Health + Wellness
cleveland: the anatomy of a dealmaking community
In the latest issue of The Deal, Cleveland earns major real estate and attention for its remarkably robust deal-making environment. In a multi-feature special report titled: The Anatomy of a Dealmaking Community, numerous Cleveland companies get major props.
The magazine poses the rhetorical question: "How do deals get done in America?" And answers it with: "This once-powerful industrial center boasts a vibrant network of advisers and investors. This is how it works."
Key points mentioned:
* Cleveland's dealmaking community is surprisingly large and self-sufficient, with an array of both national and regional players.
* There are 21 private equity shops here, which means Cleveland ranks perhaps fifth nationally.
* Several big corporations maintain corporate headquarters here, including Eaton, Sherwin-Williams and Parker Hannifin.
Miller writes: Cleveland is a stellar example of how most deals get done in America. For all its troubles, the city remains the vibrant center of a regional network, with national and international outgrowths, consisting of banks, nonbank lenders, accounting and law firms, private equity shops, some venture capital.
Cleveland's private equity scene has 21 entries, which means the city ranks perhaps fifth nationally, behind New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston. Cleveland's private equity heft far outweighs the local business scene. Riverside heads the list, but the lineup also includes nationally known shops such as Blue Point Capital Partners, Linsalata Capital Partners Inc., Kirtland Capital Partners, Primus Capital Funds and Key Principal Partners Corp.
Other articles in the package deal with Cleveland venture capital firms generally and specifically, as with its coverage of Candlewood Partners LLC.
Read the special report here.
The magazine poses the rhetorical question: "How do deals get done in America?" And answers it with: "This once-powerful industrial center boasts a vibrant network of advisers and investors. This is how it works."
Key points mentioned:
* Cleveland's dealmaking community is surprisingly large and self-sufficient, with an array of both national and regional players.
* There are 21 private equity shops here, which means Cleveland ranks perhaps fifth nationally.
* Several big corporations maintain corporate headquarters here, including Eaton, Sherwin-Williams and Parker Hannifin.
Miller writes: Cleveland is a stellar example of how most deals get done in America. For all its troubles, the city remains the vibrant center of a regional network, with national and international outgrowths, consisting of banks, nonbank lenders, accounting and law firms, private equity shops, some venture capital.
Cleveland's private equity scene has 21 entries, which means the city ranks perhaps fifth nationally, behind New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston. Cleveland's private equity heft far outweighs the local business scene. Riverside heads the list, but the lineup also includes nationally known shops such as Blue Point Capital Partners, Linsalata Capital Partners Inc., Kirtland Capital Partners, Primus Capital Funds and Key Principal Partners Corp.
Other articles in the package deal with Cleveland venture capital firms generally and specifically, as with its coverage of Candlewood Partners LLC.
Read the special report here.
Cleveland's slow but steady transformation from national leader in job
loss and foreclosures to national model for urban farming took another
major step forward last week in the Kinsman neighborhood. That's where
federal, state and city officials introduced the Cleveland Urban
Agriculture Incubator Pilot Project.
Six acres of land at East 83rd and Gill, donated from the City Land Bank, will be turned into a farm, thanks to $100,000 grants from the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the City of Cleveland, and $740,000 from the Ohio State University Extension, via the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It's the first urban farm to receive funding through the USDA's Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, now in its second year.
The goals of the incubator are to promote entrepreneurship and access to fresh produce in an area that sorely needs both. If successful, the model will be replicated in other neighborhoods.
The OSU Extension will use half an acre of the land to train aspiring farmers. The remaining land will be leased in quarter-acre plots, beginning next spring.
The project grew in part out of the Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone established by Burten, Bell, Carter Development, Inc., which serves the area, according to BBC programs manager Sherita Mullins. BBC will recruit farmers from the community.
The state funds come from Gov. Strickland's Ohio Neighborhood Harvest initiative, which seeks to bring produce to the "food deserts" found in many low-income urban communities, and to boost local economies. Currently only about 3 percent of the estimated $43 billion that Ohioans spend on food annually goes to Ohio farms.
Source: Burten Bell Carter Development
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
Six acres of land at East 83rd and Gill, donated from the City Land Bank, will be turned into a farm, thanks to $100,000 grants from the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the City of Cleveland, and $740,000 from the Ohio State University Extension, via the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It's the first urban farm to receive funding through the USDA's Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, now in its second year.
