Cloud DX: Delivering Quality Care at Home

Facing the unexpected has become an inevitable part of our daily lives. The Covid-19 pandemic and its unfathomable impact has startled industries across the globe.The current scenario of the healthcare industry is very fragile and tense due to the increasing corona virus cases.

People are scared to visit hospitals for other health checkups apart from the Covid-19 symptoms. The fear of being infected by the virus has helplessly occupied in peoples’ minds. People have started to reach out to doctors or hospitals through digital mediums for the care they need. Due to this, a drastic acceleration towards telehealth and virtual care can be seen in the healthcare industry.

Cloud DX is one prominent name among many telehealth solution providers in Canada. It has been a frontrunner in the telehealth industry. The company has incepted major modifications to the healthcare systems. It has introduced various new and innovative ways of treating patients remotely. It has also built confidence among patients and is thus ascending the zeniths of success.

Cloud DX founders Robert Kaul, Anthony Kaul and Dr. Sonny Kohli formed the company united by a vision to positively transform healthcare by reducing healthcare costs, by giving more people access to healthcare, and by making it easier for doctors to provide care and improve patient outcomes.

Through the below interview with the Cloud DX team, let us get to knowthe company from the inside.

Kindly brief us about the company.

As the healthcare industry rapidly moves to embrace telehealth, virtual care and remote patient monitoring at scale, Cloud DX is a first-mover in the race to combine clinical grade data collection with a consumer-friendly user experience.

Our mission is to create the worlds’ most effective, affordable, and easy to use digital solutions for virtual care, fully connected into modern healthcare systems to deliver superior results and improved patient outcomes.

Our value proposition is simple and powerful: more data + better data = better outcomes at lower cost.

What are the distinct products and services provided by the company, setting it apart from its competitors?

The Cloud DX Connected Health platform combines the best of telemedicine with remote vitals monitoring, patient surveys and smart notifications. It allows physicians, clinicians and care teams to virtually care for patients from hospital to home by automating monitoring of patient vitals including blood pressure, pulse rate, spO2, receive notifications should symptoms change, schedule a telehealth conference and implement pre-approved ‘action plans’ to help patients and their families proactively respond to changes in condition.

What are the key attributes that helped your company to overcome the challenges?

• Strong and accomplished leadership team
• Innovative product pipeline (vital sign detection, wearable monitors, cough analysis, medication detection, augmented reality)
• FDA and Health Canada approved products in market
• Strong alliances with healthcare providers, payers, advisors, and government organizations

What is the current scenario of Telehealth Solutions Providers Segment, from your point of view?

The COVID-19 global pandemic has dramatically accelerated the industry’s shift to telehealth and virtual care. Hospitals in virus hot-spot areas are stressed beyond capacity frontline healthcare workers are dying in unacceptable numbers.

Management of chronic illnesses accounted for more than 75% of worldwide healthcare costs in 2016, with heart disease (CHF), stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) named the top 3 global causes of mortality by the World Health Organization

1 In 2016, CHF and COPD combined claimed 12.5 million lives around the world, or 22% of all deaths that year. These illnesses cost more, and take more lives, than all cancers put together. Chronically ill individuals are among the most vulnerable populations to the COVID-19 virus.

The answer is virtual care – keep patients away from hospitals. According to a recent report by Deloitte:

Fifty percent of executives believe at least a quarter of all outpatient care, preventive care, long-term care, and well-being services would move to virtual delivery by 2040.

Three out of four executives predict that industrywide investments in virtual health would be significantly higher (more than 25 percent) over the next decade than today.

94% expect that next-generation data and interoperability solutions will enable widespread data sharing; and 88 percent of executives predicted wearable devices will be integrated with care delivery, resulting in a more tailored, personalized virtual health experience for consumers.

About two-thirds of surveyed executives thought that removing regulatory and payment barriers would accelerate virtual health adoption.

