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Rheumatologists Applaud SCOTUS’ Unanimous Decision

Coalition of State Rheumatology Organizations

The Supreme Court of the United States unanimously upheld Arkansas’ Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) law in the Rutledge V. PCMA case. The state statute required PBMs to reimburse pharmacies at a break-even point or above. The PBM industry argued that the Arkansas law was preempted by ERISA, a federal statute governing employee benefit plans. “In 2017, CSRO began its “Rebate Road Show” educating providers, patients, regulators, and legislators on the harmful practices of PBMs. In fact, one of the first talks I gave in 2017 was at the Arkansas State Rheumatology Association,” said Dr. Madelaine Feldman, CSRO President and private practice rheumatologist in New Orleans, LA. “To see the court’s decision that Arkansas’ law is not preempted by ERISA is a major victory for patients and future state laws regulating PBM’s. Remarkably, not a single Supreme Court Justice dissented.” The CSRO, a founding member of the Alliance for Transparent and Affordable Prescriptions (ATAP), contributed to a Supreme Court amicus brief filed by ATAP in the case. In the brief, ATAP outlined for the Court the harmful effects that PBM business practices have even beyond their effect on pharmacies; namely, on patient access and the practice of medicine. In the opinion penned by Justice Sotomayor, the Court recognized that the PBM argument in this case amounted to an attempt to hide behind preemption to avoid all State regulation, finding that, ‘Taken to its logical endpoint, PCMA’s argument would pre-empt any suits under state law that could affect the price or provision of benefits.’ “The Court clearly understood that PBMs have gone far too long without taking any responsibility for the harm to patients they cause by their business practices,” added Dr. Feldman. “This opinion provides a roadmap for policymakers as they attempt to rein in the abusive practices of the PBM industry for supply chain stakeholders beyond pharmacies.” The CSRO will continue to move forward in support of regulating PBMs, and to push for new legislation that protects patient access and affordability for prescription medications at the state and federal levels. The Coalition of State Rheumatology Organizations (CSRO) is comprised of a group of state and regional professional rheumatology societies throughout the country formed to advocate for excellence in rheumatologic disease care and to ensure access to the highest quality care for the management of rheumatologic and musculoskeletal diseases. Our nationwide coalition serves practicing rheumatologists in charge of patient care for these illnesses. Contact Details Dan Rene +1 202-329-8357 daniel.rene@kglobal.com

December 11, 2020 02:30 PM Eastern Standard Time

Red Cross Receives Toyota Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Cars