The goals of the incubator are to promote entrepreneurship and access to fresh produce in an area that sorely needs both. If successful, the model will be replicated in other neighborhoods.
The OSU Extension will use half an acre of the land to train aspiring farmers. The remaining land will be leased in quarter-acre plots, beginning next spring.
The project grew in part out of the Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone established by Burten, Bell, Carter Development, Inc., which serves the area, according to BBC programs manager Sherita Mullins. BBC will recruit farmers from the community.
The state funds come from Gov. Strickland's Ohio Neighborhood Harvest initiative, which seeks to bring produce to the "food deserts" found in many low-income urban communities, and to boost local economies. Currently only about 3 percent of the estimated $43 billion that Ohioans spend on food annually goes to Ohio farms.
Source: Burten Bell Carter Development
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
The Cleveland Clinic's Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center continues to attract new companies and jobs to the region. One of those snags is Farm Design, a medical product development firm that wanted so badly to be in Cleveland, they made the trip from Boston.
JumpStart invests $250K in its 50th company
Cleveland's JumpStart Ventures just reached an important milestone: The early-stage venture company recently invested in its 50th company.
That move consisted of a $250,000 investment commitment in Endotronix, Inc., which is developing a wireless monitoring technology for patients with congestive heart failure. Endotronix's "Anytime, Anywhere" wireless sensing platform technology will allow physicians to remotely monitor a patient's health status and deliver the appropriate medications, thus reducing the likelihood of hospitalizations related to congestive heart failure.
According to Dr. Harry Rowland, co-founder of Endotronix, this innovation "has the potential to not only improve patient care, but also reduce the cost of treating heart failure."
Six years into its existence, JumpStart works to add companies, jobs and residents to Northeast Ohio by offering cash and guidance to promising ventures. While just a number, the big 5-0 is a testament to the number of quality ideas and passion in this region. Many of those ideas will develop into high-growth companies that will prove to be a significant part of this region's economic environment.
But, promise staffers, 50 is just the beginning.
That move consisted of a $250,000 investment commitment in Endotronix, Inc., which is developing a wireless monitoring technology for patients with congestive heart failure. Endotronix's "Anytime, Anywhere" wireless sensing platform technology will allow physicians to remotely monitor a patient's health status and deliver the appropriate medications, thus reducing the likelihood of hospitalizations related to congestive heart failure.
According to Dr. Harry Rowland, co-founder of Endotronix, this innovation "has the potential to not only improve patient care, but also reduce the cost of treating heart failure."
Six years into its existence, JumpStart works to add companies, jobs and residents to Northeast Ohio by offering cash and guidance to promising ventures. While just a number, the big 5-0 is a testament to the number of quality ideas and passion in this region. Many of those ideas will develop into high-growth companies that will prove to be a significant part of this region's economic environment.
But, promise staffers, 50 is just the beginning.
"Restoring Properties, Rebuilding Communities," a new report from the Center for Community Progress, cites a Cleveland-based grassroots program as an example for other cities also struggling with widespread property vacancy.
The report, released at the start of last week's national Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference in Cleveland, outlines the longstanding problem, exacerbated in recent years by foreclosures and the recession: Across the country, from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt, homeowner, rental, commercial and industrial vacancy rates are at their highest levels in decades, and still rising. In some places years of progress is coming undone.
But the report also examines some promising approaches, including Cleveland's "neighborhood stabilization team." Representatives from Neighborhood Progress Inc., Case Western Reserve University and ESOP (Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People) meet regularly with counterparts from 14 community development corporations to share information and coordinate plans.
Neighborhood Progress brings 20 years of experience in community investment and land reuse. ESOP's foreclosure prevention assistance program has become a national model. Case's Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development maintains the NEO CANDO data base, which stores a wide range of data on neighborhoods throughout Northeast Ohio. Combined they provide an invaluable array of resources for the CDCs on the front lines.
"The effort is a comprehensive approach," the report explains, "aimed at both ends of the stabilization challenge – preventing abandonment … and converting abandoned properties for productive use."
"Many cities now recognize that they will not return to their one-time peak populations, nor to their history as manufacturing centers," the report states. "This admission has fundamentally changed how they think about themselves and their future; it has unleashed … a host of creative initiatives that challenge the traditional ideas of city planning and open the door to a new way of thinking about these cities."