Cloud DX Connected Health Kits, remote patient monitoring and doctor-approved Action Plans allow patients and clinicians to intervene early to avoid exacerbations due to COPD and CHF – improving outcomes for these patients. Our platform has been clinically proven to reduce hospitalizations due to COPD exacerbation by 80%, and emergency room visits by 36%.

We believe that the use of virtual care solutions encompassing remote patient monitoring and telehealth in the management of COVID-19+ve patient, post-surgical patients and management can substantially reduce hospital re-admission numbers, improve hospitals capacity to do more elective and urgent surgeries, improve outcomes for the chronically ill, and reduce the spread of COVID-19 by keeping people out of the hospital.

What are the benefits gained by your clients, what strategies you embrace to keep them engaged?

Healthcare provider clients of the Cloud DX Connected Health platform are realizing all the benefits outlined above. In addition, patients feel more empowered and in control of their condition through regular monitoring of their vitals. This improves engagement in personalized health plans including medication adherence, which itself is a multi-billion-dollar annual problem.

What would be your advice for the budding startups and entrepreneurs in the industry?

Be tenacious. Believe in your vision. Treat your customers like gold. Learn quickly from your failures and be quick to adapt.

Brief us about the company’s future perspectives.

Expect to see a robust product pipeline from Cloud DX expanding our platform of offerings, scale up of manufacturing to meet growing demand, aggressive expansion into the US market and broader integration with EMRs. exacerbation by 80%, and emergency room visits by 36%.”

Source - https://bit.ly/2EYP0lc                                                                         Next Article - Maple

 

Aetonix Systems: Offering Comprehensive and Seamless Telehealth Services

Humans are an ingenious species and since the day we came into existence, we have been either inventing or discovering new things.  Starting from bashing a rock to make a tool, to artificial intelligence, everything we invent or innovate is for our advancement and that stands out as revolutionary findings.

However, the key point to be noted here is that the intention within our persistent nature to innovate or invent something, is to experience and offer superior comfort and seamless solutions. Starting from companies, industrialists, scientists, and small vendors who continuously strive to innovate or invent something new, all serve the same purpose.

Adhering to the same thought, our paths—in the quest to find Canada’s 10 Most Prominent Telehealth Solution Providers in 2020—crossed with Michel Paquet, the Founder and CEO of Aetonix Systems. After keenly observing the healthcare industry, Michel realized that there was a gap between the patients and healthcare professionals. As a result, patients were not able to receive the right prognosis or treatment. It was to address this issue that Michel started Aetonix Systems.

Before we dig deeper into the science behind this invention, let us delve into the story of Aetonix Systems’ initiation. This story will shed some light on the ‘why’ of Aetonix Systems.

When Michel’s 83-year-old aunt was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, she found it difficult to let family and healthcare professionals know what she needed, leading to problems with her care, and feelings of isolation.

Michel was concerned and realized his aunt wasn’t the only person with these common problems that arise with aging; Alzheimer’s and dementia, and other types of healthcare issues. So he founded Aetonix, to simplify care for those who needed it most – patients with complex needs.

Today, Aetonix has developed state-of-the-art use cases for other complex care like COPD, Diabetes, heart failure, hip/knee surgeries, cancer, and COVID-19 in recent times.

The below conversation with Michel helped us understand how Aetonix offers premium-quality and patient-centric care to all those in need.

Kindly brief our readers about about the company.

Michel: Aetonix began its journey in 2014 with the aim of simplifying care for patients with complex needs, covering both chronic and acute care. Usually, such patients suffer from a healthcare system that is very fragmented. They cycle through the system without anyone ever establishing a complete 360-degree picture of their care plan. Aetonix, via its platform aTouchAway, forms a Circle of Care around patients, so they can be coached and guided according to customized care pathways set for them by healthcare organizations. We are a full-service remote patient monitoring company.

What are the distinct products and services provided by Aetonix , setting it apart from its competitors?

