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TWST: Would you give us a short description of the company, its business, and
its history?
Mr. Peizer: Hythiam is a healthcare services management company. To treatment
providers, we license our intellectual property that relates to the treatment of
alcoholism, cocaine, crack/cocaine, and methamphetamine addiction. In addition
to licensing the intellectual property to the treatment providers, we provide
proprietary services such as education, training, database management,
operational templates, and marketing materials. We also provide them referrals
in their local areas. So we license intellectual property to healthcare
providers and we provide them with the proprietary services.
The objective is through PROMETA, which is a combination of three FDA-approved
drugs used off-label in the context of a protocol in addition to nutritional
supplementation and a psychosocial component. The PROMETA protocols are utilized
to transition the healthcare addiction treatment field from something that has
been very concentrated in inpatient treatment (i.e. the residential treatment
centers that you see throughout the country) to an out-patient model, one that
is more patient friendly, third party payer friendly, and governmental payer
friendly. This integrated approval will hopefully improve results, improve
reimbursement and incentivize more people to actually seek treatment by
bypassing some of the stigma/negativity associated with "entering rehab."
The company started with the recognition that there is a necessity for the
inpatient-treatment field that heretofore was centered around cognitive
behavioral therapies, support groups, as well as 12-Step programs, to
incorporate some of the more recent scientific findings in terms of addiction as
a brain disease. So Hythiam was created back in 2003 to be a leader in this
transition from a pure psychosocial model to a physiological with the
psychosocial model. We align ourselves with the treatment providers to
transition the industry along these lines. In that regard, we either essentially
joint venture with the treatment providers or in the case that is emerging in
our business model today, we are setting up our own company managed PROMETA
Centers as centers of excellence to elevate the profile of PROMETA within a
local geographical area. We cluster licensees all around the center to create
brand name awareness and to leverage the marketing dollars, referral source, and
general profile of the PROMETA protocols in a local area.
Over time, we ultimately believe all individuals should have access to
beneficial treatment. Our goal is to become an industry standard, with PROMETA
becoming a staple in the initiation and maintenace of sustained abstinence of
all patients. We also recognize the need to have a center of excellence in each
area to continue to develop the protocols and further improve the treatment for
the patients and the community.
Tickers included in this excerpt: HYTM
For more information call (212) 952 7433. The
Wall Street Transcript does not endorse any of the comments made by interviewees, and does
not make stock recommendations.
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