Month: November 2021

November 29, 2021

• New CT 5100 – Incisive – with CT Smart Workflow applies artificial intelligence* (AI) at every step in the CT imaging process to help customers meet financial, clinical, and operational goals
• AI-enabled Smart Workflow is designed to streamline image acquisition and workflows, enabling more patient-centric care
• Philips’ industry-first Tube for Life guarantee minimizes lifetime operating costs and provides reliability to help ensure efficient operation

Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Chicago, USA – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced new additions to its CT imaging portfolio at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting (November 28 – December 2, Chicago, USA). The new CT 5100 – Incisive – features CT Smart Workflow [1], a comprehensive suite of artificial intelligence* (AI) enabled capabilities designed to accelerate CT workflows, enhance diagnostic confidence, and maximize equipment up-time, helping imaging services to enhance patient outcomes, improve department efficiency, reduce operational costs, and meet ambitious financial objectives.

CT 5100 – Incisive – with CT Smart Workflow [1] includes Philips’ Tube for Life guarantee, which over the lifetime of the scanner can potentially lower operating expenses by an estimated USD 420,000 [2][3]. This newest CT innovation from Philips also provides access to Philips’ Technology Maximizer program, which provides users with the latest software and  hardware updates as they are released.

“With the combination of CT 5100 – Incisive – and CT Smart Workflow, we have embedded AI into the tools that radiology departments use every day so they can apply their expertise to the patient, rather than unnecessary distractions associated with the CT imaging itself,” said Frans Venker, General Manager of Computed Tomography at Philips. “By automating many of the process-related obstacles to CT imaging performance, we aim to clear the way for precision in dose, speed, and image quality that will help imaging departments to meet their financial, clinical, and operational goals.”

Improving the CT experience with smart clinical decision-making CT 5100 – Incisive – with CT Smart Workflow adds to Philips’ growing suite of AI-enabled smart workflow solutions, including the recently launched MR 5300 1.5T system and the new MR 7700 [4] 3.0T system. These recent smart systems introductions are all designed to support efficiency improvement, operator consistency, and diagnostic confidence at the point of image acquisition by automating many of the time- consuming procedural tasks that radiologists, technicians and staff traditionally had to perform manually.

CT Smart Workflow is the latest in a continuous program of performance enhancements for Philips’ market-leading Incisive CT platform, which includes a newly-designed patient table to accommodate bariatric patients; OnPlan gantry controls that demonstrate a 19% [5] reduction in time to results; and the company’s process improvement services Enterprise Performance Analytics – PerformanceBridge. The CT 5100 – Incisive – with CT Smart Workflow demonstrates how integrated, AI-driven solutions connect clinical intelligence and operational data across the radiology enterprise to advance precision diagnosis and treatment.

Philips’ latest innovations in CT imaging will debut at this year’s Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Annual Meeting (November 28 – December 2, 2021, Chicago, U.S.). Join Philips at RSNA 2021 where the company will spotlight its new advanced technology driving connected workflows and smart diagnostic systems, including the CT 5100 – Incisive – with CT Smart Workflow, to increase efficiency and diagnostic confidence in precision care, and follow @PhilipsLiveFrom for updates throughout RSNA.

[1] CT Smart Workflow pending 510(k). Not for sale in the USA
[2] Life of the product is defined by Philips as 10 years. Tube for Life guarantee availability varies by country. Please contact your local Philips sales representative for details
[3] Actual operating costs for customers vary significantly because many variables exist (such as CT make and model, hospital/ imaging center size, case mix, system usage). The potential savings identified estimates the avoidance of purchasing replacement tubes over a 10-year useful life of a CT system, based on an average selling price of $140,000 per replacement tube and estimated tube life of 3 years. There can be no guarantee that all customers will achieve this result. Tube for Life guarantee availability varies by country
[4] Pending 510(k) clearance. Not available for sale in the USA
[5] Based on a study Performed at Oz Radiology Group, Queensland, Australia. Results from case studies are not predictive of results in other cases.  Results in other cases may vary
*According to the definition of AI from the EU High-Level Expert Group

For further information, please contact:

Kathy O’Reilly
Philips Global Press Office
Tel: +1 978 221 8919
E-mail: kathy.oreilly@philips.com

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and well-being, and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum – from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips generated 2020 sales of EUR 17.3 billion and employs approximately 78,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.