Source: Center for Community Progress
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
The report, released at the start of last week's national Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference in Cleveland, outlines the longstanding problem, exacerbated in recent years by foreclosures and the recession: Across the country, from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt, homeowner, rental, commercial and industrial vacancy rates are at their highest levels in decades, and still rising. In some places years of progress is coming undone.
But the report also examines some promising approaches, including Cleveland's "neighborhood stabilization team." Representatives from Neighborhood Progress Inc., Case Western Reserve University and ESOP (Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People) meet regularly with counterparts from 14 community development corporations to share information and coordinate plans.
Neighborhood Progress brings 20 years of experience in community investment and land reuse. ESOP's foreclosure prevention assistance program has become a national model. Case's Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development maintains the NEO CANDO data base, which stores a wide range of data on neighborhoods throughout Northeast Ohio. Combined they provide an invaluable array of resources for the CDCs on the front lines.
"The effort is a comprehensive approach," the report explains, "aimed at both ends of the stabilization challenge – preventing abandonment … and converting abandoned properties for productive use."
"Many cities now recognize that they will not return to their one-time peak populations, nor to their history as manufacturing centers," the report states. "This admission has fundamentally changed how they think about themselves and their future; it has unleashed … a host of creative initiatives that challenge the traditional ideas of city planning and open the door to a new way of thinking about these cities."
Source: Center for Community Progress
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
City governments often get a bad rap. Cleveland's government is
especially vulnerable to dismissal, what with that lingering "mistake
on the lake" thing. But some informed government watchers — at Harvard,
no less — like what they see, at least in terms of the city's
willingness to cooperate with communities in building a better future.
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, recently recognized the Strategic Investment Initiative (SSI) — a partnership between the non-profit Neighborhood Progress Inc. and the City of Cleveland — as a "Bright Idea." The newly created Bright Ideas program "is designed to recognize and share creative government initiatives around the country with interested public sector, nonprofit, and academic communities."
"My understanding is that this [honor] is fairly unusual," says Walter Wright, Neighborhood Progress's senior program officer. SSI involves the city, but grew out of Neighborhood Progress's work with community development corporations. Today it includes the CDCs in Buckeye, Detroit Shoreway, Ohio City, Slavic Village and five other communities. Neighborhood Progress describes SSI as "a market-driven approach that incorporates a deeper investment in neighborhood planning, a concentration of resources on larger-scale project investments and the introduction of more comprehensive strategies to improving quality of life through green spaces, public art, and neighborhood stabilization strategies."
The Bright Idea designation is "basically an honorific," Wright says. But he welcomes the opportunity to discuss the SSI model with like-minded folks from around the country who will learn of it thanks to the nod from Harvard.
Source: Neighborhood Progress Inc.
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, recently recognized the Strategic Investment Initiative (SSI) — a partnership between the non-profit Neighborhood Progress Inc. and the City of Cleveland — as a "Bright Idea." The newly created Bright Ideas program "is designed to recognize and share creative government initiatives around the country with interested public sector, nonprofit, and academic communities."
"My understanding is that this [honor] is fairly unusual," says Walter Wright, Neighborhood Progress's senior program officer. SSI involves the city, but grew out of Neighborhood Progress's work with community development corporations. Today it includes the CDCs in Buckeye, Detroit Shoreway, Ohio City, Slavic Village and five other communities. Neighborhood Progress describes SSI as "a market-driven approach that incorporates a deeper investment in neighborhood planning, a concentration of resources on larger-scale project investments and the introduction of more comprehensive strategies to improving quality of life through green spaces, public art, and neighborhood stabilization strategies."
The Bright Idea designation is "basically an honorific," Wright says. But he welcomes the opportunity to discuss the SSI model with like-minded folks from around the country who will learn of it thanks to the nod from Harvard.
Source: Neighborhood Progress Inc.
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
cleveland-based rsb spine boasts whopping 229% year-over-year growth
Earlier this month, Cleveland-based RSB Spine announced a 229-percent increase for the third quarter of 2010 versus the third quarter of a year earlier. The medical device company also recently completed a $1.5 million private offering to grow its operations in the United States.
