The Indiana University School of Medicine chose Dr. Jay Hess as its next dean, pending approval by the IU trustees at their meeting next
month. Hess, 53, is chairman of the pathology department and professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan
Medical School. Hess would succeed Dr. Craig Brater, who is retiring June 30 after 13 years as dean and 27 years at IU.
Dr. Azita Chehresa, a family physician, has joined American Village as an attending physician. American
Village is one of roughly 60 long-term care facilities operated by Indianapolis-based American Senior Communities.
Roche Diagnostics Corp. is mulling
a sale of its blood-glucose meter business, according to a Reuters report, a move that would cast uncertainty over
the nearly 1,000 people working for its diabetes business in Indianapolis. Reuters reported the potential sale May 15, citing
three people familiar with the matter. A Roche spokesman declined to comment to IBJ. The entire blood-glucose meter
industry faces a huge hit to sales July 1, when the federal Medicare program will start a competitive bidding program for
blood-glucose testing strips and supplies. Bidding could cut Roche's payments as much as 72 percent. The Medicare cuts
will directly affect a Roche test-strip plant in Indianapolis, which employs more than 150 workers and churns out more than
2 billion strips per year. Roche Diagnostics’ North American blood-glucose monitor sales declined 6 percent last year,
to $598 million, according to Close Concerns Inc., a market research firm based in San Francisco. Close Concerns predicts
Roche's blood-glucose sales in North America will swoon this year by 23 percent, to $463 million. Reuters' sources
said there are only a few possible buyers of Roche’s blood-glucose meter business, including Minnesota-based Medtronic
Inc. and New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson.
While its diabetes business struggles, Roche Diagnostics’ laboratory testing business is riding high
on the trend of personalized medicine. On May 14, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new Roche test to detect
a gene mutation found in about 10 percent of non-small cell lung cancers. That’s important because Switzerland-based
Roche’s pharmaceutical business has a drug, Tarceva, that the FDA said could be used in patients with the mutation whose
cancer is spreading. The new test is the first approved to detect the epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR, gene, according
to a Reuters report.
Construction has stopped on a generic insulin facility being built with a $6 million loan from the city of Greenwood. Greenwood
attorney Krista Taggart said the city could foreclose on the Elona Biotechnologies
facility within the next few weeks unless new investors take over the company. Greenwood officials three years ago approved
$8.4 million of incentives for the project, including the construction loan. Elona said then it expected to employ some 70
workers and spend more than $25 million on a planned expansion. Elona told Greenwood officials of financial troubles in late
January. In February, the company said it had reached a deal under which the company would be acquired by private investors.
Few observers believed WellPoint Inc.’s explanation that three of its directors all resigned within one week of each other for entirely “personal
reasons.” But investors didn’t care. They bid up the Indianapolis-based health insurer’s stock price more
than 2 percent last week after WellPoint disclosed the departures of Dr. Lenox Baker, Sheila Burke and Susan Bayh. Two outside
observers cast the departures as a positive that allows new CEO Joseph Swedish, a veteran hospital executive, to put his stamp
on the company. Institutional investors had criticized the board for a variety of matters, including its 2007 hiring of Angela
Braly as CEO. After a series of missteps under Braly’s leadership, the board ousted her in August. “This is normal
and it’s probably good for the company to clean out a few of the board members, especially given how long it took the
board to come to the decision that it was time to remove the prior CEO,” Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor, told Bloomberg. “A new CEO always wants the full support of the board.” The company
announced the departures just six weeks after Swedish’s hiring and two days before its annual meeting.
In a case that could have affected Dow AgroSciences LLC and companies developing biotech drugs, the U.S.
