Praxeon Blog

Praxeon Provides Its State-Of-The-Art Healthcare Search Platform to Aid Members of the Nicholas Conor Institute

Boston, MA - San Diego, CA -  July 9, 2010

Praxeon  (www.praxeon.com), a leader in healthcare and life science semantic searching platforms, announced today that it is providing its award winning platform, MyDailyApple, to the Nicholas Conor Institute (www.thenicholasconorinstitute.org).  MyDailyApple brings together medical news, research, communities, blogs, and stories from all over the web and personalizes all this health information to the healthcare consumer’s needs.

“We are delighted to join Praxeon’s Health Advocacy Platform Initiative (H.A.P.I.) and provide our members with a very powerful tool.  By having MyDailyApple on our website and accessible to our members, parents with children afflicted with pediatric cancer can now have the latest healthcare information and scientific developments at their fingertips. Having gone through the trauma of having a child diagnosed with pediatric cancer, I know how much access to the most current information means,” stated Beth Anne Baber, founder and CEO of The Nicholas Conor Institute for Pediatric Cancer Research.

Dr. Dennis Underwood, CEO, CSO and co-founder of Praxeon, said “We are very happy to provide our technology to the Nicholas Conor Institute.  Beth Anne has worked tirelessly in creating the Institute and we are happy to have the opportunity to help her in her efforts of educating and bringing together parents, researchers and scientists worldwide in order to share information and find cures for childhood cancer.  Our Health Advocacy Platform Initiative was launched in 2007 as a way for us to “give back” to the community.  By delivering MyDailyApple to the many members of HAPI, we allow them to have access to the latest information related to their specific ailment through an easy-to-access web-portal contained within their homepage.  It will help institute members in finding out more of their specific disease by conducting searches on a breadth of information related to pediatric cancer.”

You can help support The Nicholas Conor Institute for Pediatric Cancer Research by voting in the Chase Community Giving  Campaign – just click on the FaceBook link below and follow the instructions or copy and paste the link into a browser. 

http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/261768860-nicholas-conor-institute-corporation

For more information on how your health advocacy group can join H.A.P.I. go to the Praxeon website (www.praxeon.com) or email:  hapi@praxeon.com.

About Nicholas Conor Institute

The Nicholas Conor Institute for Pediatric Cancer Research is a medical research organization dedicated to support the development of diagnostics, therapeutics and personalized programs specifically for children with cancer. The goal of the Institute is to establish efficient, mutually beneficial partnerships between industry, academia, clinicians and funding sources. These partnerships aim to develop predictive diagnostics to guide individualized therapy, to bring to the clinic new therapies that consider the unique molecular makeup of the child and to translate discoveries into integrated, personalized treatment programs.

About Praxeon

Praxeon is headquartered in Boston.  Our customers range from consumer & healthcare providers to insurance companies to contract research organizations (CROs) to pharmaceutical & biotech companies.

Its Semantic Fingerprint technology combined with Web 2.0+ tools helps solve difficult informatics’ challenges facing drug discovery & development, medicine and healthcare.

Discovery Lens integrates data from a combination of public, third party and proprietary sources and harvests and applies the resulting knowledge within such areas as: identifying new targets, repositioning drugs, risk analysis, biomarker discovery, adverse events as well as other critical R&D tasks. The MyDailyApple and CurbsideMD web-portals deliver valuable information to patients and physicians respectively.

Dr. Dennis Underwood, Co-Founder of Praxeon, To Present at Conference on Semantics in Healthcare & Life Sciences - (C-SHALS)

BOSTON, MA - MONTREAL, CANADA JANUARY 18, 2010.

Dr. Dennis Underwood, co-founder and CEO of Praxeon (http://www.praxeon.com), has been asked to speak at the upcoming Conference on Semantics in Healthcare & Life Science (CSHALS). His talk, entitled Using Semantic Methods to Access Medical Information for Healthcare Professionals and their Patients, will review Praxeon's award winning work in the Health 2.0 field where they have focused on delivering the most up-to-date healthcare information and developments to physicians and at the same time providing them with a platform to exchange ideas, thoughts and best practices.

CSHALS was created to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of practical semantics-based approaches, including challenges faced and applications that are working. This years conference will feature Prof. Jim Hendler (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Dr. Martin D. Leach (Merck & Co. Inc) and Dr. Lynn H. Vogel (University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center) in addition to a host of notable speakers from industry, government and academia. Presentation and presentation topics will highlight specific applications of semantic technologies to show where advances have been made, determine what the current needs are, and anticipate where the field is headed in order to prepare and advance with the field.

