pSivida (Boston) said that the symbol for its common stock, traded on Nasdaq, has returned to PSDV.
pSivida is a drug-delivery company committed to the biomedical sector and the development of drug delivery products. Retisert is approved for the treatment of uveitis. Vitrasert is FDA-approved for the treatment of AIDS-related CMV Retinitis. Bausch & Lomb owns the trademarks Vitrasert and Retisert. pSivida has licensed the technologies underlying both of these products to Bausch & Lomb.
Synthetic Blood now Oxygen Biotherapeutics
Oxygen Biotherapeutics (Costa Mesa, California) is the new name for the company previously known as Synthetic Blood International. The company's new trading symbol on the Over The Counter Bulletin Board is OXBO.
"Our new name better reflects the broader scope of our development activities," said CEO Chris Stern. "We have several exciting bio-therapeutic applications for Oxycyte, yet none of them is synthetic blood. What we're doing is developing advanced oxygen-based therapies using Oxycyte including traumatic brain injury, sickle cell pain crisis, wound treatment, organ transport, heart attack, stroke, and, as a long shot, spinal cord injury."
The company is the developer of Oxycyte, a perfluorocarbon therapeutic oxygen carrier.
AMA adopts organ donor law modification
The American Medical Association (Chicago) has adopted a policy calling for the modification of current law to allow pilot studies on financial incentives for cadaveric organ donation. The current law, the National Organ Transplantation Act, prohibits financial incentives for organ donation, saying that any motivation for donation other than altruism is unethical. The AMA already supports study into financial incentives for cadaveric organ donation.
"Today there are nearly 100,000 patients waiting for organ transplants of all types, and that number continues to grow," said AMA board member Joseph Annis, MD. "Exploring all ethical ways to increase the number of organ donations may save lives that may otherwise be tragically lost. Voluntary organ donation remains important, but motivational incentives that could increase organ donations — including financial incentives — must be studied."
American Well starts new online platform
American Well (Boston) reported the availability of the Online Healthcare Marketplace, a new platform that enables health plans to offer online care services to consumers and physicians.
The Online Healthcare Marketplace allows credentialed healthcare providers to make themselves available to consumers for online and phone consultations at their discretion, any time, from any location, and for as long as they choose. Using a browser or a phone, consumers can gain immediate, live access to physicians in multiple specialties without leaving their homes or scheduling appointments.
American Well said it has created a new healthcare marketplace where consumers and physicians can come together online to acquire and provide convenient and immediate healthcare services. Using the latest technologies in Web communications and digital telephony, American Well extends traditional healthcare services to the home setting.
AHA launches heart hub web site
The American Heart Association's (Dallas) new patient web site — www.Hearthub.org — will provide tools, resources and information on an array of heart conditions in an easy-to-understand, interactive format.
"Heart Hub offers one-stop shopping for people diagnosed with heart disease and stroke, those who have high cholesterol or other risk factors, and healthy people who want to stay that way," said Daniel Jones, MD, president of the AHA and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
Heart Hub also includes an easy-to-navigate "health centers" menu with information on everything from cardiac arrhythmia to peripheral artery disease. With one mouse click, patients navigate deeper into the content to find information.