Supreme Court sustained St. Louis-based Monsanto Co.'s claim that an Indiana farmer violated the company's patents on soybean seeds that are resistant
to its weed killer. The justices, in a unanimous vote Monday, rejected farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman’s argument that cheap
soybeans he bought from a grain elevator are not covered by the Monsanto patents, even though most of them also were genetically
modified to resist the company's Roundup herbicide. Justice Elena Kagan said a farmer who buys patented seeds must have
the patent holder's permission. Monsanto has a policy to protect its investment in seed development that prohibits farmers
from saving or reusing the seeds once the crop is grown. Farmers must buy new seeds every year. The case had been closely
watched by researchers and businesses holding patents on DNA molecules, nanotechnologies and other self-replicating technologies.
But Kagan said the court's holding only "addresses the situation before us."
Warner Transitional Services LLC, a 10-month-old company that provides services to adults with developmental
disabilities, plans to cease operations this summer, putting 112 employees out of work. The Indianapolis-based firm plans
to terminate employment for 102 of its employees on June 7. The other 10 will remain with the company for less than another
month to help wind down operations. Warner relies on funds from the Indiana Family and Social Administration, but FSSA recently
decided to end that funding after numerous complaints against the company went unresolved. More than half of the employees
affected are direct care professionals, a title usually held by nursing assistants or personal care aides. Warner is a subsidiary
of Oconomowoc, Wis.-based Oconomowoc Residential Programs Inc., which operates several therapeutic, residential and in-home
services businesses in the Midwest.
John Lechleiter temporarily
relinquished the reins of Eli Lilly and Co. on Monday while he undergoes and recovers from cardiovascular
surgery. Derica Rice, Lilly’s chief financial officer, will become acting CEO in Lechleiter’s absence. And Ellen
Marram, lead independent director on Lilly’s board of directors, will be acting chairman. Lechleiter, 59, has been suffering
from a dilated aorta, which is a swelling that can cause a rupture and bleeding in the main artery that carries blood from
the heart. The company said the problem was discovered during unrelated testing and has not produced visible symptoms. Lechleiter
will undergo a procedure in Indianapolis in which a portion of his aorta will be removed and replaced with a graft, said Lilly
spokesman Ed Sagebiel. He will be recuperating for months, but is expected to return to the company “later this summer,”
depending on the pace of his recovery. Rice, 48, has been Lilly’s CFO since 2006 and executive vice president of global
services since 2010. He is the highest-ranking African-American executive at Lilly.
Former WellPoint Inc. CEO Angela Braly has been named by Gov. Mike Pence to serve as a board member of the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
The appointment is the first high-profile post that Braly, 51, has accepted since she was ousted from the top spot at the
Indianapolis-based health insurer in August. Braly’s tenure leading WellPoint was rocky, in part because WellPoint was
painted by President Obama’s administration as the poster child of health insurance abuses during the lengthy debate
of the president’s health reform law. Financial and operational missteps ultimately led investors to demand Braly’s
ouster last summer. In February, WellPoint hired Joe Swedish, a longtime hospital executive, to replace Braly. WellPoint is
Indiana's largest public company, ranking No. 47 on the new Fortune 500 list.
R. Graham Cooks, a professor of chemistry at Purdue University, has been awarded the biennial Dreyfus Prize
for advancements in mass spectrometry. Cooks will receive $250,000 and a medal. Cooks created a new way to analyze chemicals
in their natural environment, without having to put them in a vacuum tube. The technique allowed for chemical analysis of
fingerprints at crime scenes, and was incorporated into the storyline of an episode of the TV show "CSI: Miami"
in 2008.
Julie Lappas has joined Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman’s Indianapolis office, helping health
care providers comply with federal and state anti-kickback, privacy and licensure laws. Lappas previously worked as a sales
representative at Eli Lilly and Co., before earning her law degree at The George Washington University Law School. She also
holds a bachelor’s from Indiana University.
