News Hub | News Direct

Healthcare

Addiction Biotech Cannabis Genetics Healthcare Medical Devices Pharmaceutical Science Veterinary
Article thumbnail News Release

1606 announces launch of ChatCBD, a revolutionary AI chatbot to enhance customer experiences

1606 Corp.

1606 Corp CEO Greg Lambrecht joined Proactive's Steve Darling with news the company is launching ChatCBD, an AI chatbot designed to revolutionize the customer experience. Lambrecht explained that ChatCBD, a conversational e-commerce tool, is set to debut through a partnership with Cool Blue Distribution. This strategic collaboration will enable 1606 to integrate its proprietary AI merchandizing ChatBot into Cool Blue's website. ChatCBD has been custom-tailored to provide comprehensive responses to customer inquiries related to CBD and offer product recommendations from the range of retail brands available through Cool Blue Distribution, a leading CBD distributor in the United States. The chatbot's standout feature lies in its utilization of Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology, which equips it with the capability to comprehend and respond to customer queries with a high degree of precision and understanding, akin to human interactions. Furthermore, ChatCBD operates 24/7, ensuring that customers receive assistance and solutions to their questions promptly, even beyond regular business hours. This innovative approach not only enhances the customer experience but also showcases 1606 Corp's commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology to provide valuable solutions in the growing CBD market. By offering an AI-driven chatbot for CBD-related inquiries and product recommendations, 1606 Corp aims to create a seamless and informative shopping experience for consumers exploring the world of CBD products. Contact Details Proactive Canada +1 604-688-8158 na-editorial@proactiveinvestors.com

September 28, 2023 01:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Video
Article thumbnail News Release

Joshua Borders Appointed as CEO of AmeriLife’s Senior Market Advisors

AmeriLife

Senior Market Advisors (SMA), a fast-growing field marketing organization (FMO) in the health insurance space and an affiliate of AmeriLife Group, LLC (“AmeriLife”), today announced the appointment of Joshua Borders to principal and chief executive officer. Borders, who succeeds SMA founder Jeff Pitta, was previously founder and managing partner of Buffalo Health Advisors, a Nashville-based insurance distributor and downline affiliate of SMA that specializes in Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, PDP solutions, and health insurance for the under-65 market. At Buffalo, Borders oversaw a nationwide network of more than 500 field agents and grew the business 20% year-over-year for nine straight years, establishing the company as a top MAPD distributor in the state. Borders began his career as an independent sales agent focused on the Medicare Advantage market, bringing with him a client-centered approach and relentless focus on empowering agents with the tools and resources they need for success. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to lead SMA alongside an amazing team and our partners at AmeriLife,” said Borders. “SMA’s story is one of continued success, thanks in large part to an approach that isn’t content being just any FMO. SMA has – and will continue to be – a true difference-maker in the lives of the agents we help, the clients they serve, and the communities we support.” Founded in 2007, SMA boasts over 9,000 agents across 49 states, providing them with access to top Medicare and health insurance contracts, as well as life insurance and other products to help them serve the senior market. SMA is highly regarded for its best-in-class training, expert marketing support, and robust technology platforms that are designed by and for agents to better manage and grow their books of business, and support and scale growing independent marketing organizations (IMOs). SMA became an affiliate of AmeriLife in 2021. SMA is also deeply committed to putting people over profits. Since its founding, SMA has pledged more than $10 million to charities and community organizations locally and around the world, including to organizations such as Feeding America, King’s Kids Africa, and global nonprofit charity: water. “SMA has written the playbook on what it takes to be a successful FMO,” said Robert “Bobby” Bache, vice president of Life and Health Distribution for AmeriLife Health. “I’m grateful for Josh’s partnership and confident that, under his direction, SMA will continue to raise the bar in our industry.” “I want to thank Jeff for his many years of service at SMA and congratulate Josh on his new role,” added Scotty Elliot, Chief Distribution Officer for AmeriLife Health. “Josh’s appointment is a testament to his leadership, business acumen, and agent-first mindset. I believe he’s the perfect choice to lead SMA, and I couldn’t be more excited for the road ahead.” ### About Senior Market Advisors Senior Market Advisors (SMA) has been putting people over profits since 2007, through hard work and a commitment to “doing right” by the consumer. We know the grit and determination involved in becoming a career agent. And as a result, we have become one of the fastest growing FMOs, doubling our business each year for the past five years. For more information, visit us online at SeniorMarketAdvisors.com. About AmeriLife AmeriLife’s strength is its mission: to provide insurance and retirement solutions to help people live longer, healthier lives. In doing so, AmeriLife has become recognized as the leader in developing, marketing, and distributing life and health insurance, annuities, and retirement planning solutions to enhance the lives of pre-retirees and retirees across the United States. For more than 50 years, AmeriLife has partnered with top insurance carriers to provide value and quality to customers served through a distribution network of over 300,000 insurance agents and advisors and more than 100 marketing organizations and insurance agency locations nationwide. For more information, visit AmeriLife.com, and follow AmeriLife on Facebook and LinkedIn. Contact Details Media Jeff Maldonado +1 321-297-1112 jmaldonado@amerilife.com Partnership Inquiries Patrick Nichols +1 727-726-0726 pnichols@amerilife.com Company Website https://amerilife.com/

