• warfarin, 33%
• insulins, 14%
• oral antiplatelet agents, 13%
• oral hypoglycemic agents, 11%

If you listen to people discuss mobile health and digital health, they are talking about the same thing. But it’s not just about semantics. It’s around mindset. People aren’t investing in or creating products that make great iPhone apps, they’re primarily seeking the best solutions to leverage data for everything from genomics to telemedicine. All of those will eventually have an app-based solution (or they may begin there), but the aim is to leverage all things D (as in data and digital).

PGXL’s PerMIT software, currently headed into clinical trials, is designed to help physicians properly dose warfarin patients, speeding (we think, the trials will tell) the time to optimal INR and reducing the risk of bleeding. We developed PerMIT as a web-based technology, but what is clear now is that adopting it for mobile is going to be mandatory before going to market.

Chris Seper at MedCityNews favors bundling “mobile” under the digital umbrella, and we’re on board with that. PerMIT is becoming a website, an app, a module that can be plugged into third-party EMR software. The key is to ease physicians’ adoption of genetic information into real-world medical practice. Since it matters not what platform transmits the guidance, “digital” is the way to think about it.

“The successful development and commercialization of this diagnostic test has the possibility to change the way pediatric sleep medicine is practiced globally,” says Dr. Roland Valdes, Jr., chairman of PGXL. “It will make life easier for parents who have children suspected of having sleep apnea. Our goal is to demonstrate how our innovative technology can deliver superior clinical and financial outcomes to payors, parents, physicians, and hospitals.”

For additional information, click here.

Warfarin (aka Coumadin_©) thins blood by reducing the liver’s ability to produce blood-clotting proteins. Fluctuations in Vitamin K in the diet can increase or decrease the effect of warfarin, putting patients at risk of stroke or internal bleeding.

The Vitamin K app provides information about foods and how they are rated for Vitamin K content based on preparation and serving sizes. This is provided as a means to assist in deciding which foods to eat if you are using blood thinning medications such as Coumadin or warfarin. Foods are rated from EXTREMELY LOW to EXTREMELY HIGH in Vitamin K.

It is available for iPhone and iPad.

“The FDA approval of Zelboraf marks a major step forward in personalizing the treatment of metastatic melanoma, a devastating disease that until this year had limited approved treatment options,” said Hal Barron, M.D., chief medical officer and head, Global Product Development. “We will continue to study this medicine with a goal of further improving outcomes for people with melanoma and other cancers that are driven by BRAF mutations.”

PGXL provides BRAF genotyping on a 3 – 5 day turnaround.

The development of PM makes clinical laboratories the central providers of patient-specific, actionable information that will guide physicians and other healthcare providers…The truth is that the practice of medicine has always been “personal” in that physicians treat individuals based on signs, symptoms and other diagnostic information obtained for that individual. What has revolutionized the concept of PM is the rapid process of taking medical discoveries from bench to bedside at a rate not previously experienced. All indications are that the services provided by clinical laboratories are central to the rapid evolution of that process.

Read the whole article here.

Along with more space, we’re also adding capabilities. Our techs have been out to California for training and are now up-to-speed on the AutoGenomics Infiniti. The first new assay being validated on the Infiniti is BRAF for colorectal cancer. We’re also migrating some of our exiting tests over to the new platform, which gives us greater flexibility in what we can offer our clients.

The new devices are part of partnership with AutoGenomics that you can read about atYahoo! Finance.

“Not only will the success of the company benefit thousands of patients, but it also will create new employment opportunities and economic impact,” according to Dr. James Ramsey, UL Foundation President.

Press release here.

SK Life Sciences is a subsidiary of SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.

Press release here.

“Personalized medicine is growing astronomically,” says Dr. Roland Valdes, Jr., PGXL’s President. “We’re ahead of that growth curve and we intend to stay there. Our clients need never worry about our ability to support their success.”