Life Sciences by Indianapolis Monthly

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LIFE SCIENCES Indianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life-sciences industry is thriving, thanks in large part to companies focused on innovative, patient-centric products and services.

In partnership with

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by Shari Held

The Power of Innovation

Forward thinking is at the center of Indiana’s life-sciences industry

By all accounts and measures, Indiana’s life-sciences industry is thriving. According to a recent report from BioCrossroads, only five states ranked “Tier One” for every significant indicator of life-sciences–industry strength—and Indiana is one of them. At $9.3 billion, Indiana ranks third in worldwide life-sciences exports. Statewide, the industry employs 55,000 workers and has a $50 billion impact on Indiana’s economy. What propels Indiana’s life-sciences industry to such heights? Innovation. It’s at the very heart of the industry. From corporate giants to healthcare systems to startup companies—innovation drives them all. In response to the current and anticipated future healthcare environment, innovations in life sciences have begun shifting away from a focus on bigger/better/newer to a focus on delivering better outcomes, more robust efficiencies, and lower overall costs.

photo courtesy roche diagnostics

Using innovation to enable healthcare accessibility One example of this is Indianapolisbased Medxcel, which began as St. Vincent’s Biomedical Engineering department. It began working with other healthcare providers as well, and Medxcel was created in 1998. The company hired and trained people to maintain medical equipment in-house, thus reducing the facility’s operational expenses. “Innovation has been at the heart of our organization from the very beginning,” says Kristy Kainrath, senior vice

Roche Diagnostics researchers president of strategy and business acceleration for Medxcel. Today, Medxcel is the umbrella company for Axess Ultrasound, eProtex, TriMedx, and TriMedx International. It provides consultation and management to extend the life of medical equipment, healthcare-information security, and risk assessment for medical devices and has expanded to focus on making healthcare accessible to people worldwide. Earlier this year, Medxcel launched PocketSIM™, its first manufactured product. The portable ECG/Respiration simulation device is used to test the proper operation of equipment and retails for less than $400. “We designed it specifically to address

the need of ECG simulation in India, a low-cost market environment,” Kainrath says. “But we are finding that there is a huge need for it here in the U.S. as well.” Medxcel recently created a group dedicated to documenting trends in the healthcare industry and reviewing them on a quarterly basis. “Then we bring in ideas for how we might be able to fit new solutions into those changes,” Kainrath says. “Innovation has to become disruptive or transformational in the healthcare environment.” Collaborating for innovation Roche Diagnostics has an impressive record of innovations aimed at helping

November 2013 | LIFE SCIENCES 3

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Tom Adkins is proof that when employees come to Roche, they stay at Roche. For the past 30 years, he has embodied Roche’s belief that when a company offers an employee the chance to grow, oftentimes the employLIFE ee’s talent will help the company grow. It’s SCIENCES a philosophy that drives his role as senior vice president and head of Roche Diagnostics’ operations on the city’s northeastside campus. “Companies that foster a collaborative environment tend to attract and retain the best and brightest in their field,” he says. “That’s why here at Roche, we have a commitment to our employees, not only to create a best place to work, but one that cares about their well-being along with their performance.” Adkins began his career with Roche in 1983 as a diabetes-care sales specialist for the U.S. Diabetes Care commercial organization, and in the years that followed, he rose through the ranks of the sales and marketing field in U.S. Diabetes Care, U.S. Centralized Diagnostics, and into operations, becoming vice president and site manager for the Indianapolis Roche Professional Diagnostics Business Area in 2005. Tom Adkins In addition to supervising local manufacSenior Vice President and Head turing, the research and development team, of Roche Diagnostics Operations and the global-marketing functions for the campus, Adkins was named the head of global regulatory affairs and clinical trials in 2008 before assuming his current role. As the head of the Indianapolis site, Adkins oversees two shared service centers for Roche, including the human-resources services for all of Roche’s North American diagnostics and pharmaceutical operations, which include about 20,000 employees. Adkins also oversees the corporation’s facilities and site infrastructure. “One of the things I am responsible for is the transformation of our North American headquarters in order to better support our high-performance culture and our focus to be a best place to work,” he says. “We’ve made the commitment to invest $300 million over the next 10 years here in Indianapolis, thanks to the support of the city and state, which offered tax incentives to make that possible. This expansion will add new opportunities for employment and allow us to grow as an organization and deliver value to our stakeholders.” Though the planned expansion will allow Roche to continue its cutting-edge developments in the life-sciences industry, Adkins says the company is also working to foster more partnerships with the surrounding communities. Roche was the title sponsor for the inaugural VEX Robotics City of Indianapolis Championship in 2012, and Adkins hopes the company can continue to engage with the community in order to cultivate local talent and identify those who are passionate about personalized healthcare. “Once upon a time, we were the best-kept secret in Indianapolis, but that’s not the case anymore,” he says. “As we continue to increase our visibility, we want to attract the best to work with a company that values their contributions and where they can see the impact they are making on patients’ lives.” by Julie Young