Energy Independence Now

The American Red Cross Los Angeles Region is excited to announce that DriveH2, in collaboration with Toyota, has donated five Mirai hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles to the Red Cross blood services and disaster fleet. DriveH2 is the new public service initiative by Energy Independence Now (EIN), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and educating the world about the benefits of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. The Toyota Mirai creates electricity by converting hydrogen in an advanced fuel cell, leaving water vapor as the only tailpipe emissions. The EPA rates the Mirai among the most fuel-efficient hydrogen fuel cell vehicles with one of the longest driving ranges. With a refueling time of just 3-5 minutes, the Mirai can travel more than 300 miles on a single tank, with a combined city/highway fuel economy rating of more than 60mpg equivalent. The addition of these cars to the Red Cross fleet aligns with Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order moving California towards zero emissions vehicles by 2035. The Red Cross, in partnership with DriveH2, is passionately pursuing that challenge as the dangers of climate change in the form of wildfires has steadily increased during the past few years, causing 2020 to be the most disastrous hurricane and wildfire season to date. The Red Cross uses its fleet to execute its mission of responding to disasters and providing shelter and resources to those affected. The fleet also helps to transport blood between collection drives and health providers. Just this past year, Los Angeles Region Red Crossers drove more than 104,500 miles. “For the past few years, the Red Cross Los Angeles has been on the ground responding to a growing number of wildfires and home fires,” said David Englin, chief operating officer of the Red Cross Los Angeles Region. “Adding these zero-emission vehicles to our fleet is aligned with our fundamental principles, one of which is humanity -- our commitment to protect life and alleviate suffering.” “We’re delighted to be able to donate these vehicles to the Red Cross Los Angeles,” said Brian Goldstein, executive director of DriveH2/EIN. "This donation of fuel cell electric vehicles aligns perfectly with DriveH2's mission to raise awareness for hydrogen technology, a vital part of the zero emissions ecosystem. The vehicles' extended range and quick refueling time are a particularly good fit for the organization's operations, and we are honored to kick off this program alongside Toyota and the American Red Cross." EDITOR’S NOTE You can view and share the official video here: youtu.be/KgBaguM9CEQ A selection of high-resolution images are available here: dropbox.com/sh/x9l9ra0tgspu0ih/AACWBJ5mONSSirLMhI4MtsFXa?dl=0 Video B roll is available to media here: dropbox.com/sh/ttjxwt5m7gakif1/AABJITQWPD9UfDUeHTn8apXca?dl=0 AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW American Red Cross Los Angeles RegionDavid Englin, Chief Operating OfficerLeslie Moore, Facilities and Fleet DirectorTim Hokanson, Volunteer Driver & Fleet CoordinatorMartin C Gutierrez, Fleet Coordinator II DriveH2/EINBrian Goldstein, Executive Director, Energy Independence Now / DriveH2 Please use the Media Contacts below if you wish to interview any of the representatives listed here ABOUT THE AMERICAN RED CROSS The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org/la or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCrossLA or @CruzRojaLA ABOUT DriveH2 DriveH2 is a public service initiative by Energy Independence Now, an environmental non-profit committed to educating the world about the benefits of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. The organization engages in comprehensive research, policy advocacy and public outreach to promote the widespread adoption of a diverse zero emissions portfolio. Learn more at driveh2.org, and follow our story and updates across all social media platforms at @DriveH2 ABOUT TOYOTA Toyota (NYSE:TM), creator of the Prius hybrid and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota and Lexus brands. Over the past 60 years, Toyota has built more than 40 million cars and trucks in North America, where they have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the US), and directly employ more than 47000 people (over 36000 in the US). Their 1800 North American dealerships (nearly 1500 in the US) sold nearly 2.8 million cars and trucks (nearly 2.4 million in the US) in 2019. MEDIA CONTACTS Marium Mohiuddin at Red Cross: marium.mohiuddin@redcross.org Liisa Kaufman at DriveH2/EIN: liisa@einow.org Greg Emmerson at ID Agency: greg@theidagency.com Contact Details Greg Emmerson at ID Agency +1 213-443-8001 greg@theidagency.com

