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North Georgia Business Radio

Brett Grauss with ProGeneX Laboratories and Terry Merck with AYC Plastics

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Beau Henderson, Brett Grauss, Terry Merck, Dr. Bill Lampton

Brett Grauss/ProGeneX Laboratories, Inc.

ProGeneX is a clinical solutions provider, and not just a lab company. ProGeneX is a lab agnostic; however, They have a progressive genetic testing facility that does not bill Medicare/Medicaid/Private Insurance and works on a B2B “cash” basis. This way they can make the cost of the test very inexpensive. ProGeneX uses the broadest pharmacogenetic panel in the industry (MyBestMed TM) and then keep that panel data safe and secure in the RxGeneAlert TM data portal. The ProGeneX data portal integrates genetic test results from pharmacogenetic (PGx) testing with real-time medication prescription data (from the pharmacy provider) to provide medication alarms related to Drug-Gene interactions that may result in harm to the patient or failure in efficacy because of genetic metabolic functions. This Premium service is provided as a value added, ancillary to their PGx testing. ProGeneX currently has an excellent business partnership with PharMerica/Brightspring. Pharmerica, their largest client, is the nation’s second largest provider of pharmacy services to the long-term care market, and is engaged in close to 2000 facilities. Starting in August of this year, Pharmerica agreed to take the program out of pilot and go national. This relationship provides for market differentiating clinical services related to high-risk medication management in the long-term care and homecare market verticals. Testing costs within this vertical are largely paid for by insurers/CMS. The data in their risk management platform is easily integrated within the Pharmerica EHR systems (to their knowledge, a first) to provide these kinds of services to all types of healthcare clients throughout the care continuum. The source of the genetic data can be any CLIA/CAP/COLA certified laboratory. In cases where necessary, ProGeneX can provide PGx testing at extremely low prices. For example, patients in rehab facilities and are covered under Part A have no individual test coverage. Typical lab providers cannot provide low price testing and bill CMS at a higher rate. ProGeneX bridges that gap. They have a strategy to make these kinds of patients to community pharmacies utilizing their mobile app and risk management platform.

Terry Merck/American Yazaki Corporation

AYC Plastics is a Plastic Blow Molding manufacturing plant. The manufacture multi-layered blow molded fuel tanks for Honda Power Equipment and Yamaha(4-wheelers/off road vehicles). AYC Plastics also makse mono-layered ink cartridge bottles for Ricoh Electronics, Inc.

Midtown Business Radio

Midtown Alliance and Blue Goblin

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Midtown Alliance and Blue Goblin

I hosted Shannon Powell and Ben Hirokawa of Midtown Alliance and Blue Goblin, respectively. Shannon Powell is the COO for Midtown Alliance and Ben Hirokawa is founder and President of Blue Goblin, a plastic foam recycling company.

Created in 1978, Midtown Alliance has been a significant force in the revitalization of Midtown Atlanta, a district that runs from ~Pine St. on the south end to the Peachtree Bridge over I-75 entering Buckhead on the north end, and east-west from I-75 to ~Piedmont Ave.

Midtown Alliance is a not-for-profit membership organization and consists of a coalition of local business and community leaders. Each member is committed to establishing Midtown as a leading destination for commerce, culture, education and living.

Midtown Alliance is led by a 71-member board of the district’s leading private sector executives and their mission is to improve and sustain the quality of life for those who live, work and play in this thriving business and residential district. The Alliance fulfills is mission through a comprehensive approach to planning and development, including numerous initiatives to enhance public safety, improve the physical environment, and strengthen the urban amenities giving the area its distinctive character.

Guided by a visionary master plan – Blueprint Midtown – and in partnership with the Midtown Improvement District, Midtown has become a national model for urban excellence.

Ben Hirokawa has been a leader in three different start-ups, including a recent one in South Carolina focused on recycling a variety of household appliances. That enterprise developed technology that would allow them to dispense with the noxious coolant materials and associated fumes/gases safely, allowing them to reclaim the metals and plastics.

Founded in 2014, Blue Goblin is an innovative, environmentally-sound solution for disposal of plastic foams. These versatile foams – found in products ranging from commercial roofing and wall insulation, to refrigerated transport units, to mattresses and other furniture, to many types of packaging – pose significant challenges at end-of-life: they are bulky and difficult to transport and compact, and they can emit significant greenhouse gasses.

Both the U.S. EPA and the California Air Resources Board have recognized emissions from PUR, XPS, and ISO foams

as significant environmental challenges, but currently virtually all of these foams are landfilled. Blue Goblin offers a solution:

• Mobile Service: Blue Goblin brings its processing unit directly to its customers, and begins the process of compacting and recycling these foams on-site, significantly reducing transportation and waste disposal costs

• Environmental Responsibility: Greenhouse gasses are captured and properly disposed

• Convenience and Customer Service: Blue Goblin works with each customer to define the scope of the job and maximize convenience and value

Special Guests:

Shannon Powell, COO, of Midtown Alliance