Health Robotics' CytoCare(R) Drives Largest Cancer Robotics Center in the World at Akdeniz University Hospital, Turkey

BOZEN, Sud-Tirol, Italy, January 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Robotics today announced the official opening and live operation of the largest Sterile Compounding Center for Oncology patients in the world. Akdeniz University Hospital in Antalya (Turkey) compounds 90% of its 80.000 annual chemotherapy intravenous doses with 4 CytoCare robots and related Health Robotics' technology, or an average of 325 patient doses per 6-hour work cycle. The Oncology Pharmacy at the 600-bed hospital is jointly operated by the hospital's staff and by Rivosem, Health Robotics' exclusive partner in Turkey and Central Asia.

"With Akdeniz University Hospital, we have now expanded our CytoCare multi-robot installation experience to 4 robots per hospital compared to our prior 2-robot redundant implementations elsewhere in Turkey. All chemotherapy doses are administered to patients in proprietary, light-protected, soft plastic IV Bags of .25, .5, and 1L sizes, double checked with vision technology and gravimetric control, ensuring that each and every patient gets the right drug, the right diluent, the right quantity, at the right time, all within a high-availability environment," stated Hilmi Sunay, Rivosem's Executive Vice President.

CytoCare continues to be the world's first and only robotic system proven to ever work in the safe and sterile preparation of both powders and liquid patient-specific Hazardous Intravenous Admixtures, including Chemotherapy, Monoclonal Antibody Therapy, and Gene Therapy. Now reaching over 60 worldwide installations under contract, CytoCare has long proven its unmatched flexibility to adapt to diverse pharmacy workflows and proprietary IV consumables in 4 continents. While several companies attempted the development of Chemotherapy Robotics as far back as 22 years ago[1], CytoCare is still the only robot that has been able to break the entry-barrier into the Intravenous Chemotherapy Automation Sector.

"With 22 CytoCare installations, Turkey has now surpassed Italy as our number one regional market for Oncology Therapy Robotics. We thank the outstanding support we have received from both Rivosem and from the Turkish Government in, respectively, designing and funding pay-per-dose acquisition models for CytoCare that enable Turkish hospitals to adopt our world's leading Oncology Pharmacy Robotics platform for the safety of clinicians and patients alike, and without having to worry about capital budget funding. It is truly a testament to the great potential of Health Robotics' IV Automation solutions and a guiding light for Health Robotics and its worldwide partners, especially for the Centralized Sterile Compounding Center initiatives recently developed by Health Robotics South East Asia in cooperation with the Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam Governments" stated Gaspar DeViedma, Health Robotics' Executive Vice President.

About Health Robotics:

Health Robotics is the undisputed global leading supplier of life-critical intra-venous medication robots, providing over 170 hospital installations in 5 continents with robotics technology and software automation solutions deployed utilizing virtual high-availability technology. Its world-leading solutions CytoCare(R) [hazardous IVs], i.v.STATION(R) [non-hazardous IVs], i.v.SOFT(R) [workflow engine for manual compounding], MEDarchiver(R) [life-critical clinical information system], and TPNstation(TM) [totally-automated parenteral nutrition] have and will greatly contribute to ease hospitals' growing pressures to improve patient safety, increase throughput and contain costs. Through the effective and efficient production of sterile, accurate, tamper-evident and ready-to-administer IVs, Health Robotics' solutions help hospitals eliminate life-threatening drug and diluent exchange errors, decrease other medical mistakes and sterility risks, work more efficiently, reduce waste and controlled substances' diversion, and diminish the gap between rising patient volume/acuity and scarce medical, nursing, and pharmacy staff. For more information, please visit: http://www.health-robotics.com

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[1] Am J Hosp Pharm 46(11): 2286-93 1989

    
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