Health Innovation Roundup

The Health Innovation Roundup, sponsored by Health Cities, is written and published weekly by Taproot Edmonton to bring you the latest news and events in research, technology, companies and people changing health for the better in Edmonton.

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Here are some highlights from this week’s Health Innovation Roundup:

Headlines

• After making children’s pain medication more available through compounding pharmacies, KemNet is expanding the range of medications it takes orders for, including hormone replacement creams, an antidepressant, and a hypertension drug, CEO Morẹ́nikẹ́ Ọláòṣebìkan told Postmedia. After a trip to Kenya to develop Kemet Group‘s plan to address drug shortages overseas, Ọláòṣebìkan is in the UK on a women’s trade mission led by Mary Ng, the federal minister for international trade.
• Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation (API) is the new leaseholder and manager of the Biotechnology Business Development Centre in the Edmonton Research Park. “Managing this building is a great fit with API’s mission of helping life sciences innovators commercialize their ideas,” said Andrew MacIsaac, CEO of API.
• Nanostics has advanced to the finale of Startup TNT’s Life Sciences Investment Summit, which will take place in Calgary on March 23. The Edmonton-based precision-health company will be vying with Alethea Medical, BioMimir, Cohesic, and Qualisure Diagnostics.
• The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) released the video of its February AI Meetup on federated learning in healthcare projects.
• PanTHERA CryoSolutions, which designs and manufactures cryopreservation solutions, announced it is receiving advisory services and up to $395,700 in funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) to accelerate research, development, and commercialization of its patented ice recrystallization inhibitors.
• A virtual reality program called Virtual Gym aims to help older adults remain active by using sensory stimuli to entice sedentary people to enjoy exercising. It was developed by a computing science team led by Eleni Stroulia and Victor Fernandez in partnership with the AGE-WELL Network, and it grew out of an ongoing collaboration with Ritsumeikan University in Japan.
• Researchers at the University of Alberta are part of a new national research network called Long COVID Web, in which experts will join with patients to explore how best to diagnose, assess, manage, and treat the condition. “It’s not just going to be about collaboration, but also about driving our understanding of long COVID forward. Not just across basic science or epidemiology, but across all the main pillars of science,” pediatrics professor Pishu Mandhane told Folio.
• While asthma is increasingly prevalent in Alberta, dispensation records for the period between 2009 and 2020 indicate that many people with asthma are not filling their prescriptions, says a University of Alberta study “If you don’t use your medication regularly, you’re likely to have more of those symptoms, and the less control you have, the more likely you are to have a flare-up that would require an unexpected visit to your family physician or an emergency department visit or a hospitalization,” pulmonary specialist Mohit Bhutani told Folio.
• PRIMED Medical Products has partnered with Medical Surgical & Safety Supplies (MSS) and Mohawk Medbuy Corporation as a way to further economic reconciliation and strengthen healthcare supply chains by collaborating with Indigenous businesses.
• Aurora Cannabis has shifted its focus to the medical cannabis industry. “I knew that medical made money. And I know rec was a maybe, coulda, woulda, shoulda, but I knew we were hemorrhaging cash on rec, and we didn’t see it getting better,” CEO Miguel Martin told MJBizDaily.
• Registration is open for exhibitors to participate in the STEM Expo at the Canada-Wide Science Fair, which is happening at the Edmonton Convention Centre from May 17 to 19. Organizers say over 10,000 students have registered to date. “Interest in STEM is building at record-breaking levels,” said Reni Barlow, the fair’s executive director.

Events

• March 16, 12pm: Dean’s Lecture Series: Understanding the Cost of Emotional Labour in Health Care Settings, presented online
• Until March 18: Know Thyself as a Virtual Reality at FAB Gallery
• March 23, 2pm: TELUS Community Safety & Wellness Accelerator Cohort 3 Showcase at the U of A eHUB Entrepreneurship Centre
• March 23, 5pm: Life Sciences Investment Summit Finale in Calgary
• March 25, 8am: 2023 Inclusive Health Conference at Lister Centre
• March 30, 5pm: NAT Chat: Social Neuroscience online and at the University of Alberta
• April 26-27: Health Gamechangers: The Impact of Digital Technologies in Research at the University of Alberta

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