Moorestown, NJ, June 9, 2020 – Regence and Tabula Rasa HealthCare® (NASDAQ: TRHC) announced today that the companies have partnered on a virtual clinical trial to assess the risk of adverse drug events (ADEs) associated with drugs repurposed for the treatment of COVID-19. The trial examines de-identified medical information for approximately 500,000 Regence health plan members across multiple lines of business.
Regence is a family of health plans in Oregon, Idaho, Utah and select counties in Washington, each an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association dedicated to making health care better, simpler and more affordable. TRHC is a separate and independent health care technology company advancing the field of medication safety.
In conducting the study, the TRHC Precision Pharmacotherapy Research and Development Institute utilizes the MedWise™ proprietary, accumulative multi-drug interaction technology solution to determine each patient’s MedWise Risk Score™ (MRS), which is used as a predictive tool for ADEs. A recent study found that each MRS unit results in more than $1,000 in medical expenditures, including three additional hospitalizations and two emergency department visits per 100 members (1). In this study, through medication risk stratification, TRHC researchers will simulate the impact of multiple potential repurposed drugs for COVID-19 to assess their safety for Regence members.
“Connecting members to care and supporting them through the COVID-19 pandemic is our highest priority,” said Julie Lindberg, Regence’s vice president of clinical services. “Through this partnership, we can help contribute to a long-term recovery plan that prioritizes health and safety, while transparently sharing results that can aid other researchers working on strategies to combat COVID.”
“Partnering with Regence on this novel, virtual clinical trial supports TRHC’s commitment to provide the medical community with validated safety information on COVID-19 repurposed drugs,” states TRHC Chairman and CEO Calvin H. Knowlton, PhD. “Our study will analyze the impact to members of adding each repurposed therapy – without exposing them to these drugs – and identify who is at increased risk for adverse drug events, further demonstrating the value of our MedWise technology across a large and diverse population including commercial and Medicare lives.”
This study will also examine the combined risk of increased ADEs for drug regimens with COVID-19 repurposed adjuvants, especially drug-induced Long QT Syndrome, a disorder that occurs in the heart that can potentially cause fast, chaotic heartbeats, triggering a sudden fainting spell, seizure or in some cases death. The results of this study should be completed and ready for publication within 60 days to add important COVID-19 medication safety treatment information to the literature.
About Regence
Regence serves approximately 3.1 million members through its Regence health plans in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Each Regence health plan is a nonprofit independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Regence is part of a family of companies dedicated to transforming health care by delivering innovative products and services that change the way consumers nationwide experience health care. For more information, please visit regence.com.
Forward-Looking Statement
This press release includes forward-looking statements that we believe to be reasonable as of today’s date. Such statements are identified by use of the words “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “should,” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, our goals and expectations regarding the combined company and the integration of PW into TRHC, the expected synergies from the combined company and the expected financial and operating performance of TRHC following the completion of the acquisition. Actual results might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: the risk that we may not be able to achieve our expectations for the combined companies due to challenges in integration and inability to retain key employees; fluctuations in our financial results; the acceptance and use of our products and services by PACE organizations and pharmacies; the need to innovate and provide useful products and services; risks related to changing healthcare and other applicable regulations; our ability to maintain relationships with a specified drug wholesaler; increasing consolidation in the healthcare industry; managing our growth effectively; our ability to adequately protect our intellectual property; the requirements of being a public company; our ability to recognize the expected benefits from acquisitions on a timely basis or at all; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including those factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on March 2, 2020, and in subsequent reports filed with or furnished to the SEC, copies of which are available free of charge within the Investor Relations section of the TRHC website ir.trhc.com or upon request from our Investor Relations Department. TRHC assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law, to reflect events or circumstances occurring after today’s date.
Cambia Media Contact
Jared Ishkanian
Jared.ishkanian@cambiahealth.com
T: (503) 525-6554