Ted Slater, Conference Chair of CSHALS and an Associate Director at Boehringer Ingelheim said, "We are delighted to have Dennis speak at this years CSHALS. Praxeons work in applying semantic methods and techniques to Healthcare and Life Science are great examples of how semantics applications have evolved from discussion to practical use. We look forward to hearing more from Dennis at the conference and discussing first-hand their experiences with Curbside.MD and its utilization by the medical community."

"The 2010 CSHALS promises to be an engaging meeting place and platform for all of us involved in using semantics to get to the heart of the knowledge harvesting. We look forward to welcoming all those interested in how semantics have been applied thus far and discussing future directions for the discipline," Slater went on to say.

"We are honored to have been asked to present our work at this notable conference. Praxeon was created to allow healthcare professionals as well as researchers in drug discovery to move beyond data access. We have strived to develop semantic-based applications that move to the next level of true knowledge building and practical application through such portals as our www.Curbside.MD and www.MyDailyApple.com. Our talk will cover the best ways to apply semantic integration methods to assist those in the medical field to truly optimize their access to critical data and usage of the resulting knowledge", said Dennis Underwood.

C-SHALS takes place February 24-26, 2010 in Cambridge, MA. The "Early-bird" registration deadline is: January 20, 2010. To register please go to: http://www.iscb.org/cshals2010-registration

Praxeon Welcomes Bill Hayden To Its Team

Boston, MA - Montreal, Canada December 17, 2009

It was announced today that Bill Hayden has joined Praxeon (www.praxeon.com), a leader in healthcare and life science semantic searching platforms, in the role of Vice President International Business Development.

"We are excited to have Bill on our team. He brings over 15 years of experience in technology, healthcare and life science. He is well respected in the industry and is a key addition to our team. His wealth of knowledge and know-how will help us immensely as we move into the growth phase of our company," stated Dr. Dennis Underwood, Praxeon CEO and co-founder.

Hayden is a seasoned veteran of the chemo-informatics, bioinformatics and semantic life science sectors. He has played instrumental roles in the positioning, business development and success of a number of life science software companies.

Hayden, in accepting his new role at Praxeon, said "I was attracted to Praxeon by its combination of state-of-the-art semantic technology - Semantic Fingerprinting - and a multi-disciplinary team with an impressive breadth & scope of knowledge & expertise. Praxeons vision is to provide the life science and healthcare communities with much needed tools to solve the difficult challenges facing drug discovery and healthcare delivery. In addition, their H.A.P.I. (Health Advocacy Platform Initiative) program, providing their search technology to non-profit patient & disease foundations allowing their members easy access to critical health information, impressed me as a great way to give back".

We welcome Parents Helping Parents and United Leukodystrophy Foundation

MyDailyApple.com is delighted to welcome two new partners to its ever-expanding network:

California-based Parents Helping Parents was founded in 1976 to provide lifetime educational guidance, enlightened training support and comprehensive health-care resources to families of children with special needs and to the professionals who assist them.

Since 1982 the United Leukodystrophy Foundation (ULF) has pursued its mission to help and ultimately cure children afflicted with leukodystrophy through treatment, research, newborn screening, patient advocacy and educational programs.  The ULF also provides support services to dedicated family members and to the healthcare professionals who assist them.

MyDailyApple Upgrade : Redesigned and Community-Powered

MyDailyApple has always included the best objective health information on the web. But sometimes news and medical research is not enough. Often, it's a real person's experience that helps you gain that key insight to better understand your health.

So starting today, MyDailyApple will include the discussions from the best on-line health communities. Real patient experiences - relevant to your interests - will be on display in a new "Your Communities" tab. You will have the ability to read, interact and discuss with real people - similar to you.

The community discussions are just the start. You will also be able to recommend or criticize articles to other members of the MyDailyApple community. Reading and commenting on an article is just one of the ways we're making it easier to learn about your health while helping others.

We've also made a few other improvements to make your health exploration easier:

• New site organization making it easier to find and read the information you're looking for.
• A remember topics section to more easily remember your health interests.
• A medical expertise selector that lets you control the type of content displayed by your level of expertise and comfort.
• The ability to view your news just for today, or to catch up on developments over the past week.

There are a few more improvements too - but we'll let you discover them on your own!

Now more than ever, in one place you can find the right health information - whether it's news, research, blogs, discussions, medical reference, or clinical trials - relevant just for you - right when you need it most. And all with the opportunity to learn from and inform other patients like you.

The new MyDailyApple: Learn your Health and Help Others.

Praxeon Provides Medical Research for Kosmix RightHealth

New Service Helps Consumers Find Medical Literature In Their Health Search

Boston, MA – August 11, 2008 – Praxeon, Inc. announced today that its consumer health news and search site, MyDailyApple™ (www.mydailyapple.com), will provide advanced reading content for Kosmix™ RightHealth. RightHealth searches the health Web and categorizes it into useful modules for consumers giving them the relevant information they need to explore and learn about any health topic. The “Advanced Reading” module will now feature medical literature served from MyDailyApple. MyDailyApple’s evidence-based material will give RightHealth users access to the latest literature and research breakthroughs relevant to their query.