December 11, 2020 06:04 AM Pacific Standard Time

Video

Richpanel raises funding to eliminate customer service tickets for ecommerce

Stockwood Strategy

Richpanel, a revolutionary customer service platform for the ecommerce industry, has raised an undisclosed investment as part of Sequoia Capital India’s Surge with the aim to eliminate customer service tickets with an “Amazon-like” customer account section. Founded in January 2019 and headquartered in both India and the US, Richpanel was created with the purpose of helping ecommerce companies scale business without hiring more agents. The platform allows merchants to design an account page on their online storefront where they can automate order tracking, exchanges, returns, cancellations, and any other scenario which would otherwise result in a support ticket. While tech giants like Amazon and Uber have made massive investments to automate their purchase & post purchase flows like “where is my order” and “change trip destination”, these kinds of queries result in support tickets for every other business. They rely on a team of agents and a ticketing system to handle them, creating costs and inefficiencies. Richpanel’s platform helps these businesses launch a self-service portal on their stores, allowing customers to perform actions without ever having to contact a support agent. This means businesses can scale their operations without constantly expanding their support team. “The first time I disputed a cancellation fee on a ride-sharing platform, I mentally prepared myself for a 15-minute-long chat with a support rep, but I was pleasantly surprised when the entire process took less than 60 seconds. This automated customer service support technology can save ecommerce businesses millions of dollars, and we felt there was a real need to productize this for everyone else,” said Amit RG, CEO at Richpanel “At Richpanel, our goal is to help clients eliminate unnecessary support tickets. Businesses have tried chatbots, FAQs and help center solutions, but what they need is a solution that does not ‘deflect’ customers but ‘resolves’ their issues. Currently, our platform is able to resolve 40-50% of incoming queries and we will take this up to 80% over the coming months,” Amit RG added. Richpanel is the next generation in customer service support and seeks to disrupt the help desk software market as well as customer care outsourcing services, where businesses are expected to spend $110b by 20241. The platform provides a seamless experience for both visiting customers and businesses to handle cases where customers need to speak with a human. The ‘agent inbox’ helps brands manage all their support channels - email, live chat, social media & phone - from one place. The integration with ecommerce platforms help agents see complete purchase history, take order actions and respond to customers from one screen. Clients such as US-based apparel company Pawz.com are seeing positive results with Richpanel. “As one of Richpanel’s early adopters, we have been extremely happy with the platform and the team’s ability to deliver well on projects. Currently, our self-service flows powered by Richpanel are able to close nearly 60% of all incoming queries or tickets, without the need to interact with an agent,” said Julian Quintães, CEO at Pawz.com. Ends Notes to the editor 1 Radian Insights, Outsourced customer care services market worth $84.7 billion by 2020 Richpanel is a customer service solutions platform, purpose-built for the ecommerce industry. Founded in January 2019 with headquarters in both India and the US, Richpanel’s self-service platform allows merchants to design an Amazon-style account page on their store, where they can automate order tracking, returns, exchanges, cancellations, order changes and more. The platform also has an agent help desk to help customer support agents manage incoming queries across various touch points such as email, live chat, social media and phone. Today, over 1,000 merchants all over the world use Richpanel every day to support their customers. Contact Details Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://richpanel.com/

December 09, 2020 10:30 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Open Enrollment: A Money Saving Approach to Insurance from Sidecar Health

YourUpdateTV

Even before the pandemic hit, millions of Americans lacked critically needed health insurance. Now, with businesses struggling to stay afloat, millions more are at risk of losing employer-sponsored insurance, leaving them to navigate the marketplace on their own. A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/SniHnV2TpPo However, there is a simple, affordable, and personalized alternative that turns patients into purchasers, giving them the ability to shop around for care as they would with any other commercial product. Enter Sidecar Health. Sidecar Health, which operates on the principle of cash payments, is turning the industry on its head. While traditional insurance acts as a middleman between patients and doctors, leading to increased costs and surprise bills, Sidecar Health members get substantial discounts (and no surprise bills) from providers by paying cash directly at the point of service. They also enjoy the freedom to see any medical service provider they need, without network restraints, and the ability to personalize a plan to fit their individual healthcare needs. Patrick Quigley, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Sidecar Health, conducted a nationwide media tour to discuss new money-saving healthcare options such as Sidecar Health that disrupt the flawed industry. Topics that Quigley discussed included: How the cash-price model differs from existing insurance options How “cash-price” insurance saves money by getting rid of the inflated commercial prices negotiated by traditional insurance How COVID-19 has impacted health insurance and healthcare in the U.S. How those who have lost employer-sponsored coverage can access high-quality coverage on their own terms How an unexpected medical procedure led Patrick to his a-ha! moment and the creation of Sidecar Health For more information visit: sidecarhealth.com About Patrick Quigley, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Sidecar Health: Patrick Quigley founded Sidecar Health in 2018 as a new approach to insurance. The company now operates in 14 states using a disruptive cash-price model to save members 40% or more on health care costs. With a storied career spanning 15 years in health insurance, Patrick has led companies dedicated to various aspects of the industry. He spearheaded the growth of Healthplans.com, a leading website that connected 35 million people with carriers and brokers to find plans for their families. Patrick also served as CEO of Katch, which helped carriers enroll new members in individual health plans producing over $3B in annual premiums. About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

