RICHMOND, Virginia, June 30, 2014 – algorithmRx, LLC, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, recently announced that the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) has awarded a second $50,000 grant to algorithmRx for its innovative new aRx Statin Advisor product.

A total of 38 awards were made to organizations across Virginia from academia, the research community and industry to fund targeted areas of research with commercial promise aligned with the Commonwealth Research and Technology Strategic Roadmap. Funding was provided from CIT’s Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF), and algorithmRx was one of only four private companies in the Greater Richmond, Virginia area receiving a CRCF grant. The grant was awarded under the CRCF category of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Matching Funds.

This second CIT award follows algorithmRx’s recent Phase I and Phase II SBIR grants from the National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the further development of aRx Statin Advisor. The SBIR Phase I grant awarded the Company nearly $200,000 in 2013, and the Phase II grant awarded the Company nearly $1.5 million over two years in May 2014.

aRx Statin Advisor is the first in a suite of novel, patent-pending, healthcare algorithms from algorithmRx designed to improve the medication management of common chronic health conditions. aRx Statin Advisor is an evidence-based clinical decision-support system (CDSS) designed to assist clinicians in selecting the most effective statin and dose regimen for patients with high LDL-cholesterol (“LDL-C” or “bad cholesterol”). High LDL-C is a major, modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) which is the number one cause of death in the US. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 71 million people in the US have high levels of bad cholesterol, with less than half (34 million) being treated with one of seven statin drugs, such as Lipitor ® or Zocor ®. However, one-third of patients treated never reach their LDL-C reduction goal, and half of all 71 million patients receive no treatment or have abandoned treatment, resulting in 48 million patients with untreated or inadequately treated levels of bad cholesterol.

Statins are remarkably effective at reducing LDL-C cholesterol levels and the resultant CVD risk, but many patients never achieve their goal because they are not receiving the most effective statin/dose combination for their particular situation. aRx Statin Advisor is the first clinical decision-support system to use an evidence-based, precise, personalized medicine approach to resolve this dilemma. aRx Statin Advisor is a complex multiple regression-based algorithm with a simple user interface. Utilizing numerous data variables that are readily available from a patient’s electronic health record (EHR), aRx Statin Advisor compares a patient’s results against those of millions of other patients who have been treated with statins. aRx Statin Advisor provides a matrix of statin/dose combinations in descending order of probability that the patient will reach his/her personal LDL-C goal. All of this information is delivered in real-time during a routine patient-physician office visit.

“aRx Statin Advisor will retrieve data automatically from a patient’s EHR”, relates Barbara Zedler, MD and Chief Medical Officer of algorithmRx. “Once the clinician has made the diagnosis of high LDL-C,and used aRx Statin Advisor to help choose the initial statin-dose treatment, much of the routine follow up to ensure optimal benefit can be performed by physician extenders using aRx Statin Advisor, thus offloading physician time and cost. aRx Statin Advisor can facilitate dose or statin adjustments as needed during long-term maintenance care of patients with hypercholesterolemia to achieve and maintain each patient at their LDL-C target.”
“By identifying the right statin in the right dose the first time, aRx Statin Advisor may reduce the cost, time and patient/provider frustration often associated with reaching and maintaining target LDL-C levels”, adds Dr. Zedler.

By rapidly identifying the ‘best’ statin and dose for an individual, aRx Statin Advisor may reduce side effects, improve medication adherence and ultimately reduce the serious consequences of chronic high LDL-C such as stroke, coronary heart disease with myocardial infarction and heart failure, and premature death. The subsequent economic savings associated with adequate treatment of hypercholesterolemia are estimated to be hundreds of millions of dollars annually in the US alone.

Development of aRx Statin Advisor is ongoing with two major studies to replicate earlier results currently underway. The first is an expanded retrospective EHR-based study among millions of patients representing the US population of statin users, and the second uses administrative healthcare data from the US Veterans Administration healthcare system. Results from both studies are expected later this year. Based in Richmond, Virginia, algorithmRx, LLC develops and delivers innovative healthcare algorithms at the point of care. Our computer-based clinical decision-support systems (CDSS) provide busy clinicians with adaptive, evidence-based guidance to enhance medication management of common chronic health conditions.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under SBIR Phase I (1 R43 HL117553-01) and SBIR Phase II (2 R44 HL117553-02) awards.

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