Michel: One should know that almost all reputable remote patient monitoring companies offer telehealth, which is virtual two-way calling, and remote patient monitoring that involves remotely transmitting a patient’s vital signs to their care teams. Aetonix goes beyond that and uses clinical forms, educational resources, reminders and a host of other features to build customized workflows for patients. We enable organizations to guide and coach their patients by forming of the circle of care around them that consists of physicians, nurses, specialists and even family members.

What are the key attributes that helped  Aetonix to overcome  challenges?

Michel: We have tremendous partners who help and counsel us to do better. We are housed in Invest Ottawa, whose mentorship program has been very valuable. Our advisory board is totally committed to our vision and helps us set our direction in healthcare, while our commercial partners help with channel market introduction. Our employees have great camaraderie amongst each other with an all for one, and one for all attitudes.

What is the current scenario of the Telehealth Solutions Providers Segment, from your point of view?

Michel: There is a lot of consolidation happening. More traditional telehealth firms are acquiring each other, remote patient monitoring firms are being acquired by insurance companies, and remote care vendors are partnering with each other where one is more specialized in hardware and logistics, and the other in software. It is hard to say what the future folds, but in general, the market is getting warmer for remote care adoption amongst healthcare facilities.

What are the benefits gained by your clients and what strategies do you embrace to keep them engaged?

Michel: Our clients are able to manage their patients remotely. When we say manage, we really mean manage each and every aspect of healthcare, so patients receive one continuous episode of care thanks to the collaboration of all healthcare professionals using our platform to administer the care plan. We collaborate on workflows for patients if needed so the patient receives optimum care. Since we enable them to develop their care pathway as a part of our platform aTouchAway, it is a nonstop collaboration activity in order to get the workflow to match different scenarios that may be the need of the hour.

What would be your advice for the budding startups and entrepreneurs in the industry?

Michel: First and foremost, they should just do it. That is, start an organization. The best way to learn is by doing and learning from all the experiences on a daily basis. Healthcare is a very competitive field, so they shouldn’t be afraid to get their hands dirty in the process. They should also surround themselves with partners with healthcare expertise that will help them understand the healthcare environment.

Briefly tell us about the company’s future perspectives. 

Michel: We are looking to grow as a company and expand to other markets outside of Canada. We have deployed in the USA and UK and are looking to deploy to other continents as well such as Asia and South America. Globalization has meant that organizations want the best remote patient monitoring solution that fits their needs, regardless of where the headquarters are.

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COVID-19: Leveraging Virtual Care for the coming Pandemic

Covid-19 is the name given to the novel Corona virus first discovered in Hubei Province, China. The new virus has since been defined and at the time of this article, is responsible for over 90,000 cases of respiratory illness and has spread to every know region of the World. The ultimate infection spread rate is still evolving but currently stands at 2-3 persons infected from every known contact and mortality rates are approximately 2-3%, while patients over 80 yrs. of age mortality rates are 15% thus far.

The WHO has activated strategic planning and is offering assistance under pandemic preparedness to countries most at risk due to poor medical infrastructure or lack of medical resources. The concern is not only wide spread disease due to exposure into high density, developing nations; but that this outbreak will burden medical systems beyond their capacity to provide services. This is a concern for both developed and underdeveloped nations.

This outbreak, approaching pandemic proportions, has created an urgent need for innovative solutions to reduce community spread and identify those most at risk or requiring treatment due to severe illness. It is at times such as this that innovators will have opportunity to create new solutions to deal with Covid-19 using the latest technology and tools. One tool of special importance would be virtual healthcare.

Virtual Healthcare is defined as any encounter between patient and provider for the exchange of information, treatment or diagnosis that is other than a face to face visit. This means providers engaging patients with secure electronic text messaging, phone calls or video calls if telemedicine platforms are available. Countries vary in their utilization rates for virtual care and a study by Kaiser Permanente in USA showed 60% of their patient encounters were virtual in 2017, while in Canada only about 0.3% of visits were classified as virtual. Now given the concern Covid-19 will place upon healthcare systems, virtual or video visits will be more important to protect front line healthcare staff and patients. Hospitals will need to attempt directing Covid-19 suspect cases away from their ERs and relie upon designated assessment centers to tightly control infection prevention protocols in the community. Patients requiring medical access for routine visits or non-urgent matters, can easily be handled using telemedicine during the peak outbreak season.