December 09, 2020 10:20 AM Eastern Standard Time

Video

CMMC Center of Excellence Announces Engagement Agreement with 6clicks

Interoperability Clearinghouse

The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Center of Excellence (CMMC-COE), hosted by the Information Technology Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC), a public-private partnership serving the public and private sectors for more than 15-years is proud to announce a partnership with global software provider 6clicks and the establishment of CMMC-COE APAC lead by 6clicks founder, Andrew Robinson. This unique partnership will extend efforts to advance the goals and objectives for improving the cyber and supply chain security and resilience of the US Department of Defense (DoD) global Defense Industrial Base (DIB) network of contractors, suppliers, and vendors. 6clicks provides an innovative software-as-a-service platform used by consultants, governments, and businesses around the world designed to streamline risk assessment and compliance activities across multiple standards, including CMMC. 6clicks has offices in Washington, D.C., the United Kingdom, and in Melbourne, Australia. Andrew Robinson, Founder & Head of Cyber Security, 6clicks sums up the partnership with: "Supply chains are global and to secure them we must be willing to cooperate across national and regional boundaries to synthesize and build upon existing cybersecurity standards. The CMMC-COE and CMMC-COE APAC are a key part of this important mission." “This is a momentous occasion for us”, said Mr. John Weiler, Chairman of the Board at CMMC Center of Excellence, “Our Asia Pacific center will further help advance the goals and objectives for improving the supply chain security and resilience of the US Department of Defense (DoD) beyond North America”. This collaborative partnership between 6clicks and CMMC-COE helps further their respective and complementary missions and objectives regarding the adoption, use, and expansion of cybersecurity best practices. The adoption of next-generation software like 6clicks to assess and accelerate cybersecurity maturity will better drive efficiency and improve the decision-making capabilities beyond outdated legacy systems. The objectives and mission of 6clicks and CMMC-COE are in direct alignment with the US Department of Defense Office of Inspector General on cybersecurity best practices, risk management, and compliance. The objective to secure and scale the DIB contractor community, the information and communications technology community. This partnership establishes a broader CMMC ecosystem to improve security and resilience. Some specific actions will include: The co-development of CMMC advisory services, cyber training, and education programs to accelerate CMMC certification, increase cyber adoption, and improve cyber protection and resilience. Co-sponsor symposiums, training programs and podcasts leveraging their combined cyber and IT expertise. Host regular working groups, with other partners, to enable collaboration and communications. Source qualified cyber professionals to serve as cyber and CMMC advocates. Establish an independent Industry Cyber Security Advisory Council with peer organizations to advise and educate leaders across government and industry on the continued evolution and effectiveness of CMMC. Engage with the Defense Industrial Base contractor community across the Asia-Pacific region to enhance education, training, preparation, and compliance with provisions of the CMMC requirements. The CMMC-COE ( http://cmmc-coe.org ) and the CMMC-COE APAC ( https://cmmc-apac.com/ ) will focus on bringing together the many disparate cyber and national security communities of interest to reduce complexity, improve awareness, and accelerate industry effort to become more cyber resilient against the growing threats from nation states and criminal enterprises. The CMMC-COE partner network, including 6clicks and the CMMC-COE APAC will be sharing a wide range of capabilities such as cyber standards frameworks, education, solution architectures, cyber mentoring, workforce, and other elements needed to scale to the demands of the entire DIB marketplace in the U.S. and abroad (400,000 contractors worldwide). The CMMC-COE establishes both a Market Place and Knowledge Clearinghouse that will include resources that support the overall effort, including white papers, tutorials, recorded webcasts, presentations, and more that will help reduce the cost and burden on small and medium size contractors already struggling from the impact of COVID and the complexity of small and large federal contracts. With this, we are excited to have 6clicks and the CMMC-COE APAC included in our trusted portfolio. For more information on the CMMC-COE, please visit http://cmmc-coe.org email: info@cmmc-coe.org For more information on 6clicks, please visit https://6clicks.io/ For more information on the CMMC-COE APAC, please visit https://cmmc-apac.com/ email: contact@cmmc-apac.com About Us ---------- CMMC-COE.ORG is a unique non-profit public-private partnership, with a vision to accelerate Cybersecurity Maturity Model (CMM) adoption, and reduce time & cost for security compliance for our partners by leveraging commercial best practices, CMMC standards, and innovative solutions for a measurable success. Our mission, focused on DOD mission objectives, cost containment and expeditious CMMC compliance, is to help the DIB improve cyber posture and resilience, and simplify its acquisition. The CMMC-COE is hosted by the Information Technology Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC), a public/private partnership (P3) chartered in 2007 as an honest broker to reach outside the confines of the Federal IT advisories that lack dynamic reach into the Global IT Market, and dedicated to the adoption of commercial IT management standards of practice and innovations emanating from the Global IT market. Team IT-AAC has already demonstrated the value of its decade long investment, and provides a unique value to agencies seeking to achieve accelerate the transformation of legacy processes and systems. Our Just-in-Time SMEs apply an innovative suite of Technology Business Management and Agile Acquisition Processes needed to assure the business value of commercial IT. The Interoperability Clearinghouse (ICH), is the managing partner that make up the 24 NGO/SDO organizations that make up the IT-AAC. ICH provides the contract vehicles, clearances, and critical resources proven to guide sustainable, measurable and repeatable processes needed to drive better investment decisions as the speed of mission need, while aligning existing processes, methods and workforce with IT reform mandates contained in Clinger Cohen Act, FITARA, IT MGT Act, EO13838. Contact Details Bob Dix +1 703-975-6633 bob.dix@it-aac.org Company Website https://cmmc-coe.org