September 28, 2023 01:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Article thumbnail News Release

Avingtrans in a strong cash position after "beating city expectations again"

Avingtrans PLC

Avingtrans (LON:AVG) CEO Steve McQuillan and CFO, Stephen King speak to Thomas Warner from Proactive London after the engineering company released its preliminary results for the year to 31 May 2023. McQuillan gives a brief overview of the company's unique way of doing business, which combines engineering with elements of the private equity model. He highlights that Avingtrans specialises in serving highly regulated markets such as nuclear, defence, aerospace, and medical. Their business approach, termed "Pinpoint, Invest, Exit," involves identifying struggling engineering businesses, acquiring them, revamping their operations, and subsequently selling them. King reports a revenue increase of 17.5% for the year ending May 31, 2023, which he suggests "beat city expectations again". The company also held £13 million in cash reserves at the end of the period, enabling it to undertake potential future acquisitions and investments. McQuillan says he was pleased with the resilience of the business during a year blighted by challenging conditions in the market. He also adds that the market is undervaluing the medical side of the business. Looking to the future, he suggests its more likely that Avingtrans will be divesting businesses over the next few years rather than acquiring any major new ones, not least because its still "digesting" two relatively recent acquisitions. Contact Details Proactive UK Ltd Proactive UK Ltd +44 20 7989 0813 uk@proactiveinvestors.com

September 28, 2023 09:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Video
Article thumbnail News Release

Tune Insight secures $3.4m as it pushes the boundaries from a data economy to a secure insight economy

