Health

HE A LTH • Fall 2021 7 The partnership will provide advanced infrastructure to ensure life- saving cell therapies go through each step in the manufacturing supply chain, bringing patient safety to the forefront, according to the press release. "Our strategic partnership with Vineti aims to enable our partners' success with faster and simpler opera- tions using a more robust and trace- able control system," said Lykan President and CEO Patrick Lucy. Vineti was co-founded by General Electric and the Mayo Clinic, and focuses on providing solutions to the delivery and commercialization meth- ods of individualized therapies. EmpiraMed's mental health digital treatment chosen for clinical trial EmpiraMed Inc., a digital health technology company in Maynard, was chosen by Happify Health to perform a clinical trial of a digital therapy to treat depression and anxiety. The clinical trial would put the dig- ital therapy under the consideration of U.S. Food & Drug Administration approval. Known as DTx, the digital treatment is the first and only of its kind to treat patients with major depressive disorder or generalized anxiety disorder. EmpiraMed was selected due to a high level of patient engagement, according the statement. Worcester pharmaceutical firm moving HQ to $1.4M North Oxford space Lohxa LLC, a pharmaceutical repackaging company, purchased 7 Pioneer Drive in North Oxford for $1.4 million and will move its Worcester headquarters there, accord- ing to a press release from Ashland real estate firm Aho Properties, which brokered the deal. The 13,720-square-foot industrial Health Care Br iefs building, located on just over two acres of land, was sold by 7 Pioneer Drive LLC. The LLC is registered to the owner of Weston Architectural Products, an aluminum composite fabricator headquartered on Leicester Road in North Oxford. It has owned the Pioneer Drive property since 2010 when it bought it for $700,000. Lohxa is cur- rently located at 600 Main St. in Worcester. The company repackag- es prescriptions and other medi- cines into typically single-dose uses, as a way to reduce medical errors.The company is regis- tered to Kreshnik Loxha and Hans Meireles, who founded the com- pany in 2016, according to the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth corporation filings. In 2021, it was assessed by the Town of Oxford at $708,700. Rentschler Biopharma expanding with 22K-sq.-ft. Milford bioreactors site Rentschler Biopharma, a contract development and manufacturing organization headquartered in Germany, broke ground on Aug. 11 on a new production facility adjacent to a current production site it operates in Milford, expected to be operational in late 2023. The new facility, the Rentschler Biopharma Manufacturing Center US, will add 22,000 square feet of manu- facturing cleanroom space and be home to four new single-use bioreac- tors, the company said in a Thursday announcement. "With Rentschler Biopharma's con- tribution to the production of mRNA vaccines to beat the COVID-19 virus, we have seen firsthand how important it is to have highly adaptable capacity and to have the experience and exper- tise needed to produce new therapeu- tic modalities, fast," said Frank Mathias, CEO of Rentschler Biopharma SE, in a statement. "The U.S. expansion we have kicked off at the groundbreaking is part of our ongoing plan to strategically grow our business as we support our clients in developing and manufacturing even highly complex molecules." The expansion will also include growing Rentschler's Milford work- 695 Main Street, Holden MA 01520 Phone: (508) 829-5566 holdenhearingaid.com/audiologist HAVE YOU EVER HAD A HEARING EVALUATION? Matthew Moreno, Au.D. Doctor of Audiology • Hearing Aids • Batteries & Accessories • Assisted Listening Devises • Amplified Phones • Hearing Evaluations • Wax Removal • Hearing Protection • Musician's Ear Plugs • Swim Plugs Many hearing issues go undetected and that can lead to hearing loss, tinnitus and balance disorders. We offer comprehensive hearing care services including complete hearing evaluations, hearing loss rehabilitation, education and counseling. force, although the manufacturer did not specify by how much. Designs for the facility include upstream ballroom processing sized for production f lexibility, downstream processing suites equipped with buffer storage and preparation space, as well as room to grow. The site will include, as well, expanded quality control, development and warehousing facili- ties, as well as the ability to provide digital and analytical services. Saint Vincent to permanently replace all striking nurses After the striking members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association union on Aug. 5 rejected what Saint Vincent Hospital officials framed as their best and final offer, the Worcester healthcare provider on Aug. 8 announced it would perma- nently fill the remaining open posi- tions vacated by the 800 union nurses. In May, Saint Vincent said it would begin permanently hiring replace- ments for the MNA members who hadn't crossed the picket line in the now five-month-long strike. At the time, Saint Vincent said if the strike ended, any nurse whose position was filled would be given preferential hir- ing treatment when vacancies did arise. On Aug. 8, Saint Vincent said it has hired replacements for more than 100 striking nurses and another 38 were in the hiring process. Together with union nurses who crossed the picket line, Saint Vincent has more than 200 nurses employed at the hospital, as of Aug. 8. "We are enthused by the continued interest of applicants for all our nursing positions and are focused on continuing to deliver the quality care we are known for," Saint Vincent CEO Carolyn Jackson said in a press release. "I want to express my sincere appreciation for all caregivers, especially the Saint Vincent nurses who put our patients first by crossing the MNA's picket line, for their courage and resilience." The main sticking point in the MNA strike has been over the patient-to- nurse staffing ratios at Saint Vincent. The MNA has been trying to lower the ratios at Massachusetts hospitals for several years, most notably with a 2018 ballot initiative, which was defeated at the polls after the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association heavily campaigned against the measure. "We don't believe Tenet's claim regarding their hiring of replacement nurses," MNA spokesman David Schildmeier said. Lykan Bioscience's headquarters in Hopkinton H

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