RSB Spine's InterPlate C-Ti has become the first inter-body fusion device to be cleared as an anterior cervical plate. The device is implanted during spinal fusion surgery, holding the vertebrae together while increasing stability. The clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) means that the C-Ti can function either as an inter-body device or as a cervical plate.
"[The InterPlate C-Ti] has the advantages of both without the drawbacks of either, so this indication is appropriate," says RSB Spine CEO John A. Redmond.
The InterPlate C-Ti is made of titanium and is used in conjunction with grafting material to fuse two vertebral bodies. When the FDA reclassified inter-body fusion devices in 2007, the C-Ti from RSB Spine was the first device to receive clearance under the new guidelines. With this new clearance, the C-Ti shows its versatility in the treatment of degenerative disc disease.
RSB Spine has more than 150 independent distributors in the United States.
Source: John A. Redmond
Writer: Diane DiPiero
RSB Spine's InterPlate C-Ti has become the first inter-body fusion device to be cleared as an anterior cervical plate. The device is implanted during spinal fusion surgery, holding the vertebrae together while increasing stability. The clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) means that the C-Ti can function either as an inter-body device or as a cervical plate.
"[The InterPlate C-Ti] has the advantages of both without the drawbacks of either, so this indication is appropriate," says RSB Spine CEO John A. Redmond.
The InterPlate C-Ti is made of titanium and is used in conjunction with grafting material to fuse two vertebral bodies. When the FDA reclassified inter-body fusion devices in 2007, the C-Ti from RSB Spine was the first device to receive clearance under the new guidelines. With this new clearance, the C-Ti shows its versatility in the treatment of degenerative disc disease.
RSB Spine has more than 150 independent distributors in the United States.
Source: John A. Redmond
Writer: Diane DiPiero
pittsburgh's pop city spreads the word about fresh water
In last week's issue of Pop City (yes, it's a sister IMG publication), writer Deb Smit reported on our dear publication.
"Fresh Water launches this month with the goods on Cleveland, news as it pertains to innovation, jobs, healthcare, lifestyle, design and arts and culture," she writes." The bubbly, blue homepage comes to life each Thursday with a fresh issue featuring vibrant photography and stories on the people shaking things up and the great places to visit."
Smit even encourages smitten Pittsburghers to subscribe. Thanks, Pop City!
Read all the news that's fit to pop here.
"Fresh Water launches this month with the goods on Cleveland, news as it pertains to innovation, jobs, healthcare, lifestyle, design and arts and culture," she writes." The bubbly, blue homepage comes to life each Thursday with a fresh issue featuring vibrant photography and stories on the people shaking things up and the great places to visit."
Smit even encourages smitten Pittsburghers to subscribe. Thanks, Pop City!
Read all the news that's fit to pop here.
With just six miles remaining, and following a route that was created some 177 years ago, the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail finally is nearing completion. Terminating at the Flats' new Canal Basin Park, the Towpath Trail will connect cyclists and pedestrians to Cleveland's historic neighborhoods. And when it comes to attracting the highly mobile talent class, access to bike paths is no longer an amenity -- it's a necessity
dynamic duo chosen as finalist in bloomberg's 'america's best young entrepreneurs'
Bloomberg Businessweek really, really likes what local medical device whiz kids Rick Arlow and Zach Bloom are up to. First came inclusion for Arlow in the pub's "25 most impressive young entrepreneurs under the age of 25." Next up for the dynamic duo was a slot as dual finalist in "America's Best Young Entrepreneurs."
Arlow and Bloom are recent grads of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., and Arlow currently is a medical student at Case Western Reserve University. The pair's medical device company LifeServe Innovations developed a tool that provides emergency medical technicians (EMTs) with a better, faster way to establish emergency airway access than the conventional cut-and-tube method.
The pair's Bloomberg entry reads: "Their device, based on the design of a viper's fang, is intended to open airways via minimally invasive procedures that can be performed in 60 seconds or less, compared to 10 to 15 minutes for a comparably effective surgical procedure."
Read the rest right here.
Arlow and Bloom are recent grads of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., and Arlow currently is a medical student at Case Western Reserve University. The pair's medical device company LifeServe Innovations developed a tool that provides emergency medical technicians (EMTs) with a better, faster way to establish emergency airway access than the conventional cut-and-tube method.
