MOORESTOWN, N.J., Aug. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tabula Rasa
HealthCare, Inc.® (TRHC) (NASDAQ:
TRHC), a leading healthcare technology company advancing the
safe use of medications, and Hesperos Inc., pioneers of
Human-on-a-Chip® in vitro systems, have
been awarded $1.9 million in funding
from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate
drug-induced dementia and develop new models that will drive
Alzheimer's research.
Tabula Rasa, Hesperos awarded NIH grant to investigate drug-induced
dementia, develop new models for Alzheimer's research
Multi-drug intake can lead to adverse drug events (ADEs) and
result in negative health outcomes like drug-induced dementia,
including exacerbation of clinical manifestations of Alzheimer's
disease (a cause of dementia). Medications with certain properties
are known to cause ADEs. When these ADEs are treated with
additional medications, patients' risk for multi-drug interactions
increases.
"The prevalence of ADEs in the U.S. calls for innovative
approaches that identify individuals at increased risk by
considering drug pharmacological properties and conditions
associated with multi-drug interactions," said Jacques Turgeon, BPharm, PhD, TRHC Chief
Scientific Officer and CEO of the TRHC Precision Pharmacotherapy
Research and Development Institute (PPRDI). "This NIH grant brings
together interdisciplinary organizations uniquely positioned for
such research. We are proud the NIH has recognized our technologies
and our expertise on ADEs and how they affect Alzheimer's
disease."
The research will leverage TRHC's
MedWise® technology, which uses advanced
proprietary algorithms to help quantify a patient's risk for ADEs
and assess the impact of certain drug properties as well as
multi-drug interactions. The results will help address which
medications and medication regimens correlate with the greatest
risk of drug-induced dementia, relying on patient data and now
benefiting from Hesperos AD models to better inform the MedWise
technology to enable better predictive capabilities for
patients.
"With further understanding of the causal link between
medications and cognitive decline, we can take a critical step
toward bettering patient outcomes," said Veronique Michaud, BPharm, MSc, PhD, TRHC PPRDI
Chief Operating Officer. "We've demonstrated our strategy to assess
risk through peer-reviewed journal publications, and we look
forward to enhancing it through the NIH grant."
TRHC's technology will work alongside experimental systems from
Hesperos to support new models for Alzheimer's research that
advance predictive measures and ultimately help to reduce risk,
hospitalizations, and medical costs. This grant enables two
established commercial technologies to be combined to enable a new
capability in the fight against Alzheimer's.
"We look forward to collaborating with TRHC for this crucial
project as it builds on our existing collaboration for predicting
cardiac toxicity," said James
Hickman, PhD, Chief Scientist, and co-Founder for
Hesperos.
According to Michael Shuler, PhD,
CEO of Hesperos, "Our Human-on-a-Chip technology will provide
valuable data on drug characteristics, which will help inform
TRHC's algorithms. Together, our technologies will offer a new
approach to Alzheimer's research."
The project will span two years with funding from the NIH's
National Institute on Aging. It will incorporate a study of the
blood-brain-barrier and enzymatic activity, complementing previous
research. To learn more about TRHC and its PPRDI, visit us online
here.
About Tabula Rasa HealthCare
Tabula Rasa HealthCare (TRHC) (NASDAQ: TRHC) provides medication
safety solutions that empower healthcare professionals and
consumers to optimize medication regimens, combatting medication
overload and reducing adverse drug events – the fourth leading
cause of death in the US. TRHC's proprietary technology solutions,
including MedWise®, improve patient
outcomes, reduce hospitalizations, and lower healthcare costs.
TRHC's extensive clinical tele-pharmacy network improves care for
patients nationwide. Its solutions are trusted by health plans and
pharmacies to help drive value-based care. For more information,
visit TRHC.com.
About Hesperos
Hesperos, Inc. is a leader in efforts
to characterize an individual's biology with Human-on-a-Chip
microfluidic systems. Founders Michael L.
Shuler and James J. Hickman
have been at the forefront of every major scientific discovery in
this realm, from individual organ-on-a-chip constructs to fully
functional, interconnected multi-organ systems. With a mission to
revolutionize toxicology testing as well as efficacy evaluation for
drug discovery, the company has created pumpless platforms with
serum-free cellular mediums that allow multi-organ system
communication and integrated computational PKPD modeling of live
physiological responses utilizing functional readouts from neurons,
cardiac, muscle, barrier tissues and neuromuscular junctions as
well as responses from liver, pancreas and barrier tissues. More
information is available at https://hesperosinc.com
Hesperos and Human-on-a-Chip are trademarks of Hesperos Inc.
All other brands may be trademarks of their respective
holders.
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SOURCE Tabula Rasa HealthCare, Inc.