This article would propose a novel method of engagement using point of care testing, allocation to home based follow-up and potentially treatment with passive immune therapy that will likely be available before vaccines are created.

IDENTIFY CASES IN THE COMMUNITY USING POINT OF CARE TESTING

A South Korean company PCL, has Korean FDA approved rapid antigen test kits. These kits test for viral antigen using sputum from deep cough, or swabs from the nose and mouth. The sample is placed on a developer slide and after 10 minutes, using a UV light source, read as positive or negative. The kits currently listed at 25 USD per test, report sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 85%. The advantage is testing can be done easily in the community or in the patient’s home. This may allow regions to identify suspect patients by telephone triage and direct them to specific fever assessment centers or the kits may be dispatched direct to the home by community paramedics equipped with PPE.

TELEMEDICINE VISITS TO THE PATIENTS TESTING POSITIVE

The patients testing positive will require triage to remain at home for the current 14-day quarantine period established under WHO guidelines. Patients that are seriously ill can be transported to regional hospitals, should they require respiratory support, deeper investigation or monitoring. The patients dispatched home would be assigned to home temperature monitoring, and if available, could be visited virtually by community nurses or physicians. The complexity of the home-based monitoring would depend upon the infrastructure available. Developed nations are already providing remote patient monitoring with vital signs, blood pressure kits, oximeters and weight scales, with ability to connect live to nurses or physicians available on the platforms. The intent of the home-based monitoring is to detect progression of chronic disease states such as Congestive Heart Failure or Chronic Lung disease. These platforms can easily be converted to provide the supportive monitoring needed for Covid-19 that produces pneumonia and respiratory distress. Early signs of fever and a drop in oxygen levels would be an early indicator a patient may have progressed and would be allocated to supplemental oxygen and/or hospital admission. The goal of the community assessment programs and early identification of potential contacts, is to isolate as soon as possible so patients do not pass the virus to contacts within their community. A point of care triage system leveraging a kit such as PCL Covid-19 and telemedicine protocols for follow-up, will greatly reduce the numbers of patients coming to hospital ERs looking for assessments. As the volume of infections in a community increases, the risk of unknown or asymptomatic carriers infecting the Hospital OP or ER becomes greater. Local public health units could leverage community educations programs to help patients understand if they have a fever, cough and/or have been exposed to someone with Covid-19, they should contact the local health authority and NOT attend to the hospital or physician office. They would be instructed from home to be assessed by specialized teams of infection control officers or be sent to the local fever assessment center closest to them.

NOVEL TREATMENTS ON THE HORIZON

Companies are working fervently to create a vaccine for Covid-19. The challenge is knowing which part of the virus to target your vaccine against. This becomes an effort of complex bioengineering, modeling, and clinical trials on real world patients once a vaccine is in prototype form. Most experts believe a vaccine is at least one year away and the current rates of spread within some nations such as Iran, Italy and now South Korea, suggest wide spread disease much sooner than one year.

A company based in California called Bio Distributed, recently was featured in the Netflix documentary series called “Pandemic.” Dr Jake Glanville and Dr Sarah Ives have been working to create a single shot universal influenzae vaccine using their bioengineering protocols. Recently Dr Glanville and his team have now also focused on Covid-19. Dr Glanville believes that until an antigen vaccine is available, the other approach is to create a passive immunity vaccine. He believes it is possible to quickly replicate the antibodies our bodies make against Covid-19.  Bio Distributed has a patented process that would allow bioengineers to build the antibody proteins first in the lab, then mass produce this antibody to fight viral infections already established in the patient’s body. This antibody can in injected or infused for patients tested positive that are acutely ill. Medical protocol and directives will be required to determine the optimal time of antibody infusion, and also determine which patients are at risk of serious illness or risk of death. Mass productions of the antibody and regional distribution may make this solution available only to more developed nations in the beginning but more than likely released to Countries experiencing widespread disease and perhaps priority for the regions with most serious outbreaks. This passive immunity would likely allow earlier discharge from hospital, freeing up needed beds and reducing healthcare infrastructure burden. Since the current infections seems to be targeting seniors over age 80, these efforts for passive immunizations might be focused on patients with complex needs or those at greatest risk.