“Praxeon's patent-pending semantic fingerprinting, natural language query and profile-based filtering technology is what sets Praxeon apart from other health information and search companies,” said Kevin Cronin, CEO of Praxeon. “Now this technology, combined with some of the most authoritative medical content, will be available on one of the most trafficked health online sites.”

“At Kosmix, we are focused on delivering the most relevant content from a variety of sources – basic facts, advanced reading, expert opinions, forums, videos and images – to users searching for health information online,” said Ravi Raj, vice president of products at Kosmix. “Praxeon’s strong technology gives us the ability to offer millions of RightHealth users with advanced reading material and additional information for their health care needs.”

About Kosmix

Kosmix, headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., takes traditional Web search to the next level by organizing content to let consumers explore, discover and learn about any topic, connecting them to information that makes a difference in their lives. Consumers get a 360 degree view of topics that includes videos, images, reviews, discussions and expert opinions. At the core of Kosmix is a powerful content categorization engine which powers its vertical consumer sites, RightHealth, RightAutos and RightTrips, and the recent alpha of its horizontal platform, Kosmix.com.

About Praxeon

Praxeon’s sophisticated technology is revolutionizing the way people get health care information. Praxeon’s products have been extensively tested and validated by healthcare providers and by more than 20 health advocacy groups. In 2007, Praxeon was voted “Best Health Search Company” at the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, CA.

PHRs - Miracle or Mayhem?

You may have caught some of the recent press around personal health records or PHRs.  Both Microsoft and most recently Google have entered the market of providing individuals the ability to enter their personal health information in an on-line medical record.    And in the case of Google, individuals have the ability to import their medical records from pharmacies, labs, hospitals and insurers.  (Full disclosure – MyDailyApple is a Google Health service).

A lot of commentary on Microsoft HealthVault and Google Health has focused on the advantages of accessibility and patient control.  The PHR allows the patient to take their medical records anywhere and provide access to anyone at anytime – since it’s all on line.  The major disadvantage that has been mentioned revolves around issues of privacy and security.  Do you trust Microsoft or Google to safeguard your medical information?

I agree that accessibility and portability are major advantages of PHRs and that security is a major concern.  But I think most commentaries have missed some of the other major advantages associated with an on-line PHR and some of the major pitfalls.

For instance, from a patient perspective, consider some of the following additional advantages beyond portability and accessibility:

1.       Now you can review your records to see how your doctor thinks.   You can see their decision making, how thorough they are and what other diagnostic possibilities they are considering.

2.       You can see if your physician is compliant with the latest guidelines regarding screening, testing and treatment.

In short, as a patient, you can now get some insight into whether or not you are getting high quality care.

But on the flip side, from a physician perspective, there are some serious concerns with opening up medical records so easily:

1.       Does this expose physicians to additional liability?  What if a patient finds something wrong in their medical record or an omission of care?

2.       Can you imagine a HealthVault or Google Health service provided by lawyers – “We’ll see if there is evidence of negligence in your PHR and get the money you’re entitled to!”  Okay – some of you might think I’m being a paranoid doctor.  But seriously – I saw an ad on the TV asking women who had an emergency c-section to get immediate legal counsel.

Bottom line: Are providers really going to rush to provide easy access to medical records to on-line PHRs if it means they might get sued?

On-line PHRs contain the aura of another miracle for what ails the US healthcare system.  And certainly, greater transparency, portability and accessibility or records and patient empowerment are all important goals – furthered to an extent by the PHR.  But there could be problems – and a great deal of reticence beyond issues of patient privacy – before there is widespread adoption. 

Google Health and HealthVault are not going to be enough to fix the problems in US healthcare.  It’s going to take a couple of additional “mini-revolutions” beyond on-line PHRs – like in areas of medical tort reform and malpractice; easily understood and validated quality measures; financial incentives towards prevention and wellness and not just disease treatment – till this patient starts to get better.

Special thanks to my father – whose conversations with him helped shaped much of my thinking for this current blog.

Praxeon launches Google Health integrated service

New Integrated Service Helps Consumers Find Relevant Health News and Blogs Related to Their Medical Information

Boston, MA – May 20, 2008 – Praxeon, Inc. announced today that its consumer health news and search site, MyDailyApple^TM (www.mydailyapple.com), is now available as an integrated service on the Google Health platform. Google Health is a new product that was launched today at a media event in Mountain View, California that allows users to store, organize, and manage their medical records online. The new Praxeon service gives Google Health users access to health news, blogs, and research information from the most trusted sources along with the ability to personalize that information to individuals’ health profiles.

