St. John's Teams with Talyst, Inc. to Provide Students with Newest Pharmacy Technology

October 22, 2009

St. John’s University’s College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions will become one of the first Colleges of Pharmacy in the United States to partner with medication management company Talyst, Inc.

A special recognition ceremony to thank Talyst for their generosity will take place on Friday, October 23 at 2:30 p.m. in St. Albert Hall on the St. John’s University Queens campus. A demonstration of the use of the equipment will be provided.

Robert A. Mangione, R.Ph., Ed.D., Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions will host a reception attended by senior Talyst Inc. officials, St. John’s administrators, faculty, students and staff to celebrate this special partnership.

“This state of the art equipment will strengthen our curriculum as pharmacy students will learn how to operate the newest dispensing technology,” said Mangione. “The efficiencies gained using this advanced equipment will give them the opportunity to spend more time counseling their patients and managing therapeutic outcomes.”

To assist with pharmacy students’ storage of oral medications, Talyst Inc. has donated an Automated Oral Solid Packager and a Mini Vert Kiosk to the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions.

St. John’s alumnus Dr. Robert Fuentes P’77, MSc, PharmD., Senior Director, Medical Information, MedImmune, was instrumental in arranging the negotiations between the college and Talyst Inc. Dr. Fuentes is a member of the Dean’s Pharmacy Leadership Committee and a member of the St. John’s University Board of Governors.

Pharm.D. students will be trained to use the technology in the college’s pharmacy laboratory under the direction of lab supervisor Dr. William Maidhof.

St. John’s University anticipates that pharmacists in the greater New York City area will have the opportunity to be trained on how to use the equipment through programs sponsored by both St. John’s University and Talyst Inc. in the future.

Talyst Inc. states its company objective is to “enable positive change in the medication management process” and “to improve patient safety and operational efficiency” in hospitals, long-term care and in pharmacies.

For media inquiries, please contact Dominic Scianna, Assistant Vice President for Media Relations at St. John’s University, at (718) 990-6185, or by e-mail to sciannad@stjohns.edu.

 About Talyst, Inc.

Talyst enables positive change in the medication management process. We are dedicated to improving patient safety and operational efficiency in acute care hospitals and in long-term care, as well as in closed-door, correctional, and retail pharmacies. Our company was founded in 2002 as Integrated Healthcare Systems, Inc., a pharmacy solutions provider focused on developing simple, affordable and reliable products to assist in the medication management process.

The following year, we acquired Creative Pharmacy Solutions, and launched AutoPharm®, the software platform that integrates pharmacy bar-coding, storage, inventory, ordering and clinical systems. The initial growth of the company was supported by two rounds of funding. In early 2005, a $9 million round of institutional financing directed by AIG Global Investment Group (a subsidiary of American International Group, Inc.) enabled Talyst to expand its installation/support team and invest in proprietary product development.

In late 2006, the company received $20 million in growth funding to aggressively pursue its commitment to innovation and expansion into new pharmacy markets. That funding was co-led by Ignition Partners and OVP Venture Partners.  By the end of 2007, more than 300 hospitals across the country had installed Talyst systems, and we expect continued growth in multiple pharmacy markets. The Puget Sound Business Journal has ranked Talyst as one of the fastest growing companies in Washington State for the past three years. And in 2007, Inc. magazine recognized the company as one of the country’s fastest-growing privately-held companies.

Talyst remains dedicated to ‘Engineering the Intelligent Pharmacy’, one customer at a time.