This article is intended to stimulate discussion among leading authorities within the infectious disease community and hopefully create further collaboration on infection controls and treatments. The collision of ideas between innovators in various sectors of healthcare technology will be a fast track to solutions for the outbreak of Covid-19 and hopefully reduce the impact of what appears to be an evolving pandemic.

Dr Keith Thompson MD FCFP is Adjunct Faculty Dept Family Medicine at Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry in London Ontario, Canada. He is Chief Medical Officer for iTelemed, a startup company providing virtual care solutions and involved in Virtual House call research and development.

Source - https://bit.ly/3m3PI17                                       Next - Why Adopting HIPAA-Compliant Telehealth is Critical Amid the Pandemic

Virtual Reality in Healthcare

Games we play using to entertain ourselves. What if these are played to cure and rehabilitate aspects of the mind or any part of the body otherwise fairly inaccessible to us? This is precisely one of the most innovative aspects of Virtual Reality being played out in the field of Healthcare these days!

VR, till a while back under the exclusive preserve of the entertainment industry, is now being seen as a means of communication that could be tweaked and turned on its head to serve the interest of humanity when it comes to medicines and better living. This could include things as far removed as emergency healthcare and immediate medical aid in the aftermath of an accident of enormous proportions to post-natal healthcare of lactating mothers to treating the onset of Alzheimer’s. And these aren’t in the realms of fantasy! They are actually taking place!

Mentioned below are today’s cutting-edge uses of Virtual Reality in Healthcare.

1. Treating conditions like Alzheimer’s 

Someone close to a patient of Alzheimer’s can understand this trauma best. The patient gradually degenerates into a vegetable and those in the close proximity are left shattered. Precisely the condition, Carrie Shaw of Using VR went through when her mother was diagnosed with the disease. Shaw came up with a new way of understanding the problem by simulating her mother’s condition using VR.

Creating Embodied Labs, a VR specialist that simulates life under the influence of certain health conditions, her company today gives a full 360-degree view to normal people of what it is like to suffer from conditions including Alzheimer’s. With a VR headset, wearers get to experience life from the patient’s perspective and thus understand why they react the way they do.

One of their first and unique ways of bringing to notice medical conditions others go through was We are Alfred, VR play which gives users the feel of being Alfred, an Afro-American who besides being old, also suffers from macular degeneration and hearing loss. These wear-on goggles not only gives the general public a feel of what it is like being under the influence of certain degenerative diseases but is also helpful to medical practitioners who come to know of the patient’s condition in all its complexity. Interventions can thus be planned accordingly.

2. VR for rehab 

XRHealth’s health platform VRHealth uses VR extensively to provide rehab in various forms and for various issues. Among others, it has Balloon Blast which is an “Upper Extremity Rehabilitation and Active Shoulder ROM Assessment Application” where users wearing VR goggles see a war-like scenario that calls for moving the sword in the above-the-shoulder regions helping exercise areas of the upper arms and the shoulders.

Details of the movements are recorded on a computer for further assessment. Their other products of interest include Re-Act, a “Cognitive Training Application which through VR gives provides personal health data about speed, attention, and decision making processes”, and a Neck Training Application which “provides analytics and insights on various measurements and metrics, including range of motion, smoothness of motion and rate of improvement of the neck”. 

3. VR to assist in surgeries 

VR is of immense use not just in pre and post-trauma care and rehab but also in the active act of surgeries. And providing just the right help to Doctors and Surgeons is www.surgicaltheater.net of the US whose founders envisaged that if it could be fighter aircraft pilots who could use VR for training in all manner of flying, why not medical practitioners.