December 08, 2020 10:20 PM Eastern Standard Time

The bedrock of any Artificial Intelligence platform is Domain Knowledge: CIPIO builds a Platform Advisory Board with stellar subject matter experts

CIPIO.ai

McLean, VA November 24, 2020 – CIPIO, the industry's first domain infused customer intelligence platform, announced that it had launched a Product Advisory Board with veterans from the Fitness, Customer Experience, and AI domain. Brent Zempel has created software platforms and applications for the fitness industry over the last 30 years. Brent served as the Chief Information Officer at Life Time Fitness for nearly 20 years, where he developed the firm's extensive proprietary club management software platform. "The fitness industry is going through a massive forced digital transformation, and I see it firsthand that operators are going from late adopters of technology to first and fast," said Zempel. Zempel has a startup of his own that quickly connects and streamlines the membership subsidy process between health clubs and insurance providers. "CIPIO's customer intelligence platform's capability to innovate domain-specific products is truly unique. I am incredibly excited to help them stay on top of the industry domain". Saurin Shah has 20 years of enterprise SaaS experience building products that helped fuel topline revenue growth at companies like Medallia, Salesforce, and Experian. Shah has led product strategy and roadmap execution for numerous verticals solutions and domain-specific products in the customer relationship and experience management space. "What worked in the past will not work in today's increasingly digital business environment. CIPIO's unique approach to infuse Domain knowledge into AI allows it to build highly predictive models that provide progressively deeper behavior intelligence. I'm thrilled to help CIPIO leverage its technology to reshape how companies connect with their customers." said Shah. " CIPIO is also partnering with several software solutions to provide its Customer Intelligence Platform to fitness businesses supporting their in-club and virtual offerings, including on-demand and digital fitness provider Intelivideo. "I have now seen Arnold A.I. from CIPIO in action at several gyms, and I am blown away on how precise Arnold is on its recommendations and predictions," said Adam Zeitsiff, CEO of Intelivideo. "Arnold A.I. will be an extremely valuable tool for many of our customers, and I am super excited to be partnering with CIPIO's team to continue to enhance the first intelligent assistant engine for the Fitness Industry.". CIPIO was founded on the principle that applying Artificial Intelligence without domain knowledge doesn't produce accurate and impactful outcomes. Customers don't have the time to customize and adapt generic AI tools to their business requirements. Domain-centric AI models make AI seamless, explainable, and easy to plug into an existing business process and get significant uplift. "For example, Arnold A.I., our Fitness Intelligent Assistant makes a tailored recommendation to a fitness customer on how to retain a gym member versus Mary A.I., our intelligent assistant for Faith, would help determine if a donor at a church is going to leave even if it's the same individual," said Manoj Kumar Goyal, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer. Mr. Goyal is a veteran himself in the space of Hyper personalization, AI, Customer Data Platform and Martech, having processed petabytes of data from his experience at Oracle, Marketo, OpenX, and HP. "I have seen so many AI projects fail due to the lack of domain knowledge. I am super excited to work with such deep domain talent, and we will continue to add domain experts to our advisory board to stay true to our mission." About CIPIO: CIPIO is pioneering industry’s first domain infused Customer Intelligence Platform that democratizes hyper-personalized predictions and recommendations to create and capture new value, increase retention, and boost revenue for B2C subscribers and members. CIPIO's early adopters include Crunch Fitness, World’s Gym, Xponential Fitness, Pure Barre GO, Club Pilates GO, AKT GO, YogaSix GO, Cyclebar GO, RowHouse GO, Stretch Lab GO, and Stride GO, to name a few have seen a significant return on investment in a very short time. Contact Details Jennifer Isaac +1 315-398-9541 Jennifer@CIPIO.ai Company Website https://cipio.ai/