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patients receive the most-effective diagnoses and treatment for serious illnesses. “We bring this element of personalized healthcare, this made-for-me medicine concept, to the table,” says Tom Adkins, senior vice president and head of Roche Diagnostics Operations. “We not only have the diagnostics side, which you need to understand the disease, but we also have the pharmaceutical side as part of Roche. That is very unique in the industry.” The company is also a key player in the Indiana life-sciences landscape. Roche’s corporate culture fosters collaboration both internally and externally. In the companion-diagnostic arena alone, Roche is working with other companies on more than 200 products. Roche also has a significant role in the newly formed Indiana Biosciences Research Institute, the first such organization of its kind. Other founding members include BioCrossroads, Cook Medical, Eli Lilly and Co., Dow AgroSciences, IU Health, Biomet Inc., Indiana University, Purdue University, the University of Notre Dame, and the state of Indiana. “We are committed to this,” says Alan Wright, M.D., MPH, chief medical officer for Roche Diagnostics. “We want to build the basic life-science foundation of Indiana to make it even more competitive on the biotech scene in the U.S. and in the world.” Looking forward A recent BioCrossroads report noted that Indiana shows “great promise” when it comes to innovation. Here are two examples: Warsaw-based OrthoWorx has formed a committee to explore the feasibility of the Orthopedic Capital Clinic, a specialty surgery clinic focused on education, innovations, and research in the orthopedic world. Community Health Network’s Launchpad is designed to develop healthcare advancements, improve healthcare delivery, and fund entrepreneurial opportunities to reinvest in future innovations. And that’s just scratching the surface. Everywhere you look, there are encouraging indicators of what’s to come.

Because of us, Al can take weekly trips to the lake, not the lab. Every day at Roche Diagnostics we work to help patients like Al live longer, healthier lives and spend time at their favorite fishing hole, not their doctor’s office. That’s why we are passionate about empowering patients with self-testing options that help them monitor their blood where and when it’s most convenient. Together, we’re making a difference one fisherman (and eager apprentice) at a time.

Doing now what patients need next

Learn more about Al’s story at http://becauseofus.roche.com/Al

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by Shari Held

The untapped power of Diagnostics

Tests enable healthcare providers to make better treatment decisions for patients

Roche is committed to improving the lives of patients. One of the ways it does that is to enable healthcare professionals to achieve greater testing efficiencies with reliable clinical information that supports a better quality of life for patients. “Diagnostic tests represent solid decision points that can help change the way a patient is treated,” says Alan Wright, M.D., MPH, Roche Diagnostics’ chief medical officer. “They can aid in diagnosing a condition so that the clinician can determine the best course of treatment for the patient, and they can monitor how well a patient is responding to treatment.” Diagnostics encompass everything from research to lab tests to personalized healthcare. They represent only about 2 percent of the total global healthcare budget but are the basis for 70 percent of healthcare decisions. “They’re the best value in medicine,” Wright says. Still, diagnostics are underused, according to Roche, which can result in misdiagnoses, wasted time and money on ineffective treatments, worse outcomes, and even death. Bringing a diagnostic test to the market can cost millions of dollars and can take up to five years or more. “We have a test that may be done tens of millions of times a year and it has to work right each time in a wide variety of environments,” Wright says. “Our job is to make it as reliable and robust as possible.” Improving tissue diagnostics When it comes to tissue diagnostics for

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cancer, Roche has more than 300 such tests—the most complete menu in the marketplace—and a 30-percent overall market share. The company is the industry leader in the automation of staining and slide drying of tissue samples for consistent, accurate results. “Automation has really revolutionized the industry,” says Rod Cotton, head of Roche Tissue Diagnostics. VANTAGE, the company’s workflowmanagement system, increases patient safety by virtually eliminating misidentification errors. Roche’s HER2 dual ISH test for breast-cancer diagnostics provides results much faster than the leading competitor, and its use of brightfield technology ensures the entire tissue sample will be evaluated. personalized medicine and companion diagnostics Some of Roche’s most exciting advances are showcased in the area of personalized healthcare. Traditional healthcare treats patients with a “one-size-fits-all” approach. But personalized healthcare is a tailored approach to medicine, Cotton says, the premise being that patients with the same diagnosis will vary in response to treatments based on their genetic makeup and the molecular nature of their disease. Breakthroughs in personalized treatments for cancer often headline the news, but such tailored treatments also exist for AIDS and Hepatitis C, and as research continues, more personalized treatments will become available.