The pair's Bloomberg entry reads: "Their device, based on the design of a viper's fang, is intended to open airways via minimally invasive procedures that can be performed in 60 seconds or less, compared to 10 to 15 minutes for a comparably effective surgical procedure."
Read the rest right here.
Bad news first: The county's long-planned Medical Mart and convention
center will cost more than promised — about $40 million more, and
developer MMPI is only picking up a small portion of that. But the good
news is that MMPI also has in hand letters of intent from companies and
organizations that hope to use the facility when it's completed.
Attorney Jeff Applebaum, who negotiates for the county with MMPI, revealed these facts in a presentation to the county commissioners last week. According to Applebaum, as of Sept. 19, 37 medical companies had signed on to display their products to the doctors and healthcare professionals who are expected to visit the medmart. Assuming they follow through, companies combined would occupy 80,000 of the 90,000 square feet of showroom space. MMPI also has preliminary deals with the organizers of eight conferences and eight trade shows, Applebaum reported.
The new estimated price, $465 million, is $40 million higher than previously disclosed totals — despite the fact that the latest designs reflect a smaller facility. According to the Plain Dealer, the cost rose after a consultant advised improving the ballroom by raising the ceiling and removing sight-obstructing columns, and building a separate entrance for food service.
MMPI will kick in $8.5 million of the additional costs, according to the Plain Dealer, and the rest will be covered by a $50 million contingency fund — the existence of which was itself a surprise. The county will cobble together the rest from the existing .25-percent additional sales tax, a 1-percent hotel bed tax and, as County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones told WKSU, by "clawing back $1 million from Positively Cleveland," the tourism marketing bureau.
Last week the City Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the plans. Groundbreaking is expected this fall.
Source: Cuyahoga County Planning Commission blog
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
Attorney Jeff Applebaum, who negotiates for the county with MMPI, revealed these facts in a presentation to the county commissioners last week. According to Applebaum, as of Sept. 19, 37 medical companies had signed on to display their products to the doctors and healthcare professionals who are expected to visit the medmart. Assuming they follow through, companies combined would occupy 80,000 of the 90,000 square feet of showroom space. MMPI also has preliminary deals with the organizers of eight conferences and eight trade shows, Applebaum reported.
The new estimated price, $465 million, is $40 million higher than previously disclosed totals — despite the fact that the latest designs reflect a smaller facility. According to the Plain Dealer, the cost rose after a consultant advised improving the ballroom by raising the ceiling and removing sight-obstructing columns, and building a separate entrance for food service.
MMPI will kick in $8.5 million of the additional costs, according to the Plain Dealer, and the rest will be covered by a $50 million contingency fund — the existence of which was itself a surprise. The county will cobble together the rest from the existing .25-percent additional sales tax, a 1-percent hotel bed tax and, as County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones told WKSU, by "clawing back $1 million from Positively Cleveland," the tourism marketing bureau.
Last week the City Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the plans. Groundbreaking is expected this fall.
Source: Cuyahoga County Planning Commission blog
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
cleveland's pediacath snags $500k to develop first line of pediatric catheters
You would think that something as vital as a cardiac catheter designed specifically for children would have been on the market years ago. Sad truth is, a lack of financial incentives previously prevented such a device from being produced.
"There aren't many players in the pediatric medical device space because there isn't huge cash-out potential," explains Tim Moran, founder of Cleveland-based nonprofit PediaWorks. The issue, he notes, is simply a matter of market share. Whereas the adult medical device market caters to patients aged 18 to, well, death, the pediatric market stretches only from birth to 18. "And people in that younger age group are, thankfully, relatively healthy."
The out-and-out lack of medical devices designed for young patients often leaves practitioners scrambling for suitable off-label replacements. In fact, there are relatively few devices that are FDA-approved for pediatrics. The associated problems can range from pain and discomfort, as in the case of an ill-fitting airway mask, to matters of life and death, illustrated by the absence of pediatric pacemakers.
Thanks to a new joint venture between PediaWorks and Medikit, a manufacturer of interventional cardiology products headquartered in Japan, Cleveland will serve as new headquarters for PediaCath, the first developer of pediatric catheters.
In addition to the use of its rapid prototyping facilities and top-notch R&D engineers, Medikit is kicking in $500,000 in seed funding. PediaWorks will be providing executive management services and access to a network of pediatric clinical advisors and research partners. The Cleveland Clinic is also involved in the project.