December 08, 2020 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

Leading Food Anaphylaxis Physician and Scientist Inderpal Randhawa, M.D., Urges Parents to ‘Not Let Your Guard Down’ This Holiday Season

Southern California Food Allergy Institute

One of the nation’s leading medical researchers, scientists and physicians in the field of food allergies and anaphylaxis is warning parents to not let their guard down during this particularly stressful holiday season. “While family gatherings will likely not be as crowded as in past years due to COVID-19 restrictions, parents still need to be smart and aware of what they serve and what ingredients they use if they have a child who suffers from food anaphylaxis,” said Inderpal Randhawa, M.D., CEO and chief medical officer of the Southern California Food Allergy Institute. “For those who suffer from food anaphylaxis, the holidays can be a very trying time; but parents can make it less so by being proactive and planning ahead when it comes to holiday meals. It is very important that children do not feel punished, deprived or fearful because they have a food allergy.” According to Food Allergy Research and Education, about one out of every 13 children is allergic to at least one food; and about 40% of those children have experienced severe, life-threatening reactions. Approximately 90% of all food allergies are caused by one of eight foods—many of which are often included in preparing holiday meals: eggs, milk, peanuts, wheat, soy, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. It does not take much consumption of any of these foods to cause a severe reaction in highly allergic people. In many states, stay-at-home orders are in effect this holiday season, which should be adhered to, as emotionally difficult as it may be. For others, where limited venturing outside of their immediate family circle is permissible, Dr. Randhawa advises food allergy parents to speak in advance with the host. Explain the situation, and offer to help in any way they can, whether that means helping to prepare the food or bringing their own “safe” food. Parents should also remind their child that he/she can only eat approved foods, and parents should make sure that their child is always supervised. “If you are getting together with others—hopefully in very small groups this year—the best approach is to offer to be the host,” said Dr. Randhawa. “Parents already have the know-how to make delicious food that is allergy free. When guests offer to help or ask what they can bring, you can ask them to come early to help prepare or share recipe ideas. To prevent the transfer of food allergens, everyone should wash their hands before and after eating, counters and tables should be scrubbed down before and after meals, and separate utensils that have not come into contact with allergens should be used when eating or serving food.” The Southern California Food Allergy Institute, which Dr. Randhawa founded, is a one-of-a-kind treatment center that has treated more patients than any center in the world for food anaphylaxis. It is operated in conjunction with the Translational Pulmonary & Immunology Research Center, a nonprofit biotechnology and clinical research center founded by Dr. Randhawa in 2015 to focus on developing cutting-edge, individualized treatment protocols for rare and orphan diseases. At the institute, Dr. Randhawa and his team are leveraging trillions of diagnostic data points gathered from more than 10,000 food-allergic patients to understand how food allergies affect a child’s immune system. The goal in all of this is to “retrain” a child’s immune system to become less and less anaphylactic and more and more tolerant. “To date we have treated nearly 11,000 food anaphylactic children; and for those who have completed the program, there is a better than 99% success rate,” said Dr. Randhawa. “These children are now able to eat whatever food they want without concern of a reaction to the foods they once feared. It is what we call “food freedom” and is truly a life-altering achievement for the child and their parents.” Further information on the Translational Pulmonary & Immunology Research Center and the Southern California Food Allergy Institute may be obtained at tpirc.org and socalfoodallergy.org. # # # Contact Details Mark Kriegsman +1 562-269-5624 mkriegsman@tpirc.org Company Website http://socalfoodallergy.org/