Thus came ‘surgical theater’ whose wearable goggles provide a walk through any situation, surgery or part of the body such that the wearer instantly gets an idea of where the issue could be and plan their moves accordingly. And mind you, all that you get to see would be in 3D to get the “real feel”! 

4. Medical Marketing 

VR as a medium was the most successful initiative in the field of marketing where it could convey extensively with ease. To this day it is considered so.

It’s isn’t simply the general public that likes a well-made VR film to understand and appreciate a product. In fact, this is the case with everyone including medical practitioners.  Every new product, idea or concept is best explained to hospitals and MPs with the use of the right VR film which gives in detail what the product does versus what the problem is at hand going right down to cellular levels.

MPs like Dentists were first sold mouth-cameras for the better dental health of patients by making VR-assisted films of the product and the conditions under which they could be of immense help to both the MP as also the client/ patient! Now practically every Dentist of repute has these mouth-cameras whose output can be seen right there in real-time by even the patient to understand and appreciate the extent of issues.

Be it a new surgery procedure, a new drug delivery system, a new scanner/ camera or even a new way to heal, practically everything can be sold to a prospective buyer with the help of VR-assisted movies which are well made and which details all the important aspects. 

5. Medical Records

 People other than surgeons and MP of certain specialization do not, in the normal course of their lives need to (or get to) see the insides of human bodies, their bodies. What the Doctor, MP, Specialist or Surgeon says is taken to be gospel truth despite the fact that most of the stuff being spoken about is way above Greek in understanding and everyday logic.

Yet, we persist in trying to understand what is being said and do as advised. Contrast this with a situation where the same information how-so-ever alien and esoteric to a patient is shown in the form of well-made and edited VR simulations (which could include parts of real-life surgeries) which make things very obvious and clear to everyone!

This could be done to not only surgeries but all aspects of a person’s medical findings where every detail of health records are converted into a VR film for easy communication and understanding. A broken tooth, a renal failure, heart diseases, lung infection, brain tumors, ear-drum rupture, a veritable endless list can be converted into excellent VR matter for everyone to understand. In the case of poorer countries where understandings of these matters are even lower than normal, a smart-phone with a medical app showing a patient his/ her problem area with a VR-assisted movie could be, well, a KILLER!

InXite Health Systems: Empowering Patients; Enabling Providers; Modernizing Healthcare

InXite Health Systems

InXite is leading the way in modernizing healthcare as we know it today. InXite defines the modern healthcare system as one that empowers patients. It enables them to have greater control, convenience, and choice of their healthcare and focuses on both treatment and prevention. By empowering patients to securely share their information, healthcare providers now have access to a shared and comprehensive view of pertinent data about their patients to make informed decisions in developing care plans and improving patient outcomes. Hence, InXite Health Systems rose to provide a data platform that would gather, organize and orchestrate patient health information on behalf of the patient and for the benefit of the patient’s care team of providers. InXite is a health-tech company that delivers critical technology, approach and platform for the modern healthcare systems.

The company strives to surround itself with like-minded, ethical, and experienced employees, technology and service partners, healthcare payers and providers; who are committed to delivering on its mission of making the vision of the modern healthcare system, a reality.

Remarkable Services

InXite’s vision is a modernized healthcare system that is patient-centered and value-based, aligning the interests, objectives, and incentives of all healthcare participants around the common goal of improving patient outcomes and lowering costs. Hence, it provides a cutting-edge patient-centered value-based platform that drives significant value to every stakeholder.

For Patients, the company provides them with their own dedicated Patient Portal (a secure “Facebook-like” page) and a powerful user-friendly health information management mobile application. This portal collects data from patients’ providers and organizes the information into a single unified care plan. This plan can be easily and securely shared by the patient with providers of their choice.

The Patient Portal provides recommendations to the patient into areas that could improve their care and costs. It includes features such as: where patients can get their medications refilled at a lower cost; their providers’ recommendations; and how to learn and gain access to relevant and appropriate products, treatments and services.