Attachments

• Philips CT 5100 – Incisive – with CT Smart Workflow in use
• Philips CT 5100 – Incisive – with CT Smart Workflow

Dutch blockchain LTO Network and Formula 2 driver Ralph Boschung of Campos Racing, have partnered to showcase LTO Network’s recently unveiled NFT2.0 technology.

AMSTERDAM, Nov. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Formula 2 team Campos Racing‘s Ralph Boschung and Amsterdam’s LTO Network announce a sponsorship and partnership that will use NFT2.0 technology to bring the driver and his car to the metaverse, the first deal of its kind in the motorsports world.

After a chance meeting in Monaco, LTO Network CEO Rick Schmitz and the driver hailing from Switzerland soon realized they share a vision that empowers up-and-coming motorsports athletes with the ability to connect with fans in new and interesting ways while opening up revenue streams that support athletes in the costly and highly competitive journey of a career in motorsports.

NFT2.0 is the name of LTO Network’s newest technology, which makes NFTs more exclusive and valuable by providing asset holders with true possession of their digital assets that are called “ownables”.

The partnership will allow LTO Network to make 3D NFTs of the driver and his car to be used in metaverse games and experiences.

“We are excited to support this promising young star. Together we will lead the race to the metaverse,” said Rick Schmitz, CEO of LTO Network.

“The team at LTO Network and I clicked immediately and I look forward to helping push the envelope for what athletes can achieve for their brand and careers,” said Ralph Boschung of Campos Racing.

About LTO Network

The LTO Network team is on a mission to create and maintain a fully decentralized and highly efficient blockchain infrastructure, directly applicable and aimed at creating value for organizations. LTO Network can be used by any company with a need for a production-ready blockchain that allows for digital verification of digital assets and enabling collaboration through the use of decentralized workflows.

About Ralph Boschung

Ralph Boschung is a Swiss racing driver currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for Campos Racing – the main feeder series to the pinnacle of motorsport, Formula 1. He is a race winner in the GP3 Series and has previously competed in Formula 2 from 2017 to 2020, for Campos, MP Motorsport and Trident.

Stay up-to-date with LTO Network –

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Facebook | Instagram | Linkedin | Github

Media Contact

LTO Network – Press & Media Relations
press@ltonetwork.com

Ralph Boschung – Press & Media Relations
contact@pole.uk.com

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The collaboration will establish a dedicated Virtusa AWS Business Group with an added focus on strategic global accounts, ISV modernization and a solution enhanced Professional Services relationship

SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass., Nov. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —  Virtusa Corporation today announced that they are extending their Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) to empower global organizations to unlock more value, efficiency and profitability via cloud-based services.

Virtusa has been a participant of the AWS Partner Network (APN) for more than ten years and today’s announcement builds upon that success. The AWS Partner Network (APN) is the global community of partners using AWS to build solutions and services for customers. AWS has millions of active customers and a dynamic community of over 100,000 partners from more than 150 countries.

Underlying this agreement will be the creation of a joint business group to help clients more quickly move their processes, applications, and data to the cloud. The Virtusa AWS Business Group (VABG) brings together dedicated professionals from each company with expertise in cloud solutions architecture, development and managed cloud operations coupled with industry consulting and domain expertise.

The two companies will focus on three additional growth initiatives under the SCA. These three initiatives will accelerate cloud adoption for global and multi-national enterprises, expedite ISV (High-Tech software companies) cloud modernization and growth and broaden Virtusa’s long-standing partnership with AWS’s ProServe organization with a focus on vertical solutions.

Accelerate cloud adoption: Global and multi-national enterprises typically have operations in multiple countries, complex buying requirements, and significant growth potential. Many of them are challenged by technology buying decisions which usually occur in a regional or federated operating model. Those factors make it challenging to balance global efficiencies and economies of scale while also leveraging the innovations happening across their organization.

Virtusa has been working with AWS to help businesses overcome these challenges and accelerate transformation efforts globally. The two companies are currently working across multiple global accounts in targeted industries. As part of this agreement, Virtusa and AWS will create a dedicated team focused on expanding named Global Fortune 500 accounts with an initial focus in the industries where Virtusa has deep expertise: Financial Services, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Media & Entertainment, and Telecommunications.