Tune Insight

Despite the ever increasing data-dependance for all critical business decisions and the never ending need of data to feed machine learning, companies are prevented from collaborating on and valorizing sensitive data because of cyber risks, fear of losing competitive edge and regulatory constraints. Helping organizations to overcome this hurdle, Tune Insight is today announcing a $3.4m funding round as it helps them automate collective intelligence extraction, reduce data liability, streamline compliance, while re-enforcing data security and privacy. The oversubscribed seed funding round was led by 14Peaks Capital with participation of US-based Inflection.xyz, Debiopharm and Zurich Cantonal Bank. Existing investors Wingman Ventures also participated in the funding round. Tune Insight was founded in 2021 by Juan R. Troncoso Pastoriza, Frederic Pont, Romain Bouyé and Jean-Pierre Hubaux. The startup is a confidential collaborative analytics and privacy-preserving machine learning solution. The genesis of Tune Insight lies in 2016, when Swiss hospitals came to the founders (then researchers) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) asking if the latest progress in applied cryptography could help solve a challenge they could not overcome, but paramount for personalized healthcare: hospitals wanted to collaborate with each other, but without transferring or revealing their patient data to others. Today, Tune Insight is deployed at University Hospital Zurich, CHUV in Lausanne, Inselspital in Bern, Switzerland, and powers applications such as survival analysis for precision oncology and personalized reference ranges. The latter application enables practitioners to rely on up-to-date reference ranges for their patients, based on collective data of 9 million data points from over 250,000 patients, instead of outdated ranges from a less relevant population. For University Spital Basel, Tune Insight enables the secure training of dermatology machine learning models on skin images across jurisdictions. Tune Insight solutions also bridge the trust gap between payers like Groupe Mutuel with care providers for value-based healthcare (VBHC), and pharmaceutical companies with hospitals for streamlined access to real-word evidence (RWE). In other domains, Tune Insight’s solutions are used by actuaries to facilitate collective risk computations for insurances and in financial services for collective fraud detection, anti-money laundering (AML) and combating financing of terrorism. In cybersecurity, Tune Insight works with managed security service providers (MSSPs) and Armassuisse, the procurement branch of the Swiss military, enabling collective cyber resilience to better defend against cyber attacks. The confidential computing operations supported by the Tune Insight platform range from private set intersection to advanced data analytics to secure federated learning on structured data, including images, which play an increasing role in healthcare and for predictive maintenance. Tune Insight is also working at extending support for privacy-preserving generative AI. Starting from secure data collaborations and privacy-preserving federated learning, Tune Insight is accompanying its customers towards data and model valorization. Juan R. Troncoso Pastoriza, co-founder & CEO of Tune Insight, has been working on privacy-enhancing technologies since 2005 commented: “The data economy falls short of its promise for very valuable, highly confidential or regulated data. In a data-driven world, protecting data not only at rest and in transit, but also in-use, is paramount. Combined with the increasing need for organizations to work together with others, both for collaborations and valorization, and progress towards more protections for citizens and customer data through regulations like GDPR, robust applied cryptography solutions that combine the best privacy-enhancing technologies are of greatest importance in all domains. At Tune Insight, our vision is to transform the paradigm of the data economy into an insight economy that better protects sensitive data, that is more secure, fair, and protective of privacy and confidentiality rights”. Tune Insight will deploy this funding round to strengthen its position for confidential collaborative analytics and machine learning in healthcare, financial services and cybersecurity, strengthen sales and marketing teams, and accelerate international expansion in Europe and the US. Edoardo Ermotti, Founder and Managing Partner of 14Peaks Capital, commented: “Tune Insight stands at the forefront of addressing a critical gap in the realm of confidential collaborative analytics. Their software, situated at the intersection