Rod Cotton

Teri Griege

Roche is particularly well-positioned to be an industry leader in personalized healthcare. Last year, the company reinvests 20 percent, or $9 billion, of its revenue in research and development. Companion diagnostics, specifically created to determine if a patient will respond to a particular drug, are the hallmark of personalized medicine. “Having both a pharmaceutical company and a diagnostic company under one roof provides synergies that improve both Roche’s research collaboration and speed to market,” Wright says. The diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer provides a good example of how diagnostics and companion drugs work together. Cotton gives the scenario of a suspicious growth discovered on a routine mammogram, and a biopsy performed to obtain a tissue sample. An initial test will diagnose whether the growth is cancer or not. If it’s cancer, an immunohistochemistry (IHC) test and INFORM HER2 Dual ISH test would be done to stratify the specific type of cancer. If the patient is diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form, the physician would

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likely recommend surgery. After surgery, the patient might be treated with radiology and Herceptin, a Federal Drug Administration–approved pharmeceutical made by Roche used to treat patients with HER2positive breast cancer. “It just goes to show you how all those technologies work together to improve patient outcomes, which is, after all, Roche’s mission—to do now what patients need next,” Cotton says. a new lease on life Roche has never lost track of the fact that its ultimate goal is to help patients, such as Teri Griege. Griege competed in Louisville’s 2008 Ironman triathlon and missed qualifying for the Kona Ironman, the “Super Bowl” of such competitions by one spot. “I knew I could do it,” Griege says. “In the fall of 2008 and the spring of 2009, I trained like a mad woman.” By that summer, though, she knew something was wrong. Her energy level dropped, and she experienced delayed healing. She started to have some bleeding, which she attributed to hemorrhoids from bike riding. A colonoscopy revealed a tumor, and a CAT scan revealed she had Stage 4 colorectal cancer that had spread to her liver. Griege was 48—two years younger than the recommended screening age. “That shows you how important diagnostics are,” she says. Her treatment included radiation therapy, FOLFOX chemotherapy, and a colon and liver resection in 2010, followed by seven more rounds of FOLFOX. Though not in remission—her CEA tumor marker never returned to normal levels—her cancer is considered stable. She takes a maintenance routine of chemotherapy (Avastin and Xeloda, both Genentech/ Roche products) every other week. “That’s why I’m here today,” she says. Griege, now 52, is an evangelist for colorectal education and early testing. “What blows me away is the dedication of the company,” she says of Roche. “Their passion is to find better ways to test tissues to enable better-targeted therapies and outcomes for patients.”

As chief medical officer for Roche Diagnostics, Alan Wright, M.D., MPH, uses his diverse background to facilitate effective dialogue between policymakers, those in the diagnostic field, manufacturers, and other specialists LIFE in order to make medicine understandable SCIENCES to everyone, regardless of background. “It’s a little like being a generalist, which I know from my days in the emergency department,” Wright says. “You listen to someone in order to get their point of view and learn what is driving their questions and concerns, then tailor your solutions to meet their needs.” The key is being willing to learn as well as advise, and Wright has been more than willing to examine research, identify emerging trends, and serve in a variety of capacities to promote personalized healthcare. After obtaining his medical doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and completing his residency in internal medicine at Temple University, Wright developed an interest in health-outcome studies and health economics that led him to obtain his masters of public health at Johns Hopkins’ formerly named School of Hygiene and Public Health. Alan Wright, M.D., MPH “I started out my career in quality meaChief Medical Officer for sures and claims, looking into mammography Roche Diagnostics screening rates and what happened with biopsies along with subsequent treatment of suspicious lesions,” he says. “From there, I moved into the health-insurance industry and became a corporate medical director, where I was much more involved in coverage decisions and pharmacy benefits.” Over the years, Wright has served the medical community in a variety of ways. He has published several papers, is a member of the American Medical Association and American College of Physicians, and is certified as a diplomat to the American Board of Internal Medicine and the National Board of Medical Examiners. In addition, he’s served as chief medical officer at AdvancePCS, chief scientific officer for Caremark, and vice president of product strategy at Resolution Health. Wright was also founder and a former CEO of Star Pharmaceuticals. In his current position, Wright continues to be on the lookout for industry trends and contribute his research and expertise on a number of new and exciting developments. “One of our major initiatives is to communicate the importance of diagnostic tests in aiding healthcare providers to make the best treatment decisions for their patients,” Wright says. “We’re working with policy decision-makers in the medical community and improving relationships with academic centers to explain what ideas intrigue us, then keeping in touch with them so that they think of us first when those ideas come along.” Wright feels Roche Diagnostics’ Indianapolis headquarters is centrally located for the company to remain on the cutting edge of life sciences for years to come. “Indiana has a vibrant biotechnical community in Warsaw, not to mention one of the best medical schools in the nation, great hospitals, and a huge diagnostic company all within one city,” he says. “With infrastructure like that, how can we go wrong?” by Julie Young