“Google Health is a personal health service that paves the way towards consumer involvement and accountability,” said Kevin Cronin, CEO of Praxeon. “And MyDailyApple provides Google Health’s users with relevant and personalized health information so that users can be fully engaged in managing their own health.”

MyDailyApple uses data from an individual’s Google Health profile, upon their consent, to provide relevant health content that is personalized to their own health conditions or medications. MyDailyApple gives Google Health users pertinent, current health information from sources that are matched by medical relevance and by measures of community popularity. This combination of sophisticated health search technology and active user input leads to a richer, more informed, personalized health experience, driven by the most trustworthy health news and information.

“Praxeon's patent-pending semantic fingerprinting, natural language query and profile-based filtering technology is what sets Praxeon apart from other health information and search companies,” said Dennis Underwood, Chief Scientific Officer of Praxeon. “That technology powers Praxeon's top-rated health news and search products — MyDailyApple^TM for consumers and Curbside.MD^TM for healthcare providers — and delivers intelligent, organized and personalized answers to health questions.”

Praxeon’s sophisticated technology is revolutionizing the way people get health care information. Praxeon’s products have been extensively tested and validated by healthcare providers and by more than 20 health advocacy groups.  In 2007, Praxeon was voted “Best Health Search Company” at the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, CA.

Google Health is available on the web at www.google.com/health

We welcome the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation

We are pleased to welcome The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation aboard the MyDailyApple.com network of disease advocacy organizations.  The renowned charitable organization was founded to accelerate curative spinal cord injury research and improve quality of life for those living with paralysis.  Named after Christopher Reeve and his wife Dana, the foundation (formerly the American Paralysis Association) lends its name to fund global initiatives in the areas of embryonic stem cells and innovative research.  Feel free to visit our new partner’s website at www.christopherreeve.org.

Financial Incentives in Medicine

A recent article in the New York Times “Many Doctors, Many Tests, No Rhyme or Reason” reminded me of the distorted financial incentives that permeate the practice of medicine in the United States. In the article, the author, a NY cardiologist states, “In our health care system, where doctors are paid piecework for their services, if you have a slew of physicians and a willing patient, almost any sort of terrible excess can occur.” He then goes on to detail the evidence of excess both at a national level and on an anecdotal basis.

Unfortunately, I have to concur with his bottom line conclusion: “Doctors are doing too much testing and too many procedures, often for the sake of business. And patients, unfortunately, are paying the price.”

This article reminded me of my own early experiences in the hospital. I remember as a third year medical student I commented to one of my classmates that my internal medicine hospital rotation was so easy! All we did was call consults every morning based on all the abnormalities we found on the labs and imaging from the day before. Okay – so I’m being a bit glib and over-exaggerating. But I do remember the conversation and sentiment very distinctly. I felt like we spent a lot of time asking for consults when maybe they weren’t necessary. But then again – I was a naïve third year medical student with no experience. What did I know? 

But I have to say, I’ve had those same nagging feelings through the years  – that utilization of consults and testing is driven by financial incentives; maybe even “throwing a bone” to one of your medical colleagues. Where I did my internship, many of the medicine patients I took care of on the wards were either uninsured, underinsured or within an HMO model. In that situation, where there really wasn’t the willing patient (or matching reimbursement) I felt we were a bit judicious and restrained in our testing and consults. But in other environments where I have practiced, where patients were more generously insured, I definitely have felt a trend towards overutilization and unnecessary testing. 

So what is a patient supposed to do in an environment of distorted incentives for testing and work-up? Some solutions will hopefully come from our site, MyDailyApple. Over the next several weeks, we will be introducing a set of content, features and tools on MyDailyApple to assist patients with understanding the world of medicine and to take action with managing their health.  Some of this is already there and I encourage you to check it out.

 
But even with all the great Health 2.0 technology, it is probably unrealistic to expect a patient to look up information and search on the internet while in the hospital. So how can an individual advocate and maybe to a certain extent – protect themselves within this environment? Probably one of the first steps, in addition to all of the technology out there, is an old-fashioned Health 0.0 solution - engage your provider in an honest discussion. Someone has to start the process. And it is always fair to ask, “Do I really need this? What happens if we find something – then what? What if there is a false positive result? What are the alternatives? Is this all necessary?” Physicians probably aren’t used to such pointed questions. But times are changing – and so should the nature of the interaction between physicians and patients. And perhaps this will start the frank dialogue to understand the distorted incentives that operate in the American health care system. 

I think one of the final quotes from a hospital executive in the New York Times article really sums up my feelings on this one.  “The hospital is a great place to be when you are sick. But I don’t want my mother in here five minutes longer than she needs to be.”