December 07, 2020 11:15 AM Pacific Standard Time

Cloud Conventions Launches Community, a Platform to Strengthen Attendee/Exhibitor Engagement

Convey Services

Cloud Conventions, the industry leading virtual event technology solution today expanded its capabilities by launching Community ™, a new feature set designed to promote attendee/exhibitor engagement, networking and communication. Community provides a searchable attendee and exhibitor directory for connection, a message center for interactive communication or meeting requests and a one-on-one chat feature so attendees and exhibitors can open a discussion from within a booth. “Cloud Conventions continues to pioneer new capabilities in the virtual event space with features that accelerate direct connection between sponsors, exhibitors and attendees,” said Carolyn Bradfield, CEO of Convey Services, parent company of Cloud Conventions. “Our new Community platform allows attendees and exhibitors to find each other, as well as start conversations that lead to building relationships during the live portion of a virtual event and beyond.” Community is an opt-in program accessed from attendee and exhibitor dashboards within the Cloud Conventions platform. Event managers customize searchable directories by allowing specific data to appear in contact cards and enabling messaging for two-way communication. Directory access is controlled by the event host allowing exhibitors to be added to the directory based on sponsorship levels. The new Message Center within Community organizes attendee and exhibitor outreach, as well as booth chat sessions, and manages requests for meetings using Cloud Conventions’ matchmaking service. US-based attendees can choose to opt-out of directory listings and messaging. To support strict GDPR compliance, international attendees must choose to opt-in to be contacted or viewed in the directory. Opt-in attendees become visible to exhibitors when they enter their booth. Exhibitors can select an attendee and open a chat dialog with them, or the attendee can open a dialog with the booth. Cloud Conventions maintains privacy controls to comply with both CCPA and GDPR. It supports ADA requirements to accommodate people with disabilities to avoid the risk of legal repercussions based on failure to provide attendees with easy access to content and programming within a virtual event. “ Community is only one of the platform features that promote attendee engagement within Cloud Conventions,” added Bradfield. “Discussion forums, social networking, roundtables and a host of options improve engagement between attendees, exhibitors and sponsors. We continue to focus on adding tools and creating opportunities to enhance attendee engagement and build value into the experience. When attendees are engaged, they stay in the event longer, are more motivated to interact with exhibitors and generate valuable sales leads.” Attendees receive message outreaches within their Community dashboard, get notified when new messages are waiting, and can access active message threads on any page inside the portal. Daily indexed emails collect and organize messages to provide a summary of each outreach and a link to go back to the Cloud Conventions-hosted event to read and respond. Show organizers and event managers can learn more about Community by visiting https://cloudconventions.com and explore all of the Cloud Conventions solutions and attendee engagement strategies in the resource center. About Cloud Conventions Cloud Conventions is a Virtual Trade Show and Conference Platform from Convey Services that brings new capabilities to a marketplace looking for solutions to replace the thousands of live trade shows, annual conferences and association meetings cancelled in the wake of COVID-19. Originally launched as ConveyLive, Cloud Conventions automates exhibitors and virtual booths, attendee registration, speaker sessions and reminders, invitations and email communication, while at the same time producing detailed analytics on attendee, session and exhibitor activity. Trade Associations and event managers can explore all of the Cloud Conventions solutions by visiting https://cloudconventions.com or contacting info@cloudconventions.com or call 888-975-1382. Cloud Conventions™, Community™, Cloud Kickoffs™, Conduct™, One-Touch Email Share™, Hub & Spoke™, 360° Virtual Exhibit Hall & Lobby Experience™ and ListLock™ are trademarks of Convey Services LLC Contact Details Bruce Ahern +1 770-580-0810 bahern@conveyservices.com Company Website https://cloudconventions.com