of AI/ML, SaaS, and data security, offers compelling applications across industries, including financial services. This aligns seamlessly with the core values and strategic focus we have at 14Peaks Capital. We are excited about this partnership and look forward to contributing to Tune Insight's next phase of growth, continuing to revolutionize enterprise collaboration on sensitive and regulated data while mitigating the customary associated risks.” Alexander Lange, Founding Partner at Inflection.xyz remarked: “We believe that AI's bottlenecks won't be software development, tooling or algorithms but access to raw compute and high quality data sets. Tune Insight is making a breakthrough contribution to the latter by building an operating system for model training on confidential data without leakage. For the first time, adversarial stakeholders operating across multiple levels of a given value chain are economically motivated to collaborate. This will lead to significant efficiency gains and better products for their customers.” Pascal Mathis, Founding Partner, Wingman Ventures, added: “Tune Insight is the poster child of a Swiss startup on its way to global success: born on deep technology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, with a complementary team of experienced international co-founders, supported by the Swiss startup ecosystem, and signing as first customers Swiss companies that are world leaders in healthcare and financial services. Tune Insight is now ready to build on those early successes to accelerate towards becoming a global leader in secure collective data analytics and machine learning across industries. At Wingman, we are proud to have been Tune Insight’s first investor at pre-seed.” About Tune Insight Tune Insight provides confidential collaborative analytics and federated machine learning B2B solutions in healthcare, cybersecurity, financial services and beyond. Our vision is to transform the upcoming paradigm of the data economy into an insight economy that better protects the data, that is more secure, fair, and protective of privacy and confidentiality rights. https://tuneinsight.com About 14Peaks Capital 14Peaks is an early-stage investor in B2B SaaS companies located in Europe and the US. Within SaaS, they invest across three core verticals; Fintech, Proptech, and Future of Work. They initially partner with founders from pre-seed to Series A and support them throughout their growth journey by providing capital, operational support, network access and strategic advice. https://www.14peaks.capital/ About Inflection.xyz Inflection is a global venture platform led by seasoned investors and entrepreneurs based in Boston, USA. The firm is pioneering the frontiers of computation by providing capital, networks and insights to outlier entrepreneurs. https://inflection.xyz/ About Wingman Ventures Wingman Ventures is Switzerland’s leading pre-seed fund, backing founder teams building tech companies with the potential to become global market leaders. Wingman has a track record of supporting exceptional founders in creating breakthrough companies and has the passionate conviction that the Swiss startup ecosystem is just starting to write its best success stories. https://www.wingman.ch/ About Debiopharm Debiopharm Innovation Fund, the strategic investment arm of Swiss biopharmaceutical company Debiopharm, provides funding and guidance for companies with an ambition to improve the patient journey and transform pharmaceutical R&D. Since 2017 Debiopharm has invested in 15 AI and digital health companies, typically leading the investment rounds. As of September 2023, Debiopharm Innovation fund is expanding its footprint through a new Seed financing activity. https://www.debiopharm.com/digital-health/ About Zurich Cantonal Bank Zürcher Kantonalbank is an independent public-law institution of the Canton of Zurich, incorporated under the laws of the Canton of Zürich. Its registered corporate domicile and principal place of business is in Zurich, Switzerland. It has received top ratings from the rating agencies Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch (AAA/Aaa). With more than 5,000 employees, Zürcher Kantonalbank offers its clients a comprehensive range of products and services. The bank’s core activities include financing businesses, asset and wealth management, trading, capital market transactions, deposits, payment transactions and card business. Zürcher Kantonalbank provides clients and distribution partners with a comprehensive range of investment and retirement provision products and services. www.zkb.ch Contact Details Tune Insight Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://tuneinsight.com/