The patient mobile application empowers the patients to seamlessly share their medical information with their providers. It also has a feature that reminds and alerts patients of their care plans that include: scheduled medications, activities and appointments; and improves how the patient can interact with their doctors through both text, voice and teleconferencing capabilities.

For Patient’s healthcare Providers, a comprehensive value-based platform that is freely available and can be personalized to practice for enhancing patient care and increasing revenues. The Value-based care Platform complements and extends the providers existing electronic medical record system (EMR). This platform enables the practice and can implement a variety of value-based care programs and offer new services to patients.

For Payers and Researchers, robust and reporting dashboards are configured to gain immediate valuable data insights to improve patient outcomes.

InXite’s Data Interoperability-as-a-Service is able to gain access to critical data as well as collects and standardizes data from both large and small providers using proven technologies. read more

Source - https://insightscare.com/inxite-health-systems-empowering-patients-enabling-providers-modernizing-healthcare/

Cannabidiol might overvalue and under deliver, intimidates FDA

The manufacturing and usage of Cannabidiol(CBD) creams, gels, and pills which are said to be a non-psychedelic, potentially curative compound in the cannabis plant, have been rapidly increasing in the past five years. But CBD is still under speculations, with the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) getting through scientific and public comments to clarify its regulatory strategy toward CBD products. Meanwhile, FDA has started issuing warnings over manufacturers’ grievous claims about CBD’s curative effects.

According to the latest development, the FDA warned a CBD manufacturer for making unproven medical claims about CBD’s health benefits. Besides he also claimed that the compound could treat Alzheimer’s disease and kill breast cancer cells which are again a questionable claim.

Dr. Ned Sharpless, the acting Commissioner of FDA said, “Selling unapproved products with unproven therapeutic claims- such claims that CBD products can treat serious diseases and conditions- this can put off patients from important medical care,”. He further added that there are speculations about the science, safety, and quality of the unapproved CBD products.

Not to be a dietary supplement

FDA has pumped brakes on the CBD products in 2019 for been approved of specific drug usage. Hence it cannot be used as a food supplement. Brian Prather, a registered pharmacist in Michigan selling CBD products, told that the isolated CBD extract from marijuana, which is a cannabis plant higher in concentrations of THC, does not meet the definition of dietary supplement according to the agency’s definitions. It could be subject to FDA action. But CBD extracted from hemp have extremely low-THC cannabis is not federally scheduled as a drug.

Hemp plants, the cannabis plants with 0.3% or lesser THC, are the plants that are no longer defined as marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act.

Emerita at Indiana University School of Medicine stated that companies involved in the CBD market are seeking FDA to place it in the category of food additives called ‘generally recognized as safe’. Although, he dissents as adequate research is yet to be performed and until then it should be confined to ‘prescription-only’ status for its safety and efficacy be established.

A Permanent Fix on Tuberculosis: Claim Indian Scientists

Researchers from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR)- Indian Institue of Chemical Biology Kolkata, and Jadavpur University formed a team and reached a result of how tuberculosis is released from the sacs granuloma formed by the macrophages around the bacteria.

Being amongst the deadliest diseases, Tuberculosis kills about nine million people every year. Surprisingly, out of the nine million people, 32% are Indians.

The disease is been studied for years with no positive results.  Now Scientists have found that the TB bacteria secrete a protein called MPT6, which can be a reason behind the rupture. When there is acidity, these protein structures can change their formation and become toxic to the host cells(macrophages). Rarely people realize that they are infected with TB as it remains in a dormant state until it is infectious. Therefore the cells are killed and the dormant bacteria are released which ultimately harms the body.

The team would try to validate these findings in field strains of TB bacillus and study if they can be used to develop new curative interventions. With this discovery, scientists will be looking for methods to neutralize the effect of MPT6 protein and research to keep the TB locked-in permanently and save millions of patients. The results will be presented in the Journal of ACS Chemical Biology.