Dr. Richard J. Melker

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  lavendermagazine.com/this-issue/news-and-politics/bigga - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 5/9/2008    Last Visited: 5/9/2008  

  The new device, produced in collaboration with Xhale Inc., could help prevent the emergence of drug-resistant strains of HIV by monitoring medication adherence in high-risk individuals, according to Dr. Richard Melker, a Professor of Anesthesiology at the UF College of Medicine and Chief Technology Officer for Xhale.The device records the results of each breath test, allowing patients to bring a memory card or USB key to their physician once a month, and receive a printout of their results."The doctor can see how often you took [a medication], and exactly what time.If it made the patient really sick or dizzy, and they didn't take it, they can find out why," Melker stated, adding it's not just a question of whether the medication was consumed, but also when it was taken, or why it wasn't.

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  www.hivedmonton.com/resources/e_update_newsletter/HIV%2 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 5/6/2008    Last Visited: 9/29/2008  

  According to Richard Melker, a professor of anesthesiology at the University of Florida College of Medicine and chief technology officer at Xhale, the shoebox-sized device makes a beeping sound when it is time for HIV-positive people to take their antiretroviral drugs.If patients do not press a button to signal that they have taken their medication after five minutes, the device begins to beep at an increasingly louder volume until the button is pressed, Melker said.He added that if the button is not pressed after a set amount of time, the device can contact treatment coordinators to indicate that patients did not follow their treatment regimens.

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  www.floridahightech.org/pressroom/facesoftech.html - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 2/22/2008    Last Visited: 6/27/2008  

  Dr. Richard Melker , V.P. of product development at Gainesville's Xhale Diagnostics, which is developing a line of breath-based devices to replace many conventional diagnostic tests and decrease the cost of bringing new drugs to market;

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  www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/uof-std042108.p - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/21/2008    Last Visited: 4/25/2008  

  "For HIV, it's been shown that if you don't take a very high percentage of your medication, you may as well not take medication at all," said Richard Melker, M.D., a professor of anesthesiology at the UF College of Medicine and chief technology officer for Xhale.
  
  Patients who take some but not all of their medication increase the likelihood the virus will mutate into a deadlier, drug-resistant form.Experts have tried literally hundreds, if not thousands, of ways to monitor drug adherence, ranging from daily log books to blister packs that record the time each pill is dispensed.Despite the money, time and effort devoted to these methods, Melker said only one works well: directly observed therapy, or DOT.
  
  "If you have a disease that is deemed to be a public health risk, authorities can put you into a program where you have to come to the clinic every day and be observed putting the pill into your mouth and swallowing it," Melker said.
  
  But that process is inconvenient for patients, as well as for clinic personnel who have to track them down when they fail to show up.A breath-monitoring device developed by UF scientists and Xhale could change that, allowing patients to participate in a type of virtual DOT from home.
  
  "The machine sits in your home and when it's time for you to take your medication, it makes a beeping noise.If you don't hit a button after about five minutes, it's going to beep louder and louder until you come," Melker said.
  ...
  If it made the patient really sick or dizzy and they didn't take it, they can find out why," Melker said.
  ...
  "If you enroll HIV/AIDS patients in a clinical trial and they don't take the medication, then you may not get adequate proof that the drug is effective," Melker said.
  ...
  Melker said.

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  www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/20710/ - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 5/2/2008    Last Visited: 5/2/2008  

  The analyzer was originally developed for the military to test the surrounding air for agents of chemical warfare, says Richard Melker, a University of Florida professor and chief technology officer at Xhale.
  ...
  Ensuring drug compliance may make clinical trials more effective, says Melker, particularly because participants paid to take the medicine may not be honest if they skip doses."We believe that having quality data will dramatically decrease the cost of trials, and that the drugs approved by the FDA would be safer," says Melker.

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  dev.foodsafetynetwork.ca/fsnet/2007/1-2007/fsnet_jan_22 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/22/2002    Last Visited: 11/3/2007  

  The other authors are Richard Melker, a UF professor of anesthesiology, and Dong Kyoo Park, a UF biomedical engineering doctoral student.

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  www.synogen.com/ScienceAdvisors.asp - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/12/2006    Last Visited: 8/13/2008  

  Richard Melker, M.D., Ph.D. Medical Device Intellectual Property, Technology Transfer

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  2003 GRC on Chemical Sensors & Interfacial Design - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/11/2003    Last Visited: 11/30/2003  

  Richard Melker (University of Florida, Gainesville)"Chemical Sensing of Exhaled Breath for Medical Diagnosis"

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  BCPWA HIV/AIDS eNews - April 30, 2008 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/30/2008    Last Visited: 10/2/2008  

  "For HIV, it's been shown that if you don't take a very high percentage of your medication, you may as well not take medication at all," said Richard Melker, M.D., a professor of anesthesiology at the UF College of Medicine and chief technology officer for Xhale.
  
  Patients who take some but not all of their medication increase the likelihood the virus will mutate into a deadlier, drug-resistant form.Experts have tried literally hundreds, if not thousands, of ways to monitor drug adherence, ranging from daily log books to blister packs that record the time each pill is dispensed.Despite the money, time and effort devoted to these methods, Melker said only one works well: directly observed therapy, or DOT.
  
  "If you have a disease that is deemed to be a public health risk, authorities can put you into a program where you have to come to the clinic every day and be observed putting the pill into your mouth and swallowing it," Melker said.
  
  But that process is inconvenient for patients, as well as for clinic personnel who have to track them down when they fail to show up.A breath-monitoring device developed by UF scientists and Xhale could change that, allowing patients to participate in a type of virtual DOT from home.
  
  "The machine sits in your home and when it's time for you to take your medication, it makes a beeping noise.If you don't hit a button after about five minutes, it's going to beep louder and louder until you come," Melker said.
  ...
  If it made the patient really sick or dizzy and they didn't take it, they can find out why," Melker said.
  ...
  "If you enroll HIV/AIDS patients in a clinical trial and they don't take the medication, then you may not get adequate proof that the drug is effective," Melker said.
  ...
  Melker said.

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  BCPWA HIV/AIDS eNews - May 8, 2008 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 5/8/2008    Last Visited: 10/2/2008  

  "For HIV, it's been shown that if you don't take a very high percentage of your medication, you may as well not take medication at all," said Richard Melker, M.D., a professor of anesthesiology at the UF College of Medicine and chief technology officer for Xhale.
  
  Patients who take some but not all of their medication increase the likelihood the virus will mutate into a deadlier, drug-resistant form.Experts have tried literally hundreds, if not thousands, of ways to monitor drug adherence, ranging from daily log books to blister packs that record the time each pill is dispensed.Despite the money, time and effort devoted to these methods, Melker said only one works well: directly observed therapy, or DOT.
  
  "If you have a disease that is deemed to be a public health risk, authorities can put you into a program where you have to come to the clinic every day and be observed putting the pill into your mouth and swallowing it," Melker said.
  
  But that process is inconvenient for patients, as well as for clinic personnel who have to track them down when they fail to show up.A breath-monitoring device developed by UF scientists and Xhale could change that, allowing patients to participate in a type of virtual DOT from home.
  
  "The machine sits in your home and when it's time for you to take your medication, it makes a beeping noise.If you don't hit a button after about five minutes, it's going to beep louder and louder until you come," Melker said.
  ...
  If it made the patient really sick or dizzy and they didn't take it, they can find out why," Melker said.
  ...
  "If you enroll HIV/AIDS patients in a clinical trial and they don't take the medication, then you may not get adequate proof that the drug is effective," Melker said.
  ...
  Melker said.

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