iCardiac Joins Prominent Health-Care Policy Organization
Rochester, New York – June 12, 2008 – iCardiac Technologies, Inc., a leader in advanced cardiac safety analysis and biomarker development, today announced it has joined the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, a non-profit organization advocating public policy that promotes medical progress and patient-centered care.
“Through the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest,” said iCardiac Executive Vice President Sasha Latypova, “we intend to advocate improvements to current cardiac safety practices and regulations that will make drugs safer, more effective and less costly to develop.”
Cardiac safety today represents a major hurdle in the development of safe and cost-effective drugs. In addition to posing regulatory concerns that may cause drugs to be terminated or delayed, cardiac safety also is one of the leading causes for drugs being withdrawn from the market.
It has been estimated that as many as 86% of all new chemical entities (NCEs) tested in pharmaceutical development show hERG inhibitory activity, which indicates a potential to prolong the heart’s ventricular repolarization process – the brief period of time between two heart beats which is known to be a vulnerable point for arrhythmia induction. According to The Scientist, 7 percent of annual U.S. drug expenditures are spent on treatments that trigger adverse responses, leading to more than $50 billion in additional health-care expense.
The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest seeks to promote a systematic discussion of the link between advancing technology and personalized medicine. Its partnerships include several leading companies and organizations, including BG Medicine, C-Path Institute, Genomas, Inc., National Minority Quality Forum, and the Alliance for Aging Research. Board members and advisers to its various initiatives in this area include healthcare thought leaders such as former FDA commissioner Mark McClellan, MD.
About iCardiac Technologies, Inc.
iCardiac Technologies, Inc. develops and implements advanced ECG-based cardiac safety biomarkers. iCardiac’s advanced ECG-based cardiac safety analysis service stems from more than 30 years of research at the University of Rochester, a leading institution for the study of ventricular arrhythmias and cardiac repolarization. iCardiac’s analysis service provides drug developers with more precise and cost-effective methods for QT interval measurement. At the same time, it provides a suite of advanced ECG-based cardiac safety tools that deliver more insight for determining the cardiac risk profile of drugs in development. For more information, visit: www.icardiac.com.