September 28, 2023 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Image
Article thumbnail News Release

Federal Publications Seminars (FPS) Embraces Industry Standardization with Adoption of CMS™ and CMBOK®

National Contract Management Association

Federal Publications Seminars (FPS), a leading government contract training provider, has announced a significant milestone in its commitment to advancing the contract management profession. FPS proudly embraces the National Contract Management Association's (NCMA) ANSI Approved Contract Management Standard™ (CMS™) and the Contract Management Body of Knowledge (CMBOK®) as the cornerstone for hiring, career development, and training of contract management professionals. The CMS™, recognized as the standard global language of government contracting, and the comprehensive CMBOK® collectively offer a unified framework to define, discuss, and advance contract management phases, domains, competencies, and skills. “Our adoption of these standards reaffirms FPS’s support of NCMA and dedication to cultivating excellence and promoting a common language within the contract management community,” said Andy King, President of FPS. Mr. King stated, "By aligning our training courses with the adoption of CMS™ and CMBOK®, we are poised to provide even greater support to our thriving FPS education community. Our partnership and collaboration with the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) reinforces our commitment to cultivating a more robust, knowledgeable, and ethical federal government contracting industry." “Through this collaboration, FPS aims to empower its clients to not only meet compliance requirements but also gain a competitive edge by harnessing their newfound expertise. The synergy between FPS and NCMA promises a brighter future for professionals in the federal contracting arena,” Mr. King concluded. "We appreciate Federal Publications Seminar's commitment to advancing the contract management profession through the adoption of the CMS™ and CMBOK®. they join leading organizations on our journey toward common language to foster global excellence," stated Kraig Conrad, Chief Executive Officer of NCMA. This move aligns FPS with the Department of Defense, civilian agencies of the U.S. government, industry leaders, and higher education institutions that have also embraced the CMS™ for their hiring, training, and educational programs. FPS's commitment to these standards is not only a testament to its leadership in the profession, but also an expression of support for NCMA's pivotal role in advancing the profession. For more information on NCMA's Common Language Adoption, please visit: www.ncmahq.org/adopters The National Contract Management Association (NCMA), which was founded in 1959 and is the world’s leading association in the field of contract management. The organization, which has over 18,000 members, is dedicated to the professional growth and educational advancement of procurement and acquisition personnel worldwide. NCMA strives to serve and inform the profession and industry it represents and to offer opportunities for the open exchange of ideas in neutral forums. To find out more, please visit www.ncmahq.org. About Federal Publication Seminars: Federal Publications Seminars (FPS) has been the leading provider of government contracts training and education for more than 60 years. FPS offers hundreds of in-person and online courses designed to provide in-house counsel, procurement officers, contract administrators, and accounting professionals and firms with solid, comprehensive opportunities to stay current on critical issues throughout the government contracting market. FPS instructors are nationally recognized leaders in the government contracting industry. For more information or to subscribe, visit fedpubseminars.com or call 888.494.3696. Follow FPS on social channels for the latest updates, class notifications and promotions @fedpubseminars. Contact Details National Contract Management Association Holly Dehesa +1 281-865-3296 holly.dehesa@ncmahq.org Company Website https://www.ncmahq.org/

September 28, 2023 06:55 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Article thumbnail News Release

Valeo Pharma secures $5M credit facility agreement with Accord Financial

Valeo Pharma Inc.

Valeo Pharma CEO Steve Saviuk joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share details the company has entered into a credit facility agreement with Accord Financial for a total of $5 million. The credit facility, backed by a first-ranking lien on the company's short-term assets, carries interest at the prime rate plus an applicable margin. The capital secured through this facility will enable Valeo Pharma to sustain its rapid growth trajectory without resorting to share dilution, safeguarding the interests of its shareholders. Valeo Pharma is a dynamic Canadian pharmaceutical company with a dedicated focus on the commercialization of innovative prescription products in Canada. The company's emphasis on respiratory/allergy, ophthalmology, and hospital specialty products underscores its commitment to delivering essential healthcare solutions. The credit facility is a strategic move that positions Valeo Pharma to continue its expansion efforts and meet the rising demand for innovative pharmaceutical products while preserving the value for its shareholders. Contact Details Proactive Investors +1 604-688-8158 na-editorial@proactiveinvestors.com

September 27, 2023 01:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Video
Article thumbnail News Release