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November 2013 | LIFE SCIENCES 7

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by Shari Held

Improving the Lives of patients

Roche CoaguChek XS system gives the Hennings peace of mind The Hennings returned home, and Dan was hospitalized at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati for nearly two months. A filter was placed in his groin to protect his heart from the blood clot, and Dan began Coumadin therapy (an anticoagulant) to regulate the thickness of his blood. Meanwhile, his physicians debated whether surgical reconstruction of his foot was viable. “The conundrum was, his heart wasn’t strong enough to have surgery,” Tammy says. Before the Hennings had time to adjust, Dan’s heart began failing, and LVAD

Dan and Tammy Henning

Then the next complication hit. While on a monthlong trip to Alabama in September 2011, Dan developed a major blood clot. And what was thought to be a stress fracture was actually diagnosed as Charcot foot, causing deterioration of the bones in his left foot.

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surgery became a necessity. After the surgery, tracking and keeping the Coumadin therapy within an appropriate INR (international normalized ratio) range became critical. “If my blood got too thick and I got a clot, it could clog the pump and cause

my death,” Dan says. “If it got too thin, I could have brain bleeds, nosebleeds, mouth bleeds, and other complications. It was in a very slim window that we had to keep my INR.” Every Monday, the Hennings made the two-hour roundtrip drive to Christ Hospital to have Dan’s blood checked. It took one to two days before they received the results, and the INR can fluctuate significantly in a 36-hour period. Peace of mind Their lives took a turn for the better in mid-2012, when the Hennings received a portable Roche CoaguChek XS system. Now they can self-test Dan’s INR at home and during trips. “The CoaguChek meter totally changed our lives,” Dan says. Tammy does the testing weekly or more often, depending on Dan’s condition. She then calls CoaguCheck Patient Services—a division of Roche Health Solutions—with the results. The CoaguChek XS meter gives the Hennings peace of mind and convenience. They’re spared daylong treks to the hospital, and they have results immediately. “In the world I live in, knowledge is power,” Dan says. “It’s life and death for me.” To express his appreciation, Dan played at a concert for Roche, the maker of the CoaguCheck XS system. Tammy praises the “personal touch” they receive from CoaguCheck Patient Services. “Roche is not a business to us,” she says. “They are our family.”

photo courtesy dan and tammy henning

In 1992, Dan Henning had a bout with viral spinal meningitis and encephalitis. Although he recovered, his heart hosted the virus, which weakened the muscle. At age 40, he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy. “As things progressed, my doctor talked to me about getting an LVAD [left ventricular assist device],” says Dan, a pastor and musician. “That seemed like it was so far in the future, we didn’t even consider it.” He and his wife, Tammy, who live in Chilo, Ohio, tweaked their lifestyle to accommodate his condition and moved on.

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by Shari Held

Building the Future

E photo courtesy roche diagnostics

A campus expansion will soon give Roche Diagnostics’ North American headquarters a new look

Exciting developments are going on at Roche Diagnostics’ North American headquarters on Indianapolis’s northeast side—and they don’t involve pharmaceuticals or diagnostics. In June 2012, Roche announced it was investing $300 million over the next 10 years to transform its headquarters. The first phase will focus on the construction of three buildings and a 1,500-car parking garage. “What we are trying to do is create a natural flow on our campus—not only in the buildings, but in our green space,” says Tom Adkins, senior vice president and head of Roche Diagnostics Operations. “We want to connect our people to their work and connect them to each other. And we want to create an environment that supports our focus on being a best place to work.” Currently, the campus is home to more than 3,000 employees, and the expansion will accommodate future growth. The expansion is the perfect opportunity for the company to highlight its European heritage, both in the Bauhaus architecture and the emphasis on sustainability. For five consecutive years, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index has recognized Roche as a sustainability leader in the pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and lifesciences industry. “There’s a fundamental belief that we need to ensure our profitability today while ensuring the resources exist for the next generation,” Adkins says. Here’s a look at the changes that are coming during phase one: At 88,000 square feet, the new Learning and Development Center will double the space of the current facility, but will be 43 percent more efficient to operate per square foot.