Diagnotes Inc., an Indianapolis-based health IT company, announced today that it has closed on $1 million
in funding from life sciences and early-stage growth company investors. The investment group was led by Indiana University’s
Innovate Indiana Fund and includes BioCrossroads’ Indiana Seed Fund II, Stepstone Angels and other investors. The funding
will help Diagnotes commercialize its communication system for on-call health care providers. The Diagnotes system allows
providers and patients to connect with on-call doctors and nurses while delivering key patient information from the electronic
health record to the point of care.
Endocyte Inc. recorded $14.5 million in revenue during the first quarter and a loss of $3.9 million, or
11 cents per share. The West Lafayette-based drug development firm is still working with European regulators to win approval
to launch its first drug, vintafolide. The drug, targeted for drug-resistant ovarian cancer, would be commercialized with
New Jersey-based Merck & Co. Inc. Merck’s payment last year of $120 million is Endocyte’s sole source of revenue.
The company’s cash pile declined during the first quarter from $201.4 million to $185.9 million. Endocyte officials
reaffirmed their predictions that the company will have cash and cash equivalents between $145 million and $160 million at
the end of 2013.
Franciscan St. Francis Health has partnered with WhatNext.com, a Carmel-based online support
network that matches up cancer patients according to their diagnosis, stage and age. More than 10,000 Americans have registered
to use WhatNext.com, including 400 patients in Indiana. “People are trying to make sense of a whole universe of new
and staggering volume of medical information at the same time they are trying to figure out what’s next and to stay
emotionally strong,” said David Wasilewski, who launched WhatNext.com in September 2011. “Our site helps patients benefit from those
who have been there.”
Indiana University Health has named Dennis Murphy chief operating officer of its hospital system. Murphy
will come to IU Health on July 22 from Northwestern Memorial HealthCare in Chicago, where he has most recently been chief
operating officer. Murphy holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and a master's degree in health
care administration from Duke University.
Dr. Suzanne Grannan, a pediatrician, has joined Community Physician Network, which is part of the Community
Health Network hospital system. She holds a medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Dr. Justin Hollen, a family physician, has joined Community Physician Network. He completed his medical
degree at Ross University School of Medicine in New Jersey.
Mattingly Construction has completed a 6,000-square-foot restaurant build-out for Delicia at 5215 N. College Ave.
The average rate for 30-year mortgages fell from 3.61 percent to 3.57 percent for the week ended April 24, according to Bankrate.com. The rate for 15-year mortgages fell from 2.85 percent to 2.8 percent.
-HG Metals Inc. leased 25,950 square feet of industrial space at 1670 1740 Wales Ave. / 3970 3974 E. 16th St. The tenant
was represented by JD Graves of CBRE. The landlord, Brookside Industrial Park LLC, was represented by Fritz
Kauffman and Michael Weishaar of Cassidy Turley.
-Petco Animal Supplies Stores Inc. leased 12,500 square feet of retail space at 7565 U.S. 31 South. The landlord, Nationwide
Investments, was represented by Bill French of Cassidy Turley. The tenant represented itself.
-Krav Maga Training Center leased 6,169 square feet of retail space in Fishers Crossing, 7266 Fishers Crossing Drive, Fishers.
The tenant was represented by Stephen Ladig of Ladig Realty. The landlord, Viking Partners Fishers LLC, was
represented by Jamison Downs, Seth Biggerstaff and Kyle Hughes of Veritas
Realty.
-Delicia leased a 6,000-square-foot freestanding retail building at 5215 N. College Ave. The landlord, Glendale Partners
of South Broad Ripple LLC, was represented by Kyle Hughes and Paul Rogozinski of Veritas
Realty. The tenant represented itself.
-MedExpress Urgent Care leased 4,803 square feet of retail space at 4903 S. Emerson Ave. The tenant was represented
by Harley Carroll of Petroplus Lane LLC. The landlord, Kovacs Enterprises LLC, was represented by Jamison
Downs and Seth Biggerstaff of Veritas Realty.