Virtusa and AWS will provide customers with several significant benefits:

• A dedicated global account team
• Access to an AWS Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE)
• Cloud foundation migration assets
• Industry frameworks for Cloud Native application development

“We are seeing worldwide enterprises face a skills shortage at a time when they need to move faster than ever before to capture new and emerging opportunities for growth,” said Cam McNaught, Director, AWS Partner Core at AWS. “As a global organization with over 30,000 engineers, Virtusa has the scale, industry expertise, cutting edge engineering skills, and customer intimacy to accelerate the cloud journey of our customers. We are confident that this collaboration extension will help deliver significant differentiated value and strategic innovations for our mutual customers.”

Expedite ISV modernization and growth: As businesses embrace SaaS-based operating models, leading ISVs require extensive support and expert product builders to create next-generation platforms. Legacy systems are holding many ISVs back from capitalizing on new business initiatives – with many turning to application modernization to remove these obstacles. Virtusa and AWS provide comprehensive cloud modernization services and commercial incentives to help ISVs quickly remove these barriers to growth.

Virtusa specializes in AWS migrations and implementing custom modifications that ensure smooth integration with a customers’ existing infrastructure. As a result, ISVs can accelerate product innovation and rollouts while also improving overall operations. Under the agreement, the two companies will provide end-to-end Cloud modernization services to help ISVs create, adopt, accelerate, and optimize SaaS based solutions using AWS.

As part of this effort, both companies will provide a comprehensive set of consulting and technology services to support ISVs in migrating the client base to AWS public and hybrid cloud-based services. This program will operate globally and be initially targeted at ISVs within select industries, including Banking & Insurance, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Telecommunications, Media & Technology.

“Virtusa is our global technology partner who has helped us design, build and now manages technology operations for our IoT & Data Analytics platform, which operates across multiple AWS public cloud services,” said Eric Martinez, CEO of Modjoul, an ISV focused on worker safety automation. “Both Virtusa and AWS are deeply trusted partners who we rely heavily on to both run and scale our business.”

Enhanced ProServe agreement with a vertical solution focus: Virtusa and AWS are expanding their existing Professional Services to put an emphasis on driving greater business outcomes in specific industries and accounts from co-sell through delivery. The companies will provide vertical industry solutions created by Virtusa and running on AWS, including Virtusa’s Open Innovation Platforms for Banking and Financial Services, Healthcare and Life Sciences, and Telecom and Media industries.

As part of this agreement, Virtusa has committed to the establishment of a dedicated AWS focused co-sell and co-delivery function exclusively to support the end customers looking to partner with Virtusa and AWS ProServe. Virtusa brings deep industry expertise to AWS customers across primary industries.

“Virtusa and AWS are helping businesses by providing the skills, expertise, tools, and accelerators to build strategic cloud platforms as well as to more systematically close the skills gap and remove that as a barrier to growth,” said Santosh Thomas, CEO of Virtusa. “The work builds on the tremendous success over the past ten years and is designed to enable companies to innovate faster, operate more efficiently, establish new markets, and grow revenue.”

The journey to the cloud comes with many challenges. Legacy applications, getting consensus, and technical debt are only some of the roadblocks enterprises face with modernization. Virtusa helps enterprises overcome complex cloud adoption challenges, at any stage of their journey.

By migrating on-premises applications to AWS, enterprises are accelerating the speed of innovation and managing scale, agility and significantly lowering the cost of operations. Virtusa’s AWS Migration competency, award-winning migration framework, and unique AWS Migration Workbench, coupled with experience in large-scale migration programs, enables more than 30% productivity gains.

A foundation for growth

Today’s announcement builds upon a decade of successful collaboration between Virtusa and AWS. Together, the two companies have established a robust set of solutions and services to help companies realize the total value of the cloud.

Virtusa is a Premier Global Consulting partner with relevant competencies in Migration, DevOps, Data & Analytics, SaaS, Digital Workplace, Financial Services, Life Sciences and Healthcare. Over the past ten years, Virtusa has worked with AWS to build an award-winning platform for migrating application and data workloads to AWS services. Virtusa has taken these services and customized them to include the support for ISVs in migrating their platforms and reengineering them in the process.