Roche Diagnostics’ Indianapolis campus Slated to open next spring, the center will feature state-of-the-art technology to enhance the virtual and hands-on learning experiences for the 1,500-plus customers who receive training on Roche products each year. Serving as one of the entry points to Roche’s North American headquarters, the crisp, clean architectural lines of the new facility will project a whole new look and feel. “It’s an opportunity for us to communicate our brand and our heritage to those folks as they enter,” Adkins says. An innovative, three-story office complex will consolidate Roche’s commercial operations teams, which are currently housed in six different locations on and off campus. The office complex will be the second entry point for the campus and is designed to foster collaboration and innovation. “We wanted to create an environment that fits our high-performance culture,” Adkins says. The design features an abundance of

glass that lets in ample natural light, and the building’s lighting, heating, and cooling systems will be automated for optimal efficiencies. All five of Roche’s labs will take up residence in the new 63,000-squarefoot, two-story laboratory next summer. Featuring unique sustainability elements such as chilled water-cooling, LED lighting, and passive sun-shading, it is very cost-efficient. “It also allows us to put the people who are working on innovative and creative projects in one area to spark that teamwork, collaboration, and innovation,” Adkins says. In addition, its location closer to the manufacturing area on campus will promote cooperation between those groups. “At the end of the day, the reason we build and do the things that we do is to support the performance of the organization and support our culture, which drives the results for the company,” Adkins says. “That’s why we are creating this environment the way we are.”

November 2013 | LIFE SCIENCES 9

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by Lori D. Roberts

behind-thescenes Help Medxcel’s family of companies works to protect the technology assets of healthcare facilities

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group was able to cut costs while maintaining hospital equipment and patient safety. Their system worked so well that other healthcare organizations wanted to replicate the process within their own workplaces. Greg Ranger, then a director of clinical engineering at St. Vincent, suggested making the department into its own company and servicing outside clients. A group of about 25 St. Vincent associates formed TriMedx, a healthcare-equipment company.

“It was actually a very exciting time,” recalls Rob Cadick, a lead design engineer who worked with Ranger at St. Vincent at the time. “It was a little scary. Greg Ranger is a very persuasive person and a very big visionary, so when I listened to him talk about where we would be in five years and in 10 years, I was on board.” Today, Ranger serves as president and CEO of Medxcel, a family of four companies that repair, maintain, and help companies manage their healthcare-equipment purchases. More than 1,000 employees

This is the story of a little hospital department that grew up. It is the story of a company whose mission goes beyond business and that reaches out to people around the globe with expertise and assistance. It is a story with a humble beginning, an exciting middle, and an ending yet unwritten. Back in the early 1990s, St. Vincent Hospital’s biomedical equipment-management department in Indianapolis was doing a particularly effective job servicing the hospital’s radiology equipment. The

Medxcel technician at work

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work for the company, with about 300 of them in the company’s headquarters on Indianapolis’s northwest side. Each Medxcel company’s employees has a broad base of knowledge and skillsets that allow them to see the whole picture, whether they’re determining a machine’s viability or focusing on individual patient security issues, says Kristy Kainrath, Medxcel’s senior vice president of strategy and business acceleration. Together, they work with clients to ensure that healthcare equipment is run efficiently, repaired effectively, and replaced when it’s financially prudent and technologically necessary. Small hospital departments may have an in-house staff of efficient, trained technicians, but they may not have the sheer size and scope of information offered by Medxcel, Kainrath says. “We have a lot of information because we’ve been doing this for 15 years, and we have nearly 1 million devices in our system,” Kainrath says. “Our goal is to help hospitals make more intelligent decisions.” Greater than the sum of its parts TriMedx was the first company to grow out of Ranger’s vision, and it remains the biggest of the four companies under the Medxcel umbrella. Each company focuses on a different aspect of equipment management and patient care. TriMedx is the catchall, handling the repair and maintenance of just about any piece of medical equipment. “It could be anything from a thermometer to an MRI [magnetic resonance imaging] machine—anything that’s touching the patient and helping in the care and diagnosis of the patient,” Kainrath says. But the process involves more than just a handy person with a screwdriver or an online database of new parts. TriMedx works with clients to make sure they’re getting the most from their equipment investment, Cadick says. Companies may find that TriMedx services cost less than a manufacturer’s service agreement, he says. If an updated model is available, TriMedx specialists can determine whether it’s a smart investment or if the compa-