Classiq to Host Quantum Software Hackathon and Bootcamp on October 1

Classiq Technologies

Classiq Technologies, a leading quantum computing software company, today announced its annual quantum computing software bootcamp and hackathon, the Classiq Quest. There is no cost to participate in either event. First up is the bootcamp, October 1-5, during which participants will learn how to fully exploit Classiq’s software to design, optimize and execute quantum algorithms. One to two hours of work per day over the five days will provide students, professors and others in academia focused on electrical engineering, computer science and other related fields an excellent opportunity to learn how to develop quantum algorithms. The quantum computing bootcamp is also a resource for those in industries such as DevOps, finance, chemistry, pharma, automotive and supply chain who want to learn how to harness the power of quantum computing. With a daily challenge on each day, participants will emerge from the bootcamp as experts on Classiq’s platform and fully prepared to tackle the Quest Hackathon challenges. Next up is the Classiq Quest Hackathon, which runs from October 8-11. The hackathon is an online programming competition open to individual as well as group participants. It is designed to reward those that can create efficient and elegant quantum circuits for a variety of important problems. Over the four days, participants receive a series of challenges for which they must design, optimize, and execute quantum algorithms. The challenges are a combination of open and well-defined problems that fall under three quantum computing themes – applications, utility, and education – and for each theme, there are two challenges. The application challenges focus on the use of quantum algorithms for addressing real-life problems in industries such as chemistry, finance, material science, and cyber security. Quantum utility concentrates on quantum algorithms that fully exploit the capabilities of available quantum computers. The quantum education theme is targeted at quantum algorithms for educational purposes with intuitive graphics and visualizations. “We often hear from professors that they have difficulty finding ways to teach students about quantum computing,” said Amir Naveh, chief product officer and co-founder at Classiq. “Our bootcamp offers a great way for students to get up to speed quickly on quantum computing and then test their skills with the challenges in the hackathon. It’s equally relevant and useful for people on the corporate side, who are quantum curious and need an easy entry point. We’re all about democratizing quantum computing.” Last year, nearly 300 participants from 51 countries registered for the Classiq coding competition and Classiq received more than 150 solutions. Participants must register by Sunday, October 1. Details on events, challenges and ways to participate are available at https://go.classiq.io/classiq-quest-hackathon#Bootcamp. The prize pool is $15,000. For each challenge, the first, second and third place winners will be rewarded with $1,500, $700, and $300, respectively. About Classiq Classiq Technologies, the leading quantum software company, provides an all-encompassing software platform with a single point of entry into quantum computing, from algorithm design to execution. Tailored to all levels of developer proficiency, Classiq aims to democratize access to quantum computing with software that equips customers to take full advantage of the quantum computing revolution. A low-code development environment ensures that a broader range of talents, including those with backgrounds in AI, ML and linear algebra, can harness quantum computing without requiring deep, specialized knowledge of how to program quantum computer hardware. Backed by powerful investors such as HPE, HSBC, Samsung, Intesa Sanpaolo and NTT, Classiq’s world-class team of scientists and engineers has distilled decades of quantum expertise into its groundbreaking software development platform. Follow Classiq on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), or YouTube, or visit www.classiq.io to learn more. Contact Details Michelle Allard McMahon/Jenna Beaucage classiqPR@rainierco.com Company Website http://www.classiq.io/

September 27, 2023 01:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Article thumbnail News Release

Roberts & Ryan Inc., America's first Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned (SDVO) broker-dealer, is pleased to welcome Major General Austin “Sparky” Renforth (Ret.) as their latest Senior Advisor.

Roberts & Ryan, Inc.

Major General Austin Renforth (Ret.) joins Roberts & Ryan as a veteran of the United States Marine Corps. Over the course of his 40-year military career Maj. Gen. Renforth has held a variety of leadership and command positions. Maj. Gen. Renforth enlisted in the United States Navy in 1982. After two years in the Navy, he received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, graduating with a BS degree in Mathematics and receiving a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. Maj. Gen. Renforth has had the privilege of command at every level. He served as a Rifle Platoon, Heavy Machinegun Platoon, and Dragon Platoon Commander at 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, participating in Operation DESERT SHIELD/STORM. He also served as a Platoon Commander at 2nd Light Armored Infantry Battalion and deployed as a Detachment Commander with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines in support of Operation PROVIDE PROMISE. Maj. Gen. Renforth commanded rifle companies at 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines and 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines. At the battalion level, he commanded the Maritime Special Purpose Force while deployed with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. Later, he commanded 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and deployed twice in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. He later assumed command of 7th Marine Regiment and deployed in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. Afterwards, he was Commanding General of Training Command, and then Commanding General of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island and Eastern Recruiting Region. He again deployed to Iraq as the Commanding General of Task Force Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. Maj. Gen. Renforth’s staff assignments include tours as Protocol Officer, US Central Command; Operations Officer 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines; Faculty Advisor, Amphibious Warfare School; Executive Officer, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines and deployed to Okinawa, Japan; Operations Officer, 5th Marines; Operations Officer, Regimental Combat Team 1 and deployed in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM in Fallujah; Branch Chief, Special Plans Branch, J-5, US Northern Command; and Chief of Staff, 1st Marine Division. Additionally, Maj. Gen. Renforth served as the Chief of Staff NORAD and USNORTHCOM in Colorado Springs. Most recently Maj. Gen. Renforth was the Commanding General of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center and the Marine Corps Air Ground Training Command. Maj. Gen. Renforth is a graduate of The Basic School, the Infantry Officer Course, Amphibious Warfare School, Armed Forces Staff College, NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy, and the High Command and Staff Course in the United Kingdom. Maj. Gen Renforth was a member of the Marine Corps Rugby Team, has worked as the Head Coach for the Naval Academy Sprint Football Team, and as an assistant coach for the Navy Division 1 Men’s Rugby Team. About Roberts and Ryan, Inc. Roberts & Ryan, Inc. is a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned (SDVO) broker-dealer with execution capabilities in capital markets, equities, and fixed-income trading. The firm was founded in 1987 by a United States Marine Corps Vietnam combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient. With over $1.8 million in committed donations since 2018, Roberts & Ryan is active in donating to charitable foundations that make significant positive impacts in the lives of Veterans and their families, primarily focusing on general wellness, mental health, and career transition. Contact Details Michael C. Del Priore +1 646-859-4061 mdelpriore@roberts-ryan.com Company Website https://www.roberts-ryan.com