PediaWorks was formed in 2009 as a nonprofit organization to help children through the development of medical devices.
"There aren't many players in the pediatric medical device space because there isn't huge cash-out potential," explains Tim Moran, founder of Cleveland-based nonprofit PediaWorks. The issue, he notes, is simply a matter of market share. Whereas the adult medical device market caters to patients aged 18 to, well, death, the pediatric market stretches only from birth to 18. "And people in that younger age group are, thankfully, relatively healthy."
The out-and-out lack of medical devices designed for young patients often leaves practitioners scrambling for suitable off-label replacements. In fact, there are relatively few devices that are FDA-approved for pediatrics. The associated problems can range from pain and discomfort, as in the case of an ill-fitting airway mask, to matters of life and death, illustrated by the absence of pediatric pacemakers.
Thanks to a new joint venture between PediaWorks and Medikit, a manufacturer of interventional cardiology products headquartered in Japan, Cleveland will serve as new headquarters for PediaCath, the first developer of pediatric catheters.
In addition to the use of its rapid prototyping facilities and top-notch R&D engineers, Medikit is kicking in $500,000 in seed funding. PediaWorks will be providing executive management services and access to a network of pediatric clinical advisors and research partners. The Cleveland Clinic is also involved in the project.
PediaWorks was formed in 2009 as a nonprofit organization to help children through the development of medical devices.
SOURCE: PediaWorks
WRITER: Diane DiPiero
rawlings and cleveland clinic team up for sports research
The Associated Press outlines a new collaboration between the Cleveland Clinic and helmet-maker Rawlings to conduct research on concussions and other sports-related head and neck injuries that could include measuring the impact on the brain.
Doctors and scientists from the clinic's Neurological Institute and its Spine Research Laboratory will use equipment manufactured and donated by Rawlings to do research on helmets and other protective accessories used in both baseball and football. They will measure the equipment's ability to minimize impacts and will seek ways to assess the amount of injury to the brain, both initially and over time.
The Cleveland Clinic research team is led by Spine Research Laboratory director Lars Gilbertson, who says "concussion has become a signature injury of sports in this new millennium." The studies will try to determine the effects of single and multiple impacts to the heads of athletes and how to reduce those injuries through protective equipment.
Read the entire article here.
Doctors and scientists from the clinic's Neurological Institute and its Spine Research Laboratory will use equipment manufactured and donated by Rawlings to do research on helmets and other protective accessories used in both baseball and football. They will measure the equipment's ability to minimize impacts and will seek ways to assess the amount of injury to the brain, both initially and over time.
The Cleveland Clinic research team is led by Spine Research Laboratory director Lars Gilbertson, who says "concussion has become a signature injury of sports in this new millennium." The studies will try to determine the effects of single and multiple impacts to the heads of athletes and how to reduce those injuries through protective equipment.
Read the entire article here.
stem-cell therapy from athersys shows promise in brain injuries and heart attacks
The October issue of the journal Experimental Neurology reports
on a study showing that MultiStem, a patented adult stem cell therapy
product from Cleveland-based biopharmaceutical firm Athersys Inc., mitigated the damage of traumatic brain injuries in lab experiments.
MultiStem uses multipotent adult progenitor cells, or MAPC, which "are obtained from the bone marrow or other tissue sources of healthy, consenting adult donors," according to an Athersys release. In an abstract of the study, the researchers explain, "Traumatic brain injury causes … an increase in circulating immune cells leading to increased blood brain barrier permeability. The intravenous injection of MAPC preserves … the integrity of the blood brain barrier."
As an unrelated 2007 Science Daily article explained, "The cells that make up the blood-brain barrier help the brain and immune system communicate. … Changes to the blood-brain barrier could give important clues about injuries to the central nervous system and the growth of tumors."
MultiStem appears to be an unusually versatile therapy. The same week that the Experimental Neurology report was released,
Athersys presented findings from clinical trials with heart attack patients at Transvascular Cardiovascular Therapeutics Conference in Washington, D.C. That ongoing work involves Dr. Marc Penn, Director of Cardiovascular Cell Therapy at the Cleveland Clinic. Athersys CEO Gil Van Bokkelen notes that while the recent trials were designed primarily to test safety, "we also saw clear and compelling signs that patients were experiencing improvement in heart function."