Rob Cadick loves to come to work. The lead design engineer at Medxcel has been with the company since 1994, when he joined St. Vincent Hospital as a radiology engineer. When Greg Ranger, future Medxcel CEO, suggested LIFE moving the department away from the hospiSCIENCES tal and starting a company to help out other healthcare providers, Cadick was part of building the IT infrastructure for TriMedx. “It was definitely a growing time, knowing that you were part of something that was going to be phenomenal,” Cadick says. “It’s fun to look back now at where we were. To see it grow over the years is unbelievable. Medxcel’s work gives Cadick a chance to be creative and come up with healthcaretechnology solutions that aren’t necessarily written in the equipment manual. The four Medxcel subsidiaries are focused on looking beyond the obvious, saving clients money without affecting patient safety or healthcare quality. Every day is a chance to make a difference. “Most of it is finding a better way, finding a different way, and not always being confined to finding the same way each time,” Cadick says. Rob Cadick The Indianapolis native and North Central Lead Design Engineer at Medxcel High School and Vincennes University graduate has had many opportunities to take his work to faraway places. He has been on eight mission trips with the company, which sponsors the TriMedx Foundation to provide medical-technology support in impoverished communities worldwide. Cadick’s no doctor, but he makes a difference in patients’ lives with his technical prowess. On his first mission trip to Hôpital Sacré Coeur in Milot, Haiti, Cadick and his colleagues discovered that the hospital was accessing the Internet through one virus-infected computer connected to a satellite. The hospital’s other computers were similarly infected, and the staff could only share information using USB drives. On the following trip, Cadick and his colleagues replaced nine computers and helped connect the hospital to a network. Computers and resources were added on each consecutive trip to help the hospital catch up with the world. But the impact Cadick and the TriMedx Foundation has on the Haitian people can’t compare to their impact on him. He remembers his first trip to Haiti, when he sat down and cried over the poverty he encountered. “You see the family camaraderie they have and the things they provide each other,” Cadick says. “It’s amazing. How could we have gotten away from it?” Fortunately for Cadick, he’s in a job that enables him to make a good living doing work he enjoys while giving back to the world. He says Medxcel is very supportive of employees and offers opportunities to move around within the company. It looks like Cadick made a smart move when he followed Ranger and his vision. “The culture here is phenomenal,” Cadick says. “I love coming to work. Being an engineer at heart, I always want to fix things. When I hear about the issues in Haiti, I want to go down and see how I’d fix it. I look forward to the next one.” by Lori D. Roberts

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November 2013 | LIFE SCIENCES 11

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ny is getting perfectly fine results from the current equipment. Healthcare companies can hire TriMedx to take a look at their entire inventory of equipment and suggest ways to cut costs without affecting patient safety and outcomes. When a machine is no longer effective, TriMedx professionals can help dispose of it through a charitable donation or a trade-in program. With a database of nearly 1 million devices worth more than a combined $9.75 billion, TriMedx is poised to help clients make informed, unbiased purchasing and maintenance decisions. Another Medxcel company, Axess Ultrasound, focuses on the equipment that is used for everything from guiding a biopsy, checking the heart, or showing expectant parents the first images of their unborn child. Axess Ultrasound provides

