A local company is receiving a large chunk of federal money to figure out the best way to disperse medication for military personnel.
Seven defense projects in central Pennsylvania received a portion of $17.42 million in funding under the Defense Appropriations Act, including $800,000 to Altoona's INRange Systems Inc., according to a press release from U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and Arlen Specter, D-Pa.
Casey and Specter made the announcement Monday after the Senate passed the bill 88-10, and President Barack Obama signed it into law Saturday.
U.S. Rep. Robert Brady, D-1st District, sponsored the House bill.
The appropriations law provides funding for military personnel, and the extension of unemployment and health insurance benefits for unemployed workers.
"We feel that it is a great responsibility to get the grant and help assist the wounded warriors," said Mark Drummey, INRange's executive vice president of business development.
The business, located at 115 Union Ave., is the creator of EMMA, the Electronic Medication Management Assistant. The device is best described as an ATM for medication, Drummey said.
The Altoona company's funding will be used to evaluate the clinical and economic efficiency of the system, the press release states.
Military personnel suffering from traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder are medicated with a complex regime of prescription drugs, Drummey said.
The FDA-approved unit for outpatient and in-home use gives out the correct medicine on time, he said.
The way the system works is that a physician writes a prescription, a pharmacist programs EMMA and it disburses the medication to the patient, according to the company's Web site.
