a new, affordable, efficient and accessible system for all. However, he notes, many obstacles interfere with patient care.
Communication and a lack of education around the medicines administered play a large part in failed care plans, dosage errors, no-adherence and readmittance to hospitals. Not every patient has easy access to needed education, which is something UME is working to change.
When patients and their doctors communicate clearly and openly with one another, the better the level and execution of a care plan occurs. When communication is clear, the patient or caregiver better understands the health condition and the treatment options. Proper education around all over-the-counter and prescribed doses is essential to avoid missed, skipped or willfully ignored care plans.
Medication management is an essential part of any treatment plan. When a patient or caregiver understands the purpose, dosage, side effects and other unique qualities of the medications being prescribed, they have a higher success rate of follow through. Aging individuals need caregivers who also have access to this education, whether those caregivers are able to attend doctor appointments or not.
Collaboration between a patient and physician is essential to improve the patient’s health. The physician needs to know all medications being taken, including over-the-counter, herbal and alternatives, because they may interact with what is prescribed. The patient needs to be informed about what they are taking, as well as why and how the medications work.
A lack of adherence can lead to serious problems that include a worsening of disease, possible death and increased costs to both the patient and the overall health-care system. Poor provider-patient communication and inadequate knowledge about a drug are two large barriers in medication adherence (https://ibn.fm/MVVWn). United Medical has developed a solution to address these barriers: a free medication management app available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
The free seven-day trial version of the Medication Management app has a medication dictionary with up-to-date information on medications. The dictionary provides an image and description of the physical drug as well as an overview, side effects to look for, interactions with food and other drugs, and more. The app also comes with a pill identifier and converters for weight, temperature, volume, height and dosage. The company’s newest, highly asked for feature — Medication Log-Reminder — allows users to log all their medications in one convenient location and set reminders to take their medications. The app is protected by HIPAA compliance for PHI. Subscriptions are also available that allow the user to access telehealth and additional services for a small monthly fee.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.UnitedMedSolutions.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to United Medical Equipment are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/UnitedMed
According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 21,750 women received a new diagnosis of ovarian cancer this year, and almost 14,000 women will die from the disease (https://ibn.fm/4yfJn). Those numbers make ovarian cancer the fifth-leading cause of cancer deaths in women; ovarian cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system. These are the numbers that Predictive Oncology (NASDAQ: POAI) is working to change.
For more than a year, Helomics, a wholly owned subsidiary of POAI, has been working with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (“UPMC”) to study the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) to improve clinical decision making for ovarian cancer patients (https://ibn.fm/88drd). The project, a joint collaborative agreement with UPMC called CancerQuest2020, kicked off in summer 2019.
The collaboration entails using Helomics’ AI platform and proprietary data to analyze the genomic and drug response profiles of women with ovarian cancer to evaluate predictive value in terms of response and non-response to different treatments.
“Helomics has pioneered the testing of drugs on the patient’s own tumor to help oncologists individualize treatment options — what we call functional precision medicine,” said Helomics chief innovation officer, Dr. Mark Collins. “We believe that by linking both the drug response profile and the genomic profile of the patient’s tumor using a machine learning approach, we can provide ‘multi-omic’ predictive models that will have greater decision-making impact than just genomics alone, which in turn will positively benefit oncologists and their patients.”
According to POAI, the predictive models “embody the knowledge from these profiles to create a ‘computational expert’ or a ‘virtual patient’ that can be queried. Predictive models such as these are also of high value to pharmaceutical companies as they can be used to quickly select patients for clinical trials and assess potential new drugs or biomarkers computationally (‘in silico’) before initiating expensive laboratory experiments. In short, Helomics’ predictive models will save time and money in the search for new targeted therapies” (https://ibn.fm/pFLn0).
Helomics brings to the project data generated from more than 150,000 tumor cases obtained from over 15 years of clinical testing on living patient tumors. That date includes drug response, genomic (mutations), transcriptomic (gene expression) and tissue-omic (tumor pathology) profiles that help predict drug response and outcome.
According to the company, “We have developed a unique technology that combines our clinically validated primary tumor cell assay and drug response data . . . together with proven artificial intelligence (‘AI’) to allow us to test potential drugs against patient tumor cells, much earlier in the drug discovery process. We believe this patient-centric approach will significantly improve the success of translating compounds into the clinic, saving time, cost, and most importantly getting therapies to patients more quickly” (https://ibn.fm/iqjra).