In 2000, TriMedx received a phone call from Sister Martha at Hôpital Sacré Coeur in Milot, Haiti. The hospital’s donated medical equipment had arrived damaged and inoperable. Could TriMedx, a healthcare equipment– services company, help them? TriMedx officials responded by sending a team of employees to Haiti to fix the broken equipment. This was the first of a series of mission trips for what is now Medxcel, the parent company of a family of healthcare-services companies that includes TriMedx. In 2004, the company founded the TriMedx Foundation, a ministry dedicated to helping hospitals and healthcare facilities around the world. TriMedx Foundation partners with faith-based organizations to provide and repair equipment in countries such as Haiti, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso. A reliable piece of healthcare equipment could literally be a lifesaver for patients who need a timely diagnosis or an accurate ultrasound. “Even though we are a for-profit organization, we have a mission-based focus,” says Kristy Kainrath, Medxcel’s senior vice president of strategy and business acceleration. Volunteers have gone on more than 80 mission trips in 21 countries, and Medxcel employees are encouraged to participate as well. Those who can’t travel may donate directly to the foundation or support it through company fundraisers, like a recent golf outing that raised more than $76,000. The mission mindset begins in the office. Not everyone can travel overseas, but all employees can help out at home. A group creates events in which workers can participate. Last month, staff members packed meals for Kids Against Hunger, a humanitarian food organization that sends meals to children around the world. Employees also gave up a weekend day to help at Wheeler Mission and provide professional services like accounting and marketing. The mission focus permeates the company culture and draws in people who want to make a difference on the job, Kainrath says. It’s a good fit for a company that seeks to make life better for patients around the world. “We feel like what we do every day impacts patient care and helps impact care in this country and others,” Kainrath says. “It feels like we’re making a difference.” —Lori D. Roberts

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“We’re going to continue to look at healthcare through the eyes of the provider and develop new ways to affect outcomes.” ultrasound service and repair, probe repair and management, parts, equipment and training for more than 1,000 hospitals and healthcare facilities worldwide. Medxcel’s eProtex grew out of the need to keep patient information private throughout the hospital, including the equipment used during diagnoses, surgery, and other medical procedures. For instance, Kainrath points out that ultrasound images are often stored on the imaging equipment, complete with patient names and other confidential information. This same equipment can be used on several patients in a short period of time. Computer systems hold volumes of patient records and private documents. Healthcare companies that aren’t careful stand to fail routine safety inspections and possibly endanger patients. EProtex can find security holes and help clients make sure their patients’ information is securely sealed away. “It’s a big, often-overlooked area and, to our knowledge, we are still the only

Photo courtesy Medxcel

Mission at Work

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ones in the industry who provide that kind of assessment on these kinds of devices,” Kainrath says. TriMedx International takes all of these ideas outside of the country. Thirteen months ago, the company began operations in India and is on the verge of providing service in the Cayman Islands, Kainrath says. The same technology that saves money in the United States can mean the difference between a single working machine and a broken one in an overseas hospital. “I’m really excited about our international opportunities,” Kainrath says. “We traveled to several markets to explore how healthcare is being delivered in those markets. This provides an interesting and ripe opportunity to impact healthcare in a way that improves healthcare accessibility.” A faith and family atmosphere Devices may drive the business, but devotion inspires the company. While Medxcel is a for-profit company, it is also a wholly owned subsidiary of Ascension Health, which owns St. Vincent Health. The original religious influence remains in the company atmosphere, whether it’s in the form of a Bible quote on the company web page or meetings that start with a group prayer. The headquarters even has its own chapel on site. Even with 1,000 employees, Medxcel manages to maintain a family business atmosphere, Cadick says. The company is dedicated to its employees, offering opportunities for advancement or lateral moves to folks who want to try something new. The company is also loyal to its Indianapolis roots, planning to stick around and enjoy the infusion of new talent from local universities. Kainrath expects the company’s impact to spread as it seeks new ways to improve healthcare technology and new markets in which to share it. “We’re going to continue to look at healthcare through the eyes of the provider and develop new ways to affect outcomes,” Kainrath says. “It’s not just about growing the business. It’s about how we can impact lives and make things better.”

