ARLINGTON, Va. and WALTHAM, Mass., March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- March of Dimes and AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAG) today announced Baystate Medical Center’s Wesson Women’s Clinic in Springfield, Mass. as the first Supportive Pregnancy Care (SPC) site, supported by AMAG to help improve mom and baby health during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and infancy.
The March of Dimes SPC program offers prenatal care in a group setting with moms-to-be of similar gestational ages. At each group session, women learn to perform their own self-care by measuring and recording their own weight and blood pressure with the help of a facilitator. A licensed obstetric provider meets individually with each woman to perform a physical assessment and discuss specific concerns in a semi-private area within the group space. During each SPC visit, women have more time with their health care providers than they would during conventional individual prenatal checkups, and benefit not only from prenatal care education, but also from the vital social and emotional support they receive from other mothers.
“We know that limited access to quality healthcare during pregnancy, exacerbated by racial and ethnic disparities, plays a decisive role in the rising rate of preterm birth in the United States. In fact, women of color are up to 50 percent more likely to deliver prematurely,” says Julie Krop, M.D., chief medical officer and executive vice president of development at AMAG. “AMAG and March of Dimes share a passion and commitment to improving maternal health and prenatal outcomes. We believe an innovative approach like the SPC program can help play a key role in breaking down some of the barriers these expectant mothers encounter during their pregnancy—hopefully leading to fewer preterm births.”
“The SPC environment can empower women to take control of their pregnancy care and fosters relationships that can last throughout their pregnancies and beyond,” Dr. Eilean Attwood, Medical Director of Wesson Women’s Clinic says. “National research has shown that a group setting for prenatal care is associated with fewer preterm births, reduced incidence of low-birth-weight infants, and shorter neonatal intensive care stays.”
SPC also includes web-based tools and a social media platform to enable mothers to connect and socialize with each other online outside the group sessions and access helpful information on healthy pregnancies. The program is open to any expecting mother interested in participating, regardless of insurance coverage.
With support from AMAG, March of Dimes is able to bring SPC to more locations and with more participating care providers. March of Dimes currently operates SPC pilot sites in Tenn. and Ohio, and plans to open two additional sites at Baystate facilities in Mass. in the next few months. Other SPC sites will be opening at:
- Willow Creek Women’s Hospital, Johnson, Ark.;
- Mommy and Me Clinic at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, Riverside Calif.;
- Lovelace Medical Group, Albuquerque, N.M.;
- Montefiore Comprehensive Family Care Center, Bronx, N.Y.;
- Memorial Health University Medical Center, Savannah, G.A.
One in 10 babies in the United States is born premature (before 37 weeks of pregnancy), meaning that the U.S. has one of the worst preterm birth rates of any high-income country in the world. The 2018 Premature Birth Report Card from March of Dimes, released on November 1, shows that preterm birth rates rose again last year for the third year in a row. Babies who survive an early birth often have lifelong health issues such as learning disabilities, vision and hearing loss. Even infants born just a few weeks early have a greater risk of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), feeding difficulties, temperature instability, which can increase the risk for hypothermia, jaundice and delayed brain development.
AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is also participating in the March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign Collaborative, which aims to achieve health equity and demonstrate improvements in preterm birth outcomes.
About AMAG
AMAG is a pharmaceutical company focused on bringing innovative products to patients with unmet medical needs. The company does this by leveraging its development and commercial expertise to invest in and grow its pharmaceutical products across a range of therapeutic areas, including women’s health. For additional company information, please visit www.amagpharma.com.
About March of Dimes
March of Dimes leads the fight for the health of all moms and babies. We support research, lead programs and provide education and advocacy so that every family can have the best possible start. Building on a successful 80-year legacy of impact and innovation, we stand up for every mom and every baby. Visit marchofdimes.org or nacersano.org for more information. Visit shareyourstory.org for comfort and support. Find us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. Any statements contained herein which do not describe historical facts, including but not limited to beliefs that in collaborating with March of Dimes, AMAG will help improve mom and baby health during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and infancy, and that the SPC program can help play a key role in breaking down some of the barriers expectant mothers encounter during their pregnancy and potentially decrease the number of preterm births; statements regarding the Baystate Medical Center’s Wesson Women’s Clinic and the supportive pregnancy care environment empowering women to take control of their pregnancies are forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in such forward-looking statements.
Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, those identified in AMAG’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including AMAG’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and subsequent filings with the SEC which are available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made.
AMAG disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any such statements to reflect any change in expectations or in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
AMAG Pharmaceuticals® is a registered trademark of AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Other trademarks referred in this report are the property of their respective owners.
| Contact: | Michele Kling, March of Dimes, (914) 843-9487, mkling@marchofdimes.org |
| Sarah Connors, AMAG Pharmaceuticals, 781-296-0722, sconnors@amagpharma.com |