Message #7 From:
NewsBot Date: August 14, 2006 04:00:00 AM
IFMX News University of Texas Places Substantial Order with InforMedix; Med-eMonitor System to Monitor Medication and Care Plan Adherence in 200 Schizophrenic Patients
ROCKVILLE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 14, 2006--InforMedix Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: IFMX), creating a new technology platform that improves medication adherence and enables patients to manage chronic illnesses at home, today announced plans that its patented Med-eMonitor(TM) System will be used to improve the monitoring and care of 200 schizophrenic patients in San Antonio, Texas.
The Company said it has received a commitment for $155,000 of Med-eMonitor Systems and support services for the program, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, which will take place at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, San Antonio, and will be led by Dawn Velligan, Ph.D., an internationally renowned expert on medication adherence in schizophrenia. In a pilot program using the Med-eMonitor, Dr. Velligan improved medication adherence among her schizophrenic patients from a baseline of 52% to over 94%. These results were previously published in Schizophrenia Bulletin, and will be featured in the September 2006 edition of Psychiatric Times (circulated to 39,500 patient-care psychiatrists) along with a picture of the Med-eMonitor. The Med-eMonitor System pilot program results will also be published in a chapter Dr. Velligan is writing for a book on Clinical Practice.
According to Dr. Velligan, "I think the monitor is a significant advance in both monitoring adherence and improving adherence." She added, "Within three months of being discharged from the hospital, schizophrenic patients have a 25% chance of being re-hospitalized and a 10% chance of being incarcerated, primarily due to poor medication adherence. This creates unnecessary suffering for patients and their families, and sizeable costs to our Medicaid System here in Texas and throughout the nation. Our aim is to prevent this with the assistance of the Med-eMonitor System."
The National Institute of Mental Health has estimated that schizophrenia costs the United States about $32.5 billion each year for about 2 million patients with the diagnosis. The majority of direct health costs related to schizophrenia are attributable to hospitalizations. At least half of the relapses can be associated with a lack of compliance with drug therapy. Fifty percent (50%) of schizophrenic patients do not comply with their medications. Relapse rates for patients who took maintenance medication intermittently were about twice those for patients who took medication continuously resulting in a 75 percent rate of relapse for poor compliance and 35 percent for good compliance. Each patient's relapse costs between $10,000 and $26,000 per episode with hospitalization representing around 85 percent to 95 percent of the relapse costs.
According to Dr. Bruce A. Kehr, M.D, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of InforMedix, "We believe the Med-eMonitor can make an enormous difference in improving the quality of life for schizophrenia patients, and dramatically lower the cost of caring for these patients borne by every major health care payor in the United States and around the world. We are very excited to have the most distinguished and committed leadership of Dr. Velligan in supporting the treatment of schizophrenia patient medication adherence, which affects 2,000,000 patients and their families in the United States."
The Med-eMonitor System leverages InforMedix' strong intellectual property consisting of 15 issued patents and 13 patents pending. Previous studies have validated its use in dramatically improving medication and care plan adherence, which results in lowering the cost of care for patients with Diabetes, Congestive Heart Failure, and Schizophrenia.
About InforMedix
InforMedix has developed the Med-eMonitor System as The Medication Adherence Solution for disease management and clinical drug trials markets. InforMedix has integrated a portable patient-interactive monitoring device, hardware, software and networked communications system to enable disease management programs, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and medical researchers to efficiently monitor and manage patients' medication and care plan adherence, clinical response, and drug safety. The Med-eMonitor is specifically designed to improve patient medication compliance and care plan adherence in disease management and clinical drug trials programs. In a recent program for diabetes patients, the Med-eMonitor System improved mean medication adherence rates to over 92% compared to a baseline medication adherence rate of 40%, and also reduced Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels by an average of 18.5% in a 3 month period (p value less than .002). The Med-eMonitor System leverages InforMedix's strong intellectual property consisting of 15 issued patents and 12 patents pending. InforMedix's patents have been cited as prior art by patent examiners in over 150 other issued patents. To find out more about InforMedix, Inc. (OTCBB: IFMX), visit our website at www.informedix.com.
This report contains "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are subject to the safe harbors created thereby. References made to the discussion of the risk factors are detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-KSB for the year ended December 31, 2005, and our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any obligation to update or revise the information contained in any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