In the early ’90s, Greg Ranger had a vision. Ranger was working as the director of clinical engineering at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis. The department was charged with cutting its budget, but instead of the head LIFE count or services, Ranger and his staff looked SCIENCES for ways to cut costs associated with the hospital’s medical equipment. They wound up being so effective that outside companies tried to duplicate their efforts. Ranger opted to take advantage of the demand, asking hospital officials to allow his department to break off and form a forprofit venture that would still be owned by St. Vincent. He was given permission and convinced his co-workers to come along. Today, Ranger is CEO of Medxcel, a company of four subsidiaries that handle all aspects of healthcare equipment management. Medxcel is owned by Ascension, which also owns St. Vincent Health. “Honestly, I feel that it’s Greg’s vision that got us out to where we now,” says Rob Cadick, a lead design engineer with Medxcel. Ranger explains his vision in a series of discussions on YouTube. In them, he talks about more than servicing medical devices. Greg Ranger He also muses on the company’s outreach CEO of Medxcel mission through a foundation it founded and has supported since 2004. Through these trips, Medxcel employees and other volunteers can make a tremendous impact simply by ensuring that a hospital’s medical equipment is working and sustainable. “It goes to our roots,” Ranger says. “This company grew out of St. Vincent Hospital in the late ’90s. St. Vincent had a philosophy of mind, body, and spirit. We’re encouraged to come to work each day and bring all of those things with us.” Ranger was instrumental in the development of the TriMedx Foundation, which grew out of a need for trained medical technicians in Third World–country hospitals. Many companies will donate equipment and other materials to overseas hospitals, Ranger says, but sometimes that equipment is damaged during travel or breaks down shortly after its arrival. Medxcel employees go on mission trips to fix the equipment and keep it working. “[We’re] helping hospitals grow, so they can further support the communities, where there really was no hope before, where these poor and vulnerable people live,” Ranger says. “We’re impacting our lives by improving their health and the healthcare that they have available to them.” Ranger’s mission work begins at home. He and his wife, Jan, own a small farm outside Indianapolis with their nine children (another son lives out of state). After four biological sons, the couple opted to adopt a daughter. The experience opened their eyes to the plight of orphaned children, and they now have children adopted from China, Vietnam, and Ethiopia. Ranger holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Indiana Wesleyan University. In addition to serving as chairman of the board of the TriMedx Foundation, Ranger also sits on the board of the Ivy Tech Foundation and is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. by Lori D. Roberts

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November 2013 | LIFE SCIENCES 13

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by Laura Kruty

Collaborative Spirit

The new Indiana Biosciences Research Institute connects top life-sciences companies and research universities in the Hoosier state

A new partnership is poised to strengthen the already solid life-sciences industry in Indiana. Announced in May, the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute brings together the state’s research universities and heavyhitters in the life-sciences sector and creates a platform for discovering, developing, and delivering biosciences and medical-technology innovations in Indiana and beyond. Roche Diagnostics, Eli Lilly and Company, Dow AgroSciences, Cook Group Inc., Indiana University Health, Biomet Inc., Indiana University, Purdue Univer-

sity, and the University of Notre Dame, along with BioCrossroads and the state of Indiana, are founding partners of the institute—the first such industry-led organization in the country. Indiana’s life-sciences companies are leading the way in several diverse areas: diagnostic tests, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cell-based therapies, agricultural biotechnology, and animal health. And its top universities are increasing their presence in areas such as biomedical engineering, bioinformatics, pharmacy, cell and cancer biology, nanotechnology, and agriculture. With indus-

A Closer Look at Indiana’s Life-Sciences Industry The industry has a statewide economic impact of more than $50 billion. Nearly 2,000 life-sciences companies are based in Indiana. Those companies are directly responsible for creating 55,000 jobs. Between 2001 and 2010, the industry’s job-growth rate was 14 percent, at a time when the state’s private-sector employment declined 7 percent. Only two states—Texas and California—have more life-sciences exports than Indiana. The medical-device companies based in Warsaw are responsible for more than one-third of the industry’s global market share. Sources: Indiana Biosciences Research Institute and BioCrossroads

14 LIFE SCIENCES | November 2013

try leaders working side by side with research institutions, the goal is to attract the best scientific talent (both nationally and internationally) and more federal research funding to the state. The institute’s initial projects will focus on pressing health concerns of both Hoosiers and the overall population, namely cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and nutrition. In 2011, 10.1 percent of Hoosier adults reported having some form of diabetes, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. And in a report released in August by Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Indiana weighed in as the eighth-fattest state in the country, with 31.4 percent of adults identified as being obese. Having already formed a board of directors, the institute is looking to secure start-up capital, hire a CEO, initiate an industry-sponsored research project, open its own facilities, and recruit its first “Indiana Fellow” in the next couple of years. The Indiana Fellow, more of whom the organization plans to recruit in the future, will lead groups of scientists and partner with industry and universities on research projects. In June, the Lilly Endowment awarded a $10 million grant to the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership in support of the work of the Biosciences Research Institute. This came after the Indiana General Assembly earmarked $25 million for the institute’s start-up costs. Through corporate and philanthropic sources, the institute is aiming to reach $50 million for its initial operations.

Because of us, Gail and Steve can still dream of parenthood. Every day at Roche Diagnostics we work to help patients like Gail live longer, healthier lives and focus on their dreams, not their disease. That’s why we’re advancing the cause of women’s health by developing tests that help doctors decide which patients need closer monitoring. Together, we’re making advances that make a difference, because dreams are what matter most.

Doing now what patients need next

Learn more about Gail’s story at http://becauseofus.roche.com/Gail