By Chair of the Board Stacy Miller

Imagine a daily regimen of several pills, liquids or injections being reduced to a simple small film that dissolves in your mouth.

You don’t have to just imagine this great innovation because it is already developed by the brilliant team at CURE Pharmaceutical based right here in Oxnard.
 
CURE Pharmaceutical is a vertically integrated life science company with a propriety platform for oral drug delivery. The CURE mission is to improve lives by redefining how medicines are delivered and experienced, enabling more precise dosing and better efficiencies for patients. 

By partnering with innovative firms looking for new methods to deliver drugs from early feasibility to commercialization, CURE Pharmaceutical is utilizing cutting-edge technology to solve a myriad of drug delivery issues.

“CURE’s oral soluble film technology is a versatile formulation platform that allows CURE to create proprietary drug products with optimal release profiles for better patient outcomes and experiences,” explains Jessica Rousset, CURE Pharmaceutical’s Chief Operating Officer.

From young children to the elderly and some in-between, the experience of taking pills, liquids and injections can be difficult. This can lead to poor medication adherence. 

When swallowed, pills need to be dissolved by the body into particles small enough to be absorbed. During this process, as much as 80% of the drug may get metabolized by the liver and excreted.

While liquids can be offered as an alternative delivery method, they often taste terrible and can be challenging to administer to children and pets. Also, many patients strongly dislike injections, particularly when self-administered.

​CUREfilm®, CURE Pharmaceutical’s marquis drug delivery system, is revolutionizing how medicines are consumed, solving the issues some have with pills, liquids and injections. CURE’s oral dissolving film technology unleashes the full potential of drug treatments and can improve the efficacy and safety of new and existing drugs, match or improve pharmacokinetic drug profiles, and stabilize plasma levels over extended time periods, possibly reducing dose frequency and side effects.
 
With CURE’s patented technology, life-saving drugs can be delivered to patients that bypass the G.I. tract, avoiding G.I. side effects and in activation in the gut and liver. This method protects the active ingredient from degradation in the biological environment; it prolongs the drug’s presence in the blood, and it increases cellular uptake. CURE’s technology is different from other oral thin films in that larger amounts of the drug active can be loaded onto the CUREfilm®.
 
Patient benefits of the CUREfilm® include rapid delivery for faster clinical affect and symptom relief; reduced side effects with a possible lower dose; an alternative to swallowing pills and injections; and easier adherence by combining multiple actives in one dose.
 
What else is on the horizon for this innovative company? How about raising the bar for cannabis by maximizing how cannabis can be used as an effective therapy for patients?
 
“We are very excited about the momentum at CURE Pharmaceutical. We are always looking at being collaborative not competitive, and we live by our company’s mission to improve people’s lives by redefining how medicines are delivered and experienced,” says Rousset.
 
What a great innovator right here in Oxnard!  Check out CURE Pharmaceutical at: www.curepharma.com.

OXNARD, Calif., FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Oxnard Chamber of Commerce will celebrate the opening of Mission Bank with an official ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, August 1 from 4:30-6:30 p.m.
 
Media and the public are invited to attend the ribbon cutting at Mission Bank, located at 1500 Palma Drive, Suite 112 in Ventura. There will be food, beverages, tours, networking opportunities, raffles and more. This ribbon cutting ceremony is co-hosted by the Ventura Chamber of Commerce.

Learn more about Mission Bank by calling (805) 601-8555 or visiting www.missionbank.com.
 
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ABOUT THE OXNARD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
The Oxnard Chamber of Commerce is a catalyst for business growth, a convener of leaders and influencers, and a champion for a stronger community. Founded in 1908, today the Chamber empowers 500 businesses and organizations that employ more than 30,000 people. It promotes the business and economic well-being of Oxnard’s diverse community to benefit enterprises, large and small, through advocacy, networking, education, services, business exposure and promotion. Learn more at OxnardChamber.org. 

Did you know that Oxnard is the largest city in Ventura County with a population of more than 210,000? With a community of that size – and growing – it's vital for a city to have access to essential resources to ensure its residents’ health and well-being.

With that in mind, participants in the 2019 Oxnard Leadership Program went behind-the-scenes to learn about several organizations that help care for and feed the community. "Health and Human Services Day" was the group's seventh session and coordinated with the help of Cristina Cortez, Internal Communications Manager at Dignity Health.

​The morning focused on Dignity Health St. John’s Regional Medical Center, located just off the freeway in the heart of Oxnard. They were welcomed by Dr. Robert Streeter, Chief Medical Officer, who gave an overview of the hospital and its medical staff.

St. John’s offers 24/7 access to full ER and hospital services and features 265 beds, including a 23-bed acute rehabilitation center. Together with its sister hospital St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, it is the largest acute health care organization in Ventura County.

