AIS Healthcare’s Latest Infusion Therapy Offering — What Is It and How Does It Work

Another treatment that helps people fight immunodeficiency diseases is now offered by Advanced Infusion Care (AIC), a division of AIS Healthcare. This new therapeutic option is part  of AIS Healthcare's expanding infusion care business line.

Not just a nursing services provider or pharmacy, AIS Healthcare is, according to the website, a "leading provider of targeted drug delivery (TDD) and infusion care. We are a health care company committed to doing more of what matters."

That commitment is apparent in the addition of GAMMAKED^TM, which helps sufferers of primary humoral immunodeficiency, adults and children who suffer from idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), and adults with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP).

About 500,000 people are estimated to suffer from primary humoral immunodeficiency diseases, aka PI, in the United States - a group of around 400 chronic disorders where the body's immune system doesn't function properly or is absent. When people with PI get an infection, like a cold or infected cut, their body's immune system doesn't function optimally and they can contract more serious illnesses or infections, like pneumonia. Meanwhile, 100,000 people are thought to suffer from CIDP, a neurological disorder that causes weakness, tingling, or numbness in the arms and legs. The autoimmune disease IDP causes a person's immune system to mistakenly attack and destroy platelets, often resulting in bleeding, and affects around 200,000 people worldwide.

For CIDP sufferers, GAMMAKED^TM has been shown to reduce the neuromuscular disability of patients and help prevent a relapse. For patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases, GAMMAKED^TMhelps protect them from severe infections and acute sinusitis. For people with ITP, the goal of treatment is to raise blood platelet counts to a normal range. GAMMAKED^TM has been shown to do just that.

'Additional Treatment Options'

"We're proud to be able to add GAMMAKED^TM to our growing list of [immunoglobulin] infusion therapies," said Jud Hall, president at Advanced Infusion Care, a division of AIS Healthcare. "This therapy from Kedrion can help us provide additional treatment options for our patients."

GAMMAKED^TM is an infusion therapy that helps sufferers of PI, CIDP and ITP by using plasma donations to treat people with these conditions. GAMMAKED^TM's addition is great news for Advanced Infusion Care patients in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Texas - all areas where AIC operates. 

GAMMAKED^TM, developed by Kedrion Biopharma, is the latest in a growing list of immunoglobulin infusion therapies offered by AIS Healthcare's Advanced Infusion Care. 

So, what are infusion therapies, and how do they work?

Infusion Therapies, Explained

Infusion therapies are tried-and-true methods for combating a range of diseases. GAMMAKED^TM was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2011. When people recover from certain illnesses, their blood and plasma can be full of valuable antibodies that can help fight the illness: proteins called immunoglobulins. 

Infusion therapies are a way of passing antibodies to people fighting a disease by isolating the antibodies in the plasma and delivering them though intravenous replacement therapy. Medications containing these immunoglobulins can be administered to patients intravenously by injection straight into the bloodstream.

For many years, plasma infusion therapies have been used to treat a whole host of medical conditions, like excessive bleeding or clotting, lung problems, autoimmune diseases, and genetic disorders.

Companies like Kedrion Biopharma bring blood plasma donors and people who need treatment together by collecting plasma and producing and distributing plasma-derived therapies like GAMMAKED^TM.

What Is GAMMAKED^TM?

GAMMAKED^TMuses immunoglobulins that help treat primary humoral immunodeficiency diseases when the patient doesn't have enough functioning antibodies to fight infections. The FDA has approved GAMMAKED^TM specifically for a variety of issues including chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, and primary humoral immunodeficiency.

The treatment can be administered intravenously for CIDP, ITP, and PI, and can also be administered subcutaneously for the treatment of PI.

The therapy was developed by Kedrion Biopharma, an international company that develops treatments and prevention for serious diseases, disorders, and conditions such as hemophilia, primary immune system deficiencies, and Rh sensitization by collecting and fractionating blood plasma to produce and distribute plasma-derived therapeutic products like GAMMAKED^TM.

How AIS Healthcare Makes Infusion Therapy Work for Its Patients

AIS Healthcare home infusion teams are nationally accredited and collaborate closely with physicians to provide specialized in-home infusion services.

Every patient has a dedicated team of health care and medical professionals that includes infusion nurse specialists, clinical pharmacists, and intake managers who provide support throughout the treatment. The high level of care AIS Healthcare patients receive includes 24/7 access to clinical and support staff. 

Infusion nurse specialists come to patients' homes to provide treatment and training in self-infusion and infusion pumps. Clinical pharmacists help patients select treatments that meet the health care conditions and restrictions of each individual. Intake managers check and review the benefits for every patient, helping them gather the documentation they need to be approved for treatment. The whole system works in collaboration with physicians and is geared towards advancing the quality of care and improving the lives of patients and their families.

In Advanced Infusion Care, a division of AIS Healthcare, physicians wanting to offer the regime to patients have a full-service care delivery partner with contracts with multiple immunoglobulin suppliers like Kedrion, ensuring there is always a stock of prescribed therapies. AIS Healthcare also works directly with patients, insurance companies, and physician's offices to complete paperwork and secure the required authorizations.

Through its specialty pharmacies, AIS Healthcare prepares and delivers prescriptions to patients across the country with the goal of always putting the safety of its clients first, advancing the quality of health care and improving the lives of everyone the company serves.

AIS Healthcare's nursing staff gives patient-specific care, attention, and support to all their patients, providing Ig therapy in the home to make life easier for the people in their care.

For many physicians, AIS Healthcare has been a collaborative partner for years, helping them serve their patients effectively and efficiently by supplying the full breadth of compounds for pumps and preparing specific formulations, concentrations, and infusion therapies.

Its dual accreditation from both the URAC and the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) further sets AIS Healthcare apart from other infusion services providers, and the treatment is available at all AIC locations - Valdosta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; Clinton, Mississippi; Panama City, Florida; and Dallas, Texas.