Medtronic Foundation awarded five local organizations a total of $250,000 in grants to continue to provide education and health care to people affected by diabetes. The foundation is affiliated with medical device company Medtronic, which has its diabetes division in Northridge. Employees from that location nominated each organization chosen. “At Medtronic, we recognize we cannot fulfill our mission alone,” said Pamela Reese, senior manager of communications at Medtronic Diabetes. “In order to ‘alleviate pain, restore health and extend life,’ we must work closely with the many stakeholders in health care, including providers, medical societies and patient groups.” Organizations in the Valley that received funding include Meet Each Need with Dignity in Pacoima, Partners in Care Foundation in San Fernando and Dignity Health – Northridge Hospital Foundation, which received $50,000 to implement its Diabetes Wellness RX program, a six-week course to help underserved Latino adults manage their Type 2 diabetes. The two-year grant will allow the hospital to offer the program at 10 community sites, including elementary schools, churches and Mid Valley Family YMCA in Van Nuys to help diabetic Latinos increase exercise and improve their eating habits to better manage their disease. The program will be offered to qualified diabetic patients discharged from Northridge Hospital as an extension of care to reduce readmissions. Under the Affordable Care Act, hospitals are penalized if a patient is readmitted within 30 days of his or her last visit. The Diabetes RX Wellness program will ultimately help the hospital’s bottom line as well as address patients’ health needs. “The community has prioritized diabetes and obesity as the top two concerns of community residents,” Joni Novosel, Northridge Hospital’s director of community health, said in a statement. “As part of a focus group for our health needs assessment, 73.63 percent of the 91 community leaders and 375 community residents who participated rated diabetes as the number one issue facing our community.” Amgen in India Amgen Inc. and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. of Hyderabad, India have expanded their collaboration to commercialize three Amgen drugs in India. Bone medications Xgeva and Prolia as well as cancer drug Vectibix will help tackle India’s unmet medical needs in the specialties of oncology and osteoporosis, Amgen said. “This deal is consistent with our global expansion strategy,” said Kristen Davis, director of global media relations at Amgen. “India is an emerging market with large patient populations that would benefit from our oncology, osteoporosis and cardiovascular medicines. Each medicine will go through a regulatory filing process, after which approval timelines will be determined.” Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Under the initial 2015 contract, the two pharmaceutical companies agreed that Dr. Reddy’s would oversee regulatory approval, marketing and distribution of the Thousand Oaks biotech’s multiple myeloma drug Kyprolis, leukemia medication Blincyto and cholesterol reducer Repatha. As part of its global expansion strategy, Amgen entered into a contract earlier this year with Tokyo-based pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. to commercialize nine biosimilar drugs in Japan. Biosimilars are highly comparable to their original bioengineered counterparts but are not exact replicas because the medications are produced in living cells. New Hospital CFO Antelope Valley Hospital has named Jeremy Redin its new chief financial officer. He is replacing Paul Brydon, who retired earlier this year. Redin joins the Lancaster hospital after serving as assistant chief financial officer at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys. Prior to that, he was the chief financial officer for Los Angeles-based Alta Hospitals System, owner of six hospitals, including Hollywood Community Hospital in Van Nuys. Like newly hired Chief Operating Officer Ron Bingham and Chief Executive John Rossfeld, Redin is an employee of Irvine-based Alecto Healthcare Services, the company contracted to manage the hospital. “Jeremy is a skilled financial professional whose years of hospital experience will be instrumental in the continued growth and development of Antelope Valley Hospital,” said Rossfeld in a statement. Earlier this year, the hospital refinanced its debt with a fixed-rate public bond issue that eliminated a $55 million balloon payment due in 2017. The new bonds, which total $140 million, will reach maturity in 2046. Staff Reporter Stephanie Henkel can be reached at (818) 316-3130 or [email protected].