September 27, 2023 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Image
Article thumbnail News Release

Multi-Billion Dollar Treatment Market For Lung Infection That Causes Over 200,000 Hospitalizations Annually With Elderly, Young At Most Risk Has Game-Changing New Entrant

NanoViricides, Inc.

By David Willey, Benzinga Read the latest report on NanoViricides here The CDC recently issued a warning that Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), a common and highly contagious lung infection that can cause bronchitis and pneumonia, is on the rise in the Southeastern United States – and the very young and the elderly are the most at risk of developing severe incidences of RSV. Every year, there are over 2 million outpatient (non-hospitalized) cases of RSV in children under 5, and RSV is the leading cause of hospitalizations for young children. There are up to 80,000 hospitalization cases for children under 5, and there are also up to 160,000 cases of patients over 65 getting hospitalized with RSV. Up to 300 children under 5 and 10,000 adults over 65 die of RSV annually. Despite this serious disease, there were no vaccines or good treatment options until recently. The recently approved vaccines from GSK plc (NYSE: GSK) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) also have severe limitations. These vaccines are only for use in patients aged 60 and over. However, these vaccines can involve side effects, including atrial fibrillation, Guillain-Barré syndrome and another potentially related disorder. A recently approved vaccine for pregnant women to protect the newborn infant upon birth has the risk of preterm births. In July 2023, the FDA also approved Beyfortus, an antibody treatment for children delivered as an injection to help prevent the development of RSV. Beyfortus was developed by Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY) and AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN). It is expected to be better than a previously approved antibody (palivizumab, trade name Synagis, developed by MedImmune, now marketed by SOBI – Swedish Orphan Biovitrum) for the same indication. Like the vaccines, however, there are side effects associated with these protective antibody treatments, which can include anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction. Yet, there are no treatments for RSV infection except for severe hospitalized cases when children at risk of dying are given the toxic drug ribavirin at very high doses as a last resort. The market for therapeutics for RSV was worth $1.8 billion in 2022 and will reach $8.73 billion by 2031 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.9% during the forecast period, according to a recent report from Growth Plus Therapeutics. Note that there were no real treatments, only one protective antibody, Synagis, available in 2022. The therapeutic used for treating RSV is Ribavirin, a highly toxic compound also used as a therapy for hepatitis C. However, Ribavirin carries with it some severe side effects, including the destruction of red blood cells, leading to liver, kidney and spleen toxicities and failures – which limit its use to patients with a high risk of progressively severe RSV. The primary concerning side effect of Ribavirin is anemia, a decrease in red blood cells that can cause a drop in hemoglobin. Ribavirin-induced anemia can manifest within two weeks of starting the therapy and can get worse as the drug dosage increases. NanoViricides Treatment For RSV NanoViricides (NYSE American: NNVC), a leading developer of antiviral treatments through its nanomedicines platform, is developing a safe and effective alternative therapeutic for RSV. Its drug candidate, NV-387, has already been shown to not have the toxicity or side effects associated with Ribavirin, according to the company. It reports that in the recent pre-clinical animal study, NV-387 almost matched the efficacy of Ribavirin with no toxicity. This animal study was designed to mimic the lethal lung pneumonia in infants caused by RSV infection. Importantly, NV-387 is already