To learn more about Virtusa’s AWS partnership and services visit: https://www.virtusa.com/partners/aws

To learn more about Virtusa’s Open Innovation Industry Platforms running on AWS cloud visit:
Banking & Financial Services: https://www.virtusa.com/solutions/open-banking
Healthcare & Life Sciences: https://www.virtusa.com/solutions/vlife
Telecommunications & Media: https://www.virtusa.com/solutions/icomms

About Virtusa
Virtusa Corporation is a global provider of digital business strategy, digital engineering, and information technology (IT) services and solutions that help clients change, disrupt, and unlock new value through innovation engineering. Virtusa serves Global 2000 companies in Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare, Communications, Media, Entertainment, Travel, Manufacturing, and Technology industries.

Virtusa helps clients grow their business with innovative products and services that create operational efficiency using digital labor, future-proof operational and IT platforms, and rationalization and modernization of IT applications infrastructure. This is achieved through a unique approach blending deep contextual expertise, empowered agile teams, and measurably better engineering to create holistic solutions that drive business forward at unparalleled velocity enabled by a culture of cooperative disruption.

Virtusa is a registered trademark of Virtusa Corporation.  All other company and brand names may be trademarks or service marks of their respective holders.

Contact:
Matt Berry
Conversion Marketing
matt@conversionam.com

Additional in vitro studies to determine neutralization activity of ADG20 against Omicron are ongoing

ADG20 EUA submissions planned for prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in mid-2022

Inventory build continues in anticipation of EUA in second half of 2022, with 4 million doses available for distribution over the next two years

WALTHAM, Mass., Nov. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Adagio Therapeutics, Inc., (Nasdaq: ADGI) a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of antibody-based solutions for infectious diseases with pandemic potential, today provided information related to the potential of its lead SARS-CoV-2 antibody, ADG20, to address the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant, and other known variants of concern. ADG20 is an investigational monoclonal antibody (mAb) product candidate designed to provide broad and potent neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2, including variants of concern, for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 with potential duration of protection for up to one year in a single injection.

“The continued global scale of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased levels of immune pressure on the virus, which is driving the emergence of variants containing mutations associated with escape from common classes of neutralizing antibodies induced by natural infection or vaccination. Unlike most antibodies currently available under EUA, ADG20 has been shown to target an epitope that is highly conserved among clade I sarbecoviruses and that is not readily targeted by the endogenous neutralizing antibody response,” said Laura Walker, Ph.D., co-founder and chief scientific officer of Adagio. “Due to the highly conserved and immunorecessive nature of the epitope recognized by ADG20, we expect that ADG20 will retain activity against Omicron, as we have observed in in vitro models with all other variants of concern identified previously. Further, none of the mutations present in the spike protein of the Omicron variant have been associated with escape from ADG20 neutralization.   ADG20 was engineered for potent and broadly neutralizing activity in anticipation of both the rapid antigenic evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and the emergence of future SARS-like viruses with pandemic potential.”

“ADG20 was uniquely designed to combine breadth, potency and duration of protection against SARS-CoV-2 for up to one year in a single injection. We did this anticipating that SARS-CoV-2 would continue to evolve and potentially render some early therapies and vaccines obsolete,” said Tillman Gerngross, Ph.D., co-founder and chief executive officer of Adagio. “Our global clinical trials are advancing with potential EUA submissions in mid-2022 for both prevention and treatment of COVID-19. We continue to engage with the FDA and other regulatory bodies and governmental agencies to discuss potential acceleration of development plans and the need for a portfolio of therapeutic solutions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Given the significant potential health crisis resulting from the emergence of Omicron, Adagio is undertaking a number of activities to support ADG20’s utility in addressing this newly emerged variant of concern, including:

• Conducting in vitro studies to evaluate the expected binding and neutralizing activity of ADG20 against Omicron. Initial data from these studies is anticipated by the end of the year; and
• Recruiting patients in Adagio’s Phase 2/3 COVID-19 treatment trial, known as STAMP, across several clinical sites in South Africa (along with ongoing clinical trial efforts globally) in an effort to generate clinical data for ADG20 against infections due to the Omicron variant.

Based on the data being generated, Adagio plans to engage with health authorities and government agencies to accelerate development and supply of ADG20 to combat SARS-CoV-2 and its variants of concern.

ADG20 and Variants of Concern
The neutralizing antibody response induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination is dominated by three classes of receptor binding domain (RBD)-directed antibodies (Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3), which often share common escape mutations. The newly emerged Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant identified in South Africa contains mutations associated with resistance to a large proportion of these commonly elicited antibodies, which may be due to immune pressure on these antigenic sites. Data for most antibodies available under EUA or in late-stage clinical development show they target one of these three dominant antigenic regions within the RBD.