POAI is bringing precision medicine, or tailored medical treatment using the individual characteristics of each patient, to the treatment of cancer. Through its Helomics division, the company leverages its unique, clinically validated patient derived (“PDx”) smart tumor profiling platform to provide oncologists with a roadmap to help individualize therapy. In addition, the company is leveraging artificial intelligence and its proprietary database of over 150,000 cancer cases tumors to build AI-driven models of tumor drug response to improve outcomes for the patients of today and tomorrow.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Predictive-Oncology.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to POAI are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/POAI
Pure Extracts Technologies (CSE PULL) (OTC: PRXTF) (XFRA: A2QJAJ), a plant-based extraction company, has increased its non-brokered private placement offering of special warrants; the original offering was announced on Dec. 16, 2020. The company also received approval from OTC Markets and is now trading on the OTC Market under the ticker symbol PRXTF.
The Company observed that the upsized private placement comprises 16,900,263 special warrants at a price of $0.505, which would result in gross proceeds for the Company of an estimated $8,534,632. The announcement explained that the Company anticipated using the proceeds from the placement for expanding the capacity of its extraction business as well as for general working capital.
Regarding trading on the OTC Market, Pure Extracts’ CEO Ben Nikolaevsky noted that “Trading under the new OTC ticker symbol PRXTF and applying for DTC eligibility is a major step forward in making it materially easier to welcome U.S.-based investors as new shareholders. This is an important step in amplifying our story to a wider audience and to grow our investor base.”
OTC Markets offer developing Canadian companies the opportunity to be publicly traded in the United States at lower cost and complexity than a U.S. exchange listing. Streamlined market standards allow Canadian companies to provide a strong baseline of transparency to inform and engage U.S. investors. To receive approval to trade on the OTC Markets, Canadian companies must be up-to-date in their SEDAR reporting and undergo regular verification and management certifications. Pure Extracts’ shares will continue to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange (“CSE”) under the symbol ‘PULL’.
These announcements are indicative of Pure Extracts’ focus to strengthen and grow its presence in the cannabis, hemp and functional mushroom sectors as it leverages its expertise in extraction processes (https://ibn.fm/k2wpB). The Company’s forward-thinking strategy aligns with existing infrastructure and includes plans to develop high-bioavailable products and novel delivery methodologies, including tinctures, pills, capsules and edibles. One such venture, initiated in December, is its functional mushroom wellness business, which entails a process through which the active ingredients in mushroom biomass is concentrated into capsules and tinctures.
“Moving into the field of mushroom extractions is an obvious and exciting opportunity to leverage our advanced technology and proven capabilities,” said Nikolaevsky (https://ibn.fm/aP9p2). “We look forward to launching our functional products commercially within the next few months and can’t help but see the similarities to the cannabis sector regarding the pathways to both medical and recreational legalization. I believe our ability to immediately begin working in this burgeoning sector will create immense value for our business, our stakeholders, partners and shareholders alike.”
Headquartered just north of Whistler, British Columbia, Pure Extracts is a publicly listed, plant-based, extraction company that appears ideally positioned to be one of the dominant extraction companies in the rapid development and commercialization of functional mushroom and medicinal psychedelic products.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.PureExtractsCorp.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to PULL are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/PULL
Biopharmaceutical company CNS Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CNSP) recently took part in the H.C. Wainwright Bioconnect 2021 Virtual Conference, which took place January 11-14, 2021. CNS’s CEO John Climaco gave a presentation at the event, discussing how the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company is developing novel treatments for primary and metastatic cancers of the brain and central nervous system (https://ibn.fm/7zYST).
CNS’s lead drug candidate is Berubicin, an anthracycline that, based on clinical data, can cross the blood-brain barrier in adults and reach the tumor cells of patients with brain cancer. As an organ targeted therapeutic, Berubicin demonstrated one durable complete response (not detectible on imaging) in a Phase I trial completed by Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RETA) 14 years ago. CNS currently holds the worldwide exclusive licensing to the Berubicin drug and it recently obtained Investigational New Drug designation for it from the Food and Drug Administration.
In addition to Berubicin, the company’s current developmental pipeline includes a second promising drug candidate, WP1244. Licensed from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in the first quarter of 2020, WP1244 is a DNA-binding agent that represents a novel class of potential therapeutics.
WP1244 is designed using anthracycline and distamycin-based scaffolds, creating small molecule agents binding extended sequences of DNA. In vivo testing demonstrated high uptake with WP1244 in the brain and subsequent antitumor activity in orthotopic models of the brain. The drug candidate is believed to be 500 times more potent than daunorubicin in inhibiting tumor cell proliferation. CNS entered into a Sponsored Research Agreement with MD Anderson Cancer Center in May 2020, related to WP1244.