in phase 1 human clinical trials as the active ingredient in the company’s COVID drug candidate NV-CoV-2. The company has just reported that it was found to be completely safe, with no side effects found to date, in this continuing phase 1 Study. For this reason, the company anticipates soon being able to advance NV-387 to a phase 2 human clinical trial against RSV. If the results of animal studies are replicated in humans, this nanoviricides drug could become truly a game-changer in the treatment of RSV infections. Learn more about NanoViricides’ NV-387 antiviral here. About NanoViricides NanoViricides, Inc. (the "Company") (www.nanoviricides.com) is a development stage company that is creating special purpose nanomaterials for antiviral therapy. The Company's novel nanoviricide® class of drug candidates are designed to specifically attack enveloped virus particles and to dismantle them. Our lead drug candidate is NV-HHV-101 with its first indication as dermal topical cream for the treatment of shingles rash. In addition, we are developing a clinical candidate for the treatment of COVID-19 disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The Company cannot project an exact date for filing an IND for this drug because of its dependence on a number of external collaborators and consultants.The Company is now working on tasks for completing an IND application. The Company is currently pursuing two separate drug candidates for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. NV-CoV-2 is our nanoviricide drug candidate that does not encapsulate Remdesivir. NV-CoV-2-R is our other drug candidate that is made up of NV-CoV-2 with Remdesivir encapsulated in it. The Company believes that since Remdesivir is already US FDA approved, our drug candidate encapsulating Remdesivir is likely to be an approvable drug, if safety is comparable. Remdesivir is developed by Gilead. The Company has developed both of its own drug candidates NV-CoV-2 and NV-CoV-2-R independently.The Company intends to re-engage into an IND application to the US FDA for NV-HHV-101 drug candidate for the treatment of shingles once its COVID-19 project moves into clinical trials, based on resources availability. The NV-HHV-101 program was slowed down because of the effects of recent COVID-19 restrictions, and re-prioritization for COVID-19 drug development work.The Company is also developing drugs against a number of viral diseases including oral and genital Herpes, viral diseases of the eye including EKC and herpes keratitis, H1N1 swine flu, H5N1 bird flu, seasonal Influenza, HIV, Hepatitis C, Rabies, Dengue fever, and Ebola virus, among others. NanoViricides' platform technology and programs are based on the TheraCour® nanomedicine technology of TheraCour, which TheraCour licenses from AllExcel. NanoViricides holds a worldwide exclusive perpetual license to this technology for several drugs with specific targeting mechanisms in perpetuity for the treatment of the following human viral diseases: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV/AIDS), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), Rabies, Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV-1 and HSV-2), Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV), Influenza and Asian Bird Flu Virus, Dengue viruses, Japanese Encephalitis virus, West Nile Virus, Ebola/Marburg viruses, and certain Coronaviruses. The Company intends to obtain a license for poxviruses if the initial research is successful. The Company's technology is based on broad, exclusive, sub-licensable, field licenses to drugs developed in these areas from TheraCour Pharma, Inc. The Company's business model is based on licensing technology from TheraCour Pharma Inc. for specific application verticals of specific viruses, as established at its foundation in 2005. This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice. Contact Details NanoViricides, Inc. +1 203-937-6137 info@nanoviricides.com Company Website http://www.nanoviricides.com

September 27, 2023 08:45 AM Eastern Daylight Time

1 ... 5253545556 ... 266