Human Resources Manager Craig Jeffery spoke about the hospital’s approach to HR recruitment, retention and company culture, while Chief Operating Officer Aaron Chang shared insight about hospital operations.

This private, not-for-profit health care system was founded more than 100 years ago, and treats more than 187,000 patients annually. The hospital also has a foundation that provides philanthropic support for building projects, equipment, and patient care services.

Oxnard Leadership met with St. John’s Foundation Vice President of Philanthropy Debi Klein who explained the foundation’s mission and achievements throughout the community. She also led the group on a tour of the hospital, including a hardhat tour of the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) expansion, which is scheduled to open later this year.

After lunch sponsored by St. John’s, the afternoon focused on two organizations that help feed those in need in the community.

The group traveled to St. John’s Food Pantry at Christ the King Church. There, they learned about St. John’s Health Ministries and received a tour of the food pantry from George West, Vice President of Mission Integration. The pantry delivers approximately 90 tons of food per year, provides produce to over 5,000 families, serves more than 15,000 hot meals and provides 2,100 holiday food baskets.

Their final stop was at FOOD Share, which provides food for more than 75,000 hungry friends and neighbors monthly. Its facility in Oxnard has two warehouses with a combined 36,000 square feet of space, and staff and volunteers distribute almost 10 million meals annually through its 190 pantry and program partners.

​Every year, the Oxnard Leadership Program leads participants through 10 unique, day-long experiences to gain a better understanding and appreciation of Oxnard and the surrounding areas’ realities, opportunities and challenges. Each session includes visits to various locations and provides participants with a unique opportunity to meet key business and government leaders who play integral roles in the region.

Networking and community involvement are two of the top reasons businesses and individuals join the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce. But one of the biggest membership benefits is being connected to a business organization that is advocating on their behalf with government.

Advocacy for its members is the Chamber’s top priority, and members often turn to the Chamber when they’re dealing with business challenges they’re unable to solve on their own.

For those who want a seat at the table, the Chamber’s Business Advocacy Committee (BAC) is committed to scrutinizing issues affecting business on the local, state and federal levels. This dedicated group of volunteers works with elected officials in an effort to find balanced solutions to problems facing business, our environment and government.

Tom Cady leads the Business Advocacy Committee with co-chair Stacy Miller, Chamber Chair of the Board and CEO of Stacy Miller Public Affairs. Cady is President of TKC Enterprises and a Lifetime Director of the Oxnard Chamber.

The committee meets at the Chamber office on the second Monday of every month at noon to discuss proposed legislation, local elections and measures, and other issues such as energy, transportation, land use and water. They’re joined by city, county, state and federal government officials or their representatives who share updates on what they’re focused on.

At the most recent BAC meeting, Oxnard Assistant City Manager Ashley Golden invited Oxnard City Attorney Stephen Fischer to review the five local ballot initiatives that are being circulated for signatures. This year, the group has also welcomed Oxnard Director of Development Services Jeff Lambert, Clean Power Alliance Regional Affairs Manager Karen Schmidt, and Oxnard Assistant Police Chief Jason Benites. They also have studied a proposed ordinance to regulate short term rentals in Oxnard.

​To get involved on the Business Advocacy Committee or another Oxnard Chamber committee, click here. 

A Message From Our CEO Nancy Lindholm
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Could you carve one hour per month out of your schedule to positively impact an Oxnard student's future? If so, Channel Islands High School has the perfect program for you. It's called Upward Bound.

Upward Bound Channel Islands (UBCI) is a year-round comprehensive pre-college preparatory program funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The program is designed to assist students from Channel Islands High School with college readiness and planning, career exploration, social and cultural enrichment and motivation necessary to complete high school and pursue a college education. Program services and activities are free to qualifying students. Students can even earn a monthly stipend for their active participation. The majority of the students in UBCI will be first generation college attendees in their families.

Employers are consistently experiencing challenges finding qualified workers, so this is a great opportunity to be part of a solution. Mentors are needed for the UBCI students. The commitment is as little as one hour per month, and that one hour can have a remarkable impact on a student's future.

Upward Bound students are exploring careers in all STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields, healthcare, computer science, and agriculture. Mentors are not limited to those fields, though. Any professional willing to mentor a student is welcome to volunteer. Mentors are asked to invest one hour per month – a very small price to pay for a student's future and the future of our workforce!

To sign up, contact Upward Bound Director Dr. Maria Elena Cruz or her assistant, Diana Magana.

Along with the U.S. Department of Education, UBCI is an initiative of LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) National Educational Service Centers. There are 16 centers in the United States and Puerto Rico. Two of those are in California – San Diego and Oxnard.