[December 04, 2012]

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Chooses RIVA to Ensure Accuracy and Safety of Chemotherapy Medications

Intelligent Hospital Systems (IH Systems), maker of the RIVA fully-automated medication compounding system, announced that the technology produced its first chemotherapy dose today, December 4, 2012. The medication was administered to a patient being treated at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto.

"RIVA provides an important safeguard for patient care when there is simply no room for error," said Dr. Niels Erik Hansen, president and CEO of IH Systems. "RIVA technology sets a new standard in safety by virtually eliminating the risk of medication error and contamination."

Part of the University Health Network (UHN) comprised of four hospitals in downtown Toronto, Princess Margaret is recognized globally as one of the world's leading cancer centers dedicated to patient care, research and education. UHN's pharmacy department is the largest comprehensive clinical pharmacy program in Canada. The department added RIVA's automated compounding technology as part of the redevelopment of its chemotheapy daycare unit to ensure it continues to meet the highest standards for safety, accuracy and efficiency.

"Drugs used in cancer treatment have a narrow window of dosing for safety and effectiveness, beyond which the dose can be subtherapeutic or highly toxic," said Rita Kwong, site operations manager at Princess Margaret Pharmacy, UHN. "Robotic automation such as RIVA provides a solution that enhances both medication safety for our cancer patients as well as occupational health and safety of pharmacy staff."

Since its introduction in 2008, RIVA systems globally have collectively prepared more than 1 million doses of medication safely and accurately. The system's safety record has been demonstrated by more than 50,000 routine quality control checks at 27 RIVA installations that have found no contamination in compounds produced by the machines.

IH Systems will be providing demonstrations of how RIVA performs complex compounding processes for IV syringes and bags at booth 645 at the American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP) conference, Dec. 2 - 6 in Las Vegas.

About Intelligent Hospital Systems

Founded in 2006, Intelligent Hospital Systems (IH Systems) is a medical device company focused on the design and development of automated solutions for the hospital environment. Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, IH Systems manufactures RIVA, a fully automated IV compounding system that prepares medications for syringes and IV bags in an aseptic environment. Using RIVA, hospitals enhance patient safety, lower the cost-per-dose of medications, reduce their vulnerability to medication shortages and cut waste. For more information, visit http://www.intelligenthospitals.com/.

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