ProSanos® is a California-based life sciences company that made a major commitment to Pennsylvania by locating its product development office in Harrisburg. ProSanos provides services and products that transform health-related data into knowledge that helps advance patient safety, improve drug lifecycle management, and enhance quality of care. ProSanos clients are in sectors including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, health care, research, and government; current clients include Hoffman-La Roche, Enzon Pharmaceuticals, and Maxim Pharmaceuticals.

The privately held company specializes in the creation, management, and analysis of patient observational studies—for example, disease registries, clinical databases, and outcomes measures. Observational studies deal with real-world patient situations, such as simultaneous multiple illnesses and overlapping medications, as opposed to the controlled world of clinical trials.

Some companies have been reluctant to undertake observational studies because data with so many variables is difficult to integrate and analyze. But such studies can supply valuable input into the design of clinical trials, and can also provide the basis for reliable, unbiased reports on drug safety and efficacy, and for regulatory submissions (such as changes in the use of medications). Results are also useful in preparing scientific marketing materials: important audiences can learn about unpublicized but useful aspects of a product through professional journals and conference presentations and posters. ProSanos services and products have benefited clients in all these areas.
 
The company’s tools and technologies have proved valuable to clients in therapeutic fields including organ transplantation, diabetes, menopause, oncology, infectious disease, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and inflammatory diseases. The ProSanos approach can also be applied quickly and productively to a wide range of other diseases and conditions.

Products Fuel Growth

ProSanos is growing rapidly: the company was recently designated the second-fastest-growing “Rising Star” in San Diego’s booming technology community. Although corporate headquarters is in California, almost half the staff is based at the company’s product development office in Harrisburg. The Harrisburg team is responsible for creating the products used by clients, such as:

 SSEER™ (Simultaneous Secure Electronic Entry and Reporting), a breakthrough integrated system for entering, reporting, and analyzing patient data from observational studies in registries and clinical databases. SSEER is ideal for use in studies of products that are already on the market, and it’s suitable for use in any therapeutic area. Both record entry and data analysis are web-based, supporting single or multiple sites. The data is hosted by ProSanos, for both security and database maintenance.

SSEER provides benefits at several levels. Sponsoring companies can determine content to be captured for scientific messages (such as publications and abstracts) and possible regulatory submission. Researchers and clinicians can monitor outcomes continuously through both standard and customized reporting. A collaborative research environment is created by the active participation of thought leaders and investigators from many sites. And ultimately, patients can benefit through safer and more effective products and an improved standard of care.

 SSIFT™ (Stratification and Synchronization InFerence Technology), which generates a mathematical model of an entire disease process. Patient records are often fragmentary views of the progression of a disease over a long period of time; SSIFT’s innovative proprietary techniques synchronize clinical data records so that underlying patterns can be recognized.

SSIFT is valuable to basic research, drug discovery, clinical trial design, and pharmaceutical outcomes research. It’s a new analytical approach that allows clients to identify the best patient candidates for a particular drug (or, conversely, those at risk for specific adverse events). It also increases accuracy in predicting treatment outcomes, and can reveal new relationships between genes and the course of clinical disease.

Harrisburg Office Thrives

The ProSanos Harrisburg presence has been supported by the Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central Pennsylvania, a public/private joint venture designed to accelerate the commercialization of biotechnology research. Early in 2003, ProSanos received a relocation grant from the Greenhouse’s Technology Development Fund, and in February 2004 the Greenhouse made a $500,000 investment in ProSanos.

Steph Reisinger, Vice President, Development for ProSanos says, “Our team is doing innovative, quality work that makes a major contribution to our clients, and central Pennsylvania provides an ideal environment. The quality of life is excellent and there’s a stable, well-trained workforce.”

Jonathan Morris, MD, CEO of ProSanos, who spends a significant portion of his time in Harrisburg, adds, “We find Pennsylvania a great place to do business. The Harrisburg location is convenient to our East Coast clients, and we’ve been pleased with the talented people we’ve found in the region. The Greenhouse goes all-out to encourage technology companies like us to make a home in central PA. We expect the Harrisburg office to continue to grow and develop high-quality products.”