CNS Pharmaceuticals, in partnership with company sublicensee WPD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CSE: WBIO) (FSE: 8SV1) currently has several clinical trials in different stages of preparation, including three glioblastoma multiforme (“GBM”) studies for Berubicin, scheduled to begin in Q1 2021. These include a randomized, controlled Phase II trial in the United States and another Phase II in Poland, conducted by WPD. Both these studies will be conducted with adult candidates. WPD will also begin the first-ever Phase I pediatric trial with Berubicin in Poland. Other studies in the pipeline for a future date include a potential Phase I trial for Berubicin with pancreatic and ovarian cancer and lymphoma patients as well as a potential Phase I trial for WP1244 for central nervous system tumors.
The primary focus for Berubicin has been patients with GBM, one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer currently considered incurable. Each year, nearly 15,000 new GBM patients are being diagnosed in the United States. With the optimal therapy (surgical resection, chemotherapy, radiation), the median survival rate is only 15-23 months. Nearly 100% of GBM tumors recur after first-line therapy.
The Phase II trials for Berubicin in adult candidates are designed to be:
CNS believes that Berubicin has the potential to become a standard of care for GBM and other forms of brain cancer. The current first-line therapy includes temozolomide (“TMZ”). Nearly 40% of patients are genetically predisposed to respond to, becoming resistant to the treatment quickly. Berubicin could potentially be a second-line drug in these cases. The remaining 60% of patients may not be affected by TMZ, making Berubicin a potential first choice.
At the close of the presentation, Climaco said the company expects to see the first data for the Phase II trial in Poland reported during the third or fourth quarter of this year.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.CNSPharma.com
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to CNSP are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CNSP
The market for agricultural biopesticides is growing rapidly. The latest Markets and Markets report estimated the industry was valued at $4.3 billion in 2020 and is projected to almost double its size in the next five years — reaching $8.5 billion by 2025 and growing at a CAGR of 14.7% during the same period (https://ibn.fm/26NNm). MustGrow Biologics (CSE: MGRO) (OTCQB: MGROF) (FRA: 0C0) is well placed to capitalize on this opportunity, backed by the changing market landscape that increasingly favors natural solutions to protect agricultural crops. MustGrow’s organic biopesticide approach is plant based — harnessing the mustard seed’s natural defense mechanism to control diseases, pests and weeds.
According to the report, the use of “synthetic chemicals can lead to pollution and contamination of the soil as well as can have. . . harmful effects on the food chain.” Because of this, the report observes, there has been increasing awareness of residue-free food and a high interest in biological products.
With the change in eating habits, farmers are pressurized to shift to adopt a sustainable method of farming. Fruit and vegetable cultivation requires more investment, and with the huge infestation in fruits and vegetables both in open fields and green-houses, the demand for biopesticides is increasing. Also, to meet the export demand for residue-free crops, farmers are implementing the use of biopesticide in combination with conventional chemicals. The trend in the consumption of organic crops is also pushing farmers to adopt biopesticides.
Along with a greater awareness of biopesticides has come increasing demand for organic-grown food. “The acreage under organic cultivation for fruits and vegetables is also increasing,” the report noted. “And to achieve the standards prescribed by international exports, farmers are adopting the usage of biopesticides. To combat the harmful effects of synthetic pesticides, the government is taking initiatives in various regions by emphasizing the use of integrated pest management. Strategic developments such as expansions, new product launches, collaborations, and agreements have been adopted by the majority of key players to strengthen the market.”
The report projects that within the whole biopesticides space, the bioinsecticides segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period, and the fruits and vegetable segment is expected to achieve the fastest growth. The increasing pest resistance and the resurgence of crops require sustainable solutions amid regulatory ban and phase-out of some of the main ingredients.
Because of their “favorable” properties, bioinsecticides are positioned as an adequate response — they do not leave residues in the products, and they do not harm natural pests’ enemies or the environment. According to the report, the North American region is expected to drive the growth of the international biopesticides market.
The change in market demanding residue-free and organic food combined with the ever-more stringent regulatory standards in the international agricultural food supply chain is pressuring farmers to adopt a sustainable method of farming using biopesticides. As a company that operates in the robust segments of the growing biopesticides space, MustGrow is ideally positioned to benefit from these market forces.
This agriculture biotech company, which is focused on providing natural science-based biological solutions for high-value crops such as fruits and vegetables, appears poised to leverage the growing momentum favoring alternatives to synthetic chemicals. As global agriculture looks to move closer to sustainable ways of boosting yields and crop protection, MustGrow continues to position itself as an essential part of the food landscape of the future with its mustard plant-based biopesticide.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.MustGrow.ca.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to MGROF are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/MGROF
May 1, 2026
Cardiovascular disease continues to place a profound burden on individuals, economies and healthcare systems worldwide, affecting millions of lives while driving substantial medical costs and resource demands. Cardio Diagnostics Holdings (NASDAQ: CDIO) is committed to reducing the impact of heart disease by developing a platform that integrates artificial intelligence and epigenetic and genetic biomarkers to deliver personalized […]
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