This week's Philadelphia-area life sciences industry news includes an effort to help genetic counselors advance in their careers, the completion of a multibillion-dollar acquisition, a telehealth strategy for a product approved to help people with multiple sclerosis, and more.
Here's the roundup:
Penn Medicine
The Philadelphia health system was awarded a $9.7 million grant from the Warren Alpert Foundation to provide continuing and advanced career training for genetic counselors.
Penn Medicine will split the grant with four other educational institutions that will be part of the initiative: Baylor College of Medicine, Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University's School of Medicine, and the University of Washington's School of Medicine.
The initiative will be led by genetics researchers and faculty members in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine.
The goal of the advanced training will be to help genetic counselors increase their knowledge when helping individuals learn about specific hereditary disorders, interpret genomic data, assess risks, and make proactive decisions in areas from cancer prevention to family planning.
“Genetic counseling is only about 50 years old, and the world of genetics is moving at lightning speed. It can be challenging for genetic counselors to stay aware of the rapid changes in the field — especially for those based at smaller, community hospitals," said Kathleen Valverde, director of Penn’s masters of science in genetic counseling program. "It is vital for the field to keep genetic counselors on the forefront of research and education, and initiatives like this help to ensure genetic counselors are an integral part of the future of genomic medicine.”
The grant funds will be used to create the WAF-Career Ladder Education Program for Genetic Counseling at Penn.
The program will include the creation of online continuing education unit courses for genetic counselors, with each one-credit course containing 10 hours of instruction, lectures, activities, and assessments to provide in-depth coverage on designated topics in genomics and personalized medicine such as variant interpretation. Other initiatives include developing a certificate program with targeted area of advanced training, and pathways for the development of a post-graduate doctoral degree in genetic counseling, are being explored.
"Creating a robust career ladder to support genetic counselors’ advanced training and professional development is critical in retaining genetic counselors in academic health systems, advancing genomics research, and implementing genomic information into clinical practice,” said Dr. Daniel Rader, chairman of genetics and chief of translational medicine and human genetics at Penn.
In 2021, the Warren Alpert Foundation awarded Penn Medicine a $9.5 million grant to increase diversity in the genetic counseling field.
AmerisourceBergen
The Conshohocken-based wholesale pharmaceuticals distribution and services company completed its previously announced $1.3 billion acquisition of PharmaLex Holding GmbH of Germany.
AmerisourceBergen (NYSE: ABC) said the deal will expand the company's biopharmaceutical services platform for manufacturers globally.
PharmaLex provides an array of regulatory affairs, development consulting and scientific affairs, pharmacovigilance, and quality management and compliance services to drug development companies.
Helius Medical Technologies
The Newtown medical device developer launched a new e-commerce site designed to make it easier for people with multiple sclerosis experiencing issues with walking to obtain the company’s innovative Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator, or PoNS, device.
The PoNS device is a portable, non-implantable device that delivers mild electrical stimulation to the dorsal surface of the patient’s tongue. The device consists of a controller that goes around the neck and a mouthpiece that rests on the front of the tongue — with the electrodes facing the tongue. The electrodes send mild electrical impulses to the tongue to stimulate two cranial nerves that have direct connections into the brain through the brainstem.
Use of the PoNS, combined with an exercise regimen supervised by a physical therapist, is approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a treatment to improves gait impairment in people with MS.
Helius (NASDAQ: HSDT) said the company formed a partnership with UpScript, a telehealth company, to make the product available online through a process that includes online health evaluations with qualified medical providers and the fulfillment of prescriptions required for PoNS therapy. Arizona-based UpScript said its platform makes it possible for people with multiple sclerosis to have a PoNS device delivered directly to their doorstep.
During the first three quarters of 2022, Helius, which also has approval for the PoNS device in Canada, generated product sales of $497,000 and reported a net loss of $12.8 million.
Quick Hits
Radnor-based NRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: NRXP) said it has entered into its first clinical trial testing site contract for late-stage testing of its lead drug candidate NRX-101, which is being developed for the treatment of severe bipolar depression with acute suicidal ideation and behavior. The identity of the testing site was not disclosed. Dosing of patients in the Phase 3 clinical trial is expected to begin early this year. …Virpax Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRPX) of Berwyn said it has engaged two leading physicians experienced in childhood epilepsy, Dr. Kenneth W. Sommerville and Dr. Lawrence Fried, to support the company's overall development plan for NobrXiol. Their involvement is expected to include advising on trial design, regulatory pathway development and patient recruitment. NobrXiol is Virpax’s new product candidate for the delivery of cannabidiol to manage epilepsy in children and adults. It uses the company's nanomerics molecular envelope technology as its delivery system to cross the blood brain barrier and propel cannabidiol nanoparticles through the nose to the brain via the olfactory nerve.