Van Bokkelen says Athersys and its many partners, including Pfizer, are excited about the potential of MultiStem as a "very powerful multifactor delivery system" that can treat a wide variety of patients.
Source: Athersys
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
MultiStem uses multipotent adult progenitor cells, or MAPC, which "are obtained from the bone marrow or other tissue sources of healthy, consenting adult donors," according to an Athersys release. In an abstract of the study, the researchers explain, "Traumatic brain injury causes … an increase in circulating immune cells leading to increased blood brain barrier permeability. The intravenous injection of MAPC preserves … the integrity of the blood brain barrier."
As an unrelated 2007 Science Daily article explained, "The cells that make up the blood-brain barrier help the brain and immune system communicate. … Changes to the blood-brain barrier could give important clues about injuries to the central nervous system and the growth of tumors."
MultiStem appears to be an unusually versatile therapy. The same week that the Experimental Neurology report was released,
Athersys presented findings from clinical trials with heart attack patients at Transvascular Cardiovascular Therapeutics Conference in Washington, D.C. That ongoing work involves Dr. Marc Penn, Director of Cardiovascular Cell Therapy at the Cleveland Clinic. Athersys CEO Gil Van Bokkelen notes that while the recent trials were designed primarily to test safety, "we also saw clear and compelling signs that patients were experiencing improvement in heart function."
Van Bokkelen says Athersys and its many partners, including Pfizer, are excited about the potential of MultiStem as a "very powerful multifactor delivery system" that can treat a wide variety of patients.
Source: Athersys
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
cervilenz inc. offers another tool for doctors and pregnant women
Five months after the commercial launch of its medical device, CerviLenz Inc. of Chagrin Falls is ramping up for a national marketing push in the third quarter.
The wand-like CerviLenz measures the vaginal cervical length of pregnant women showing signs of preterm labor. In August, Ob.Gyn. News reported that in a study involving 52 women, CerviLenz was "similar in efficacy" to another widely used test that, unlike a CerviLenz test, requires lab work.
"Immediate and quantifiable measures of cervical length using the CerviLenz probe may be less variable than the most common way of measuring — by digital exam — and speedier than waiting for fetal fibronectin [test] results," according to Ob.Gyn. News.
The device helps reduce the guesswork in treatment: The article notes that only 21-27 percent of women with symptoms of preterm labor will actually deliver prematurely. And, "In asymptomatic women, cervical length shorter than 25 mm has been linked to a sixfold increase in risk for preterm birth."
About 25 hospitals are currently evaluating the product. "The hospital purchasing process is really complicated," with multiple rounds of testing, says Melanie Sweeney, CerviLenz Inc.'s director of marketing. But the company should soon start receiving the feedback it will need for a major sales push.
CerviLenz Inc.'s backers include Cleveland-based JumpStart Inc., North Coast Angel Fund of Mayfield Heights and Chrysalis Ventures, which has a Cleveland office.
Source: CerviLenz Inc.
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
The wand-like CerviLenz measures the vaginal cervical length of pregnant women showing signs of preterm labor. In August, Ob.Gyn. News reported that in a study involving 52 women, CerviLenz was "similar in efficacy" to another widely used test that, unlike a CerviLenz test, requires lab work.
"Immediate and quantifiable measures of cervical length using the CerviLenz probe may be less variable than the most common way of measuring — by digital exam — and speedier than waiting for fetal fibronectin [test] results," according to Ob.Gyn. News.
The device helps reduce the guesswork in treatment: The article notes that only 21-27 percent of women with symptoms of preterm labor will actually deliver prematurely. And, "In asymptomatic women, cervical length shorter than 25 mm has been linked to a sixfold increase in risk for preterm birth."
About 25 hospitals are currently evaluating the product. "The hospital purchasing process is really complicated," with multiple rounds of testing, says Melanie Sweeney, CerviLenz Inc.'s director of marketing. But the company should soon start receiving the feedback it will need for a major sales push.
CerviLenz Inc.'s backers include Cleveland-based JumpStart Inc., North Coast Angel Fund of Mayfield Heights and Chrysalis Ventures, which has a Cleveland office.
Source: CerviLenz Inc.
Writer: Frank W. Lewis