December 02, 2020 03:30 PM Eastern Standard Time

RESULTS FROM LATE STAGE BLADDER CANCER CLINICAL TRIAL CONDUCTED BY SUO-CTC ARE PUBLISHED IN THE LANCET ONCOLOGY

Society of Urologic Oncology

A breakthrough therapy discovered during Society of Urologic Oncology Clinical Trials Consortium (SUO-CTC) Phase 2 and 3 trials was published by The Lancet Oncology. The Lancet Oncology is an authoritative forum for key opinion leaders across medicine, government, and health systems to influence clinical practice, explore global policy, and inform constructive, positive change worldwide. The treatment, currently with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the potential to offer physicians a new option in treating bladder cancer. It also has the potential to offer hope to those suffering from the disease. The Lancet Oncology paper, co-authored by Dr. Colin Dinney, Co-Founder of the SUO-CTC, provides significant details about the trial and its encouraging findings. The landmark U.S. clinical trial evaluated the investigational gene therapy, nadofaragene firadenovec. “As explained in our paper, the trials we conducted were designed to assess patients who suffer from high grade non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer and were unresponsive to previous treatments (BCG therapy). In the absence of such therapies, many of these patients face complete removal of their bladder due to the aggressive nature of the disease,” explained Dr. Dinney. “The development and testing of nadofaragene firadenovec is a prime example of an effective collaboration between the SUO-CTC and Pharma to develop the novel therapeutic as an alternative to surgical bladder removal.” During the Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials conducted by the SUO-CTC, the treatment was administered to patients via a catheter, directly into the bladder. It is believed to work by helping the body produce high quantities of a protein that fights bladder cancer. “One of the advantages of nadofaragene firadenovec is that it has a favorable safety profile. We have demonstrated consistent efficacy in multiple trials. The other great advantage is the convenient treatment schedule,” Dr. Dinney continued. “With nadofaragene firadenovec, patients receive one dose every three months. This makes it very appealing to both physicians and patients.” “We believe the important clinical findings highlighted in The Lancet Oncology with this novel gene therapy may fulfill a significant unmet need for patients and have the potential to be practice-changing,” said Vijay Kasturi, MD, Vice President of Medical Affairs at FerGene, a gene therapy company committed to revolutionizing the treatment of bladder cancer. “We are extremely grateful to the investigators, the patients who participated in the study, and the SUO-CTC for the important findings highlighted in this publication.” Nearly 68,000 people in the United States are impacted by bladder cancer every year, making it one of the most common cancers. It also one of the deadliest cancers that will claim close to 18,000 lives in the US this year alone. In addition to bladder cancer trials, the SUO-CTC also collaborates in partnership with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to develop and conduct trials for prostate cancer and renal cancer. Created, owned, and operated by its members, the Society of Urologic Oncology Clinical Trials Consortium (SUO-CTC) is a clinical research investigator network of more than 400 members from more than 200 clinical sites in the U.S. and Canada. This national alliance of leading academic and community based uro-oncologists is committed to furthering urology research. The SUO-CTC is a registered 501c3 not-for-profit corporation and has a cooperative relationship with the Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO). ### Please visit http://www.suoctc.org For more information or to schedule an interview with a SUO-CTC spokesperson, please contact Dan Rene of kglobal at 202-329-8357 or daniel.rene@kglobal.com Contact Details Dan Rene +1 202-329-8357 daniel.rene@kglobal.com Company Website https://suoctc.org/about.aspx

December 02, 2020 09:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

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