| |OCTOBER 20248NAWALOKA HOSPITALS, NITF TO OFFER ENHANCED HEALTHCARE FOR AGRAHARA MEMBERSGE HEALTHCARE CONCLUDES PHASE I CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME FOR MRINawaloka Hospitals PLC reaffirmed its dedication to providing top-notch patient-centered care by agreeing to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Insurance Trust Fund (NITF) to offer significant discounts to government employees covered under the Agrahara Medical Insurance scheme.The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Prof. Lal Chandrasena, Director/General Manager of Nawaloka Hospitals PLC, and Gamani N. Liyanarachchi, CEO of NITF, in a recent ceremony.The signing event was made special by the attendance of numerous important individuals from both organizations. NITF was attended by NITF Chairperson Sagala Abhayawickrama, Samil Thushara (AGM Operations), Nimali Pathirana (AGM Insurance), Prathibha Welikanna (Asst. Manager Legal), and Dammika Weerakoon (Acting AGM Finance).Head of Marketing Rasika Thilakarathne and Assistant Manager Corporate Relations Dulana Galappatthy represented Nawaloka Hospitals PLC. This strategic collaboration aims to provide extensive healthcare advantages and offer access to Nawaloka Hospitals PLC's full range of services for all NITF Agrahara members. This represents a significant achievement for Nawaloka Hospital as they continue to establish lasting partnerships that positively impact the wider community.The agreement also confirms Nawaloka Hospitals' reputation as a reliable healthcare provider, improving access to high-quality healthcare and affordability, as well as elevating the living standards of public service workers. POGE Healthcare, a top international company in medical technology, pharmaceutical diagnostics, and digital solutions, has finished the first stage of testing for a unique MRI contrast agent made from manganese. According to an abstract presented at the 2024 bi-annual Contrast Media Research symposium in Oslo, Norway, the findings from a first-in-human study on this manganese-based contrast agent support ongoing clinical development as it was well tolerated with no serious adverse events, dose-limiting toxicities, or clinically relevant findings reported.Gadolinium-based MRI contrast agents are commonly employed to improve detection of abnormal structures or lesions and to assist in distinguishing between healthy and pathological tissue. This manganese-based contrast agent, which is macrocyclic, extracellular, and general-purpose, has similar relaxivity to gadolinium-based agents and is expected to have comparable diagnostic capabilities to current gadolinium-based products. Manganese, in contrast to gadolinium, is found naturally in the body and is effectively removed from it.This manganese-based agent could serve as a practical substitute for gadolinium due to its beneficial image-enhancing characteristics, especially considering worries about gadolinium retention and the possible effects of gadolinium excreted by patients on the environment.Dr Paul Evans, head of global R&D at GE HealthCare's Pharmaceutical Diagnostics business segment, said, "These are encouraging phase I results for this manganese-based contrast agent and we look forward to completing the next steps in the clinical development process. This is part of our pipeline of products aiming to improve patient outcomes across care pathways." POTOP STORIES
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