In vitro studies have shown that ADG20 binds to a highly conserved epitope within the RBD that is not targeted by any of the common classes of neutralizing antibodies induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. Thus, unlike many other clinical-stage antibodies, which were isolated from COVID-19 patients and recognize epitopes that are also targeted by endogenous neutralizing antibodies, there is limited immune pressure on the ADG20 binding site. The ADG20 epitope has remained conserved in 99.99% of the nearly 4 million full length SARS-CoV-2 viral sequences deposited in the GISAID database as of October 15, 2021, and, as shown in in vitro studies, ADG20 retains activity against prior variants of concern including Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma. For the Omicron variant, none of the mutations present in the spike protein are associated with escape from ADG20 neutralization. Based on published epitope mapping and structural studies, Adagio anticipates that ADG20 will retain neutralizing activity against the Omicron variant whereas other mAb products may lose substantial activity against this variant.

Previously disclosed in vitro data demonstrated retained neutralizing activity of ADG20 against a diverse panel of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, including the recently emerged Lambda, Mu and Delta plus variants. Notably, findings from these in vitro studies showed that ADG20 demonstrated potent neutralizing activity against all SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern tested, including those with reduced susceptibility to mAb products currently available under EUA or in late-stage development.

About ADG20
ADG20, an investigational monoclonal antibody targeting the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and related coronaviruses, is advancing through global clinical trials for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. ADG20 was designed and engineered to possess high potency and broad neutralization activity against SARS-CoV-2 and additional clade 1 sarbecoviruses by targeting a highly conserved epitope in the receptor binding domain. ADG20 was further engineered to provide an extended half-life for durable protection. ADG20 has demonstrated potent neutralizing activity against the original SARS-CoV-2 virus, SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma, other SARS-CoV-2 variants to date, and additional SARS-like viruses in preclinical studies. ADG20 is administered in clinical trials by a single intramuscular injection. To date, ADG20 has been well-tolerated in a Phase 1 trial with no safety signals identified through a minimum of three months follow-up across all cohorts. ADG20 has not been approved for use in any country, and safety and efficacy have not yet been established.

About Adagio Therapeutics
Adagio (Nasdaq: ADGI) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of antibody-based solutions for infectious diseases with pandemic potential, including COVID-19 and influenza. The company’s portfolio of antibodies has been optimized using Adimab’s industry-leading antibody engineering capabilities and is designed to provide patients and clinicians with the potential for a powerful combination of potency, breadth, durable protection (via half-life extension), manufacturability and affordability. Adagio’s portfolio of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies includes multiple non-competing, broadly neutralizing antibodies with distinct binding epitopes, led by ADG20. Adagio has secured manufacturing capacity for the production of ADG20 with third-party contract manufacturers to support the completion of clinical trials and initial commercial launch, ensuring the potential for broad accessibility to people around the world. For more information, please visit www.adagiotx.com.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “expects,” “intends,” “projects,” and “future” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning, among other things, the timing, progress and results of our preclinical studies and clinical trials of ADG20, including the timing of our planned EUA submissions, initiation, modification and completion of studies or trials and related preparatory work, the period during which the results of the trials will become available and our research and development programs; the expected neutralizing activity of ADG20 against the Omicron variant; our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for, our product candidates; our ability to identify patients, including in specific populations, with the diseases treated by our product candidates and to enroll these patients in our clinical trials; our expectations regarding the scope of any approved indication for ADG20; and the risk/benefit profile of our product candidates to patients; our manufacturing capabilities and strategy, including plans for doses available in the near future; and our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, clinical trials and financial position, unexpected safety or efficacy data observed during preclinical studies or clinical trials, clinical trial site activation or enrollment rates that are lower than expected, changes in expected or existing competition, changes in the regulatory environment, and the uncertainties and timing of the regulatory approval process. Other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements in this press release are described under the heading “Risk Factors” in Adagio’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 and in Adagio’s future reports to be filed with the SEC, including Adagio’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2021. Such risks may be amplified by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of this date, and Adagio undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law.

Contacts:
Media Contact:
Dan Budwick, 1AB
Dan@1abmedia.com

Investor Contact:
Monique Allaire, THRUST Strategic Communications
monique@thrustsc.com