A Medical Device Daily

Aethlon Medical (San Diego) disclosed that it has entered into an agreement that extends studies of the Aethlon Hemopurifier with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) under a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA).

The Hemopurifier is the first-in-class medical device to selectively adsorb viruses and immunosuppressive toxins from the bloodstream. The device has been designed to enhance the benefit of antiviral drug regimens, and it provides a therapeutic option against infectious viruses not addressed by drug and vaccine therapies.

The objectives of the USAMRIID agreement include determining the therapeutic efficacy of the Hemopurifier in non-human primate studies against hemorrhagic fever viruses, including the highly virulent Zaire strain of Ebola (ZEBOV). Hemorrhagic viruses are potential bioterror and pandemic threats, whose lethality prohibits the ability to conduct human studies.

Aethlon also reported that studies previously conducted by USAMRIID have documented the Hemopurifier captures about 50% of both wild type and mutant strains of ZEBOV from fluids during one hour in vitro studies. ZEBOV has the highest virus case-fatality rate, up to 90% in some epidemics, with an average case fatality rate of about 83% over 27 years. There have been more outbreaks ZEBOV that any other strain of Ebola virus.

"It is an honor and privilege to have USAMRIID researchers test the capability of our Hemopurifier against Ebola and other highly lethal pathogens," said Aethlon chairman/CEO, Jim Joyce.

In other agreements/contracts news:

• Patton Medical Devices (Austin, Texas) said it has entered into a partnership agreement with Unomedical (Birkerød, Denmark), a manufacturer of single use medical devices used in the treatment of diabetes. The two companies are working on the i-port Advance, the first subcutaneous injection port for people taking multiple daily injections to include a disposable inserter that will assist patients with the application process and eliminate the need for manual insertion. The i-port Injection Port is a prescription only device for use by people requiring multiple daily, subcutaneous injections of physician-prescribed medications, including insulin. The i-port should not be worn for longer than 72 hours.

• NeuroMed Devices (Irvine, California) has contracted Syprosoft Engineering (Irvine, California) for assistance with the development of the OraCalm and ViraCalm products. Both are neuromodulation devices and are designed for the treatment of oral and genital herpes.

"We picked Syprosoft Engineering due to their experience with computerized medical devices and the regulatory requirements for software," said Shep Bentley, CEO of NeuroMed Devices. "They have done an excellent job on an accelerated schedule with the OraCalm project and are now embarked on the ViraCalm project."

• Westchester Medical Center (WMC; Valhalla, New York) and MedAssets (Atlanta) reported a long-term agreement to help significantly lower supply cost and improve efficiencies at the 635-bed academic medical center in Valhalla.

"As our strategic supply chain partner, MedAssets will be working closely with staff and physicians from across the organization to help us manage and reduce our costs while putting in place improved efficiencies," said WMC President/CEO Michael Israel. "This new partnership and the savings it will garner are particularly important to the Medical Center as we continue to address a significant reduction in reimbursement from New York State for care we provide under the Medicaid program."

• Empire BlueCross BlueShield (New York) and Stony Brook Hospital (Long Island, New York) reported that they have reached agreement for a new contract, effective Aug. 1, 2009. Under the multi-year agreement, Empire members will continue to have access to Stony Brook Hospital as in-network.

• North Memorial Health Care (Eagan, Minnesota) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (St. Paul, Minnesota) have reached an agreement on a contract that allows North Memorial Clinics to remain as participating providers in all of Blue Cross' provider networks. The contract was set to expire at midnight on July 31, 2009.

"We are pleased that an agreement has been reached," said Patrick Boran, chief financial officer, North Memorial. "We wanted to avoid any disruption in care for our patients who are covered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield and we look forward to continue serving these patients with remarkable patient care and service."

• Medica (Minneapolis) and Fairview (Minneapolis) said the two healthcare organizations have signed a contract that demonstrates healthcare reform can be addressed from within the healthcare system. Reached through a collaborative process, the agreement is designed to bring about systemic change, improving the way care is delivered and the way in which it is paid. The agreement takes on the fundamental issues in the national healthcare reform dialogue – how to improve quality and patient experience, while reducing cost.

"To truly reform healthcare, you have to change care delivery and the payment model," says Mark Eustis, Fairview president/CEO. "With this new agreement, Medica and Fairview believe we have what will be a regional example of effective private market reform."