-Mattress World leased 3,200 square feet of retail space in Emerson Commons, 6814 S. Emerson Ave. The tenant was represented
by Jamison Downs and Kyle Hughes of Veritas Realty. The landlord, First Emerson Commons
Way LLC, was represented by John Baker, Tom English and Larry Davis of
Sitehawk Retail Real Estate.
-Divine Savior Lutheran Church leased 3,000 square feet of retail space in Village at Main, 11361 Village Square Lane, Fishers.
The tenant was represented by Seth Biggerstaff of Veritas Realty. The landlord, Jordan Fishers LLC, was represented
by Keith Dedrick of Corporate Commercial Group.
-Yats leased 2,453 square feet at Trail Side, 885 and 887 Massachusetts Ave. The tenant was represented by Gary
Perel of Newmark Knight Frank Halakar. The landlord, Trail Side Retail Flats LLC, was represented by Mike
Sprovtsoff Jr. of Monument Realty.
-Matthew Sutika Agency/State Farm leased 2,400 square feet at The Pavilion at Castleton, 5953 E 86th St. The tenant was represented
by Mark Perlstein of Sitehawk Retail Real Estate. The landlord, Stough Associates LP, was represented by
Greg Smith and Joe Tarpey of Colliers International.
-Jordan’s Fish & Chicken leased 1,600 square feet of retail space in Shadeland Crossing, 7534 N. Shadeland Ave.
The landlord, Glendale Partners of Geist Crossing II LLC, was represented by Kyle Hughes, Paul Rogozinski,
and Seth Biggerstaff of Veritas Realty. The tenant represented itself.
-BizCard Express leased 1,200 square feet of retail space in Geist Crossing Shoppes, 9745 Fall Creek Road. The landlord,
Glendale Partners of Shadeland Shoppes LLC, was represented by Kyle Hughes, Paul Rogozinski,
and Seth Biggerstaff of Veritas Realty. The tenant represented itself.
-Any Lab Test Now leased 1,200 square feet at Avon Crossing, 7810 E. U.S. 36, Avon. The landlord, Cranfill Development Corp,
was represented by Michael Cranfill of Sitehawk Retail Real Estate. The tenant represented itself.
-GM Sportswear leased 699 square feet of office space at 5455 W. 86th St. The landlord, Polaris Commercial Investments, was
represented by Dan Baldini of Polaris Real Estate. The tenant represented itself.
-Larsen Holdings bought a 10,208-square-foot office building at 3843 3845 N. Meridian St. The seller, 3rd General, was represented
by Spud Dick and Mike Semler of Cassidy Turley. The buyer represented itself.
-Brookville Storage bought 3.64 acres of industrial land in Interchange Business Park, 7501 Brookville Road. The buyer was
represented by Mike Kensill of Lee & Associates. The seller, First Industrial Realty Trust, was represented
by Brian Buschuk of Jones Lang LaSalle.
-Hecker's Fitness LLC bought 0.58 of an acre at State Road 334 and West Stonegate Drive, Zionsville. The seller, Reitz
Group Inc., was represented by Bo Leffel of Cassidy Turley. The buyer represented itself.
New WellPoint Inc. CEO Joe Swedish threw cold water April 24 on widespread speculation that he will lead
the company through a new wave of hospital and doctor acquisitions. Swedish, 61, had spent his
entire career managing hospitals, including the past eight years as CEO of Michigan-based Trinity Health Corp., a Catholic
hospital system. But in spite of many questions about the prospect, he’s not looking to get back in that business. “To
be clear, I do not currently see vertical integration as a likely path for WellPoint,” Swedish said during an investor
conference call Wednesday morning. “The models are so divergent that it just does not seem to be the best use of capital.”
Analysts, investors, local health care providers and even WellPoint’s own employees have been asking about the possibility
of WellPoint's acquiring hospitals and doctors since Swedish was named in mid-February to replace former WellPoint CEO
Angela Braly. Instead, Swedish emphasized that WellPoint is moving to work more closely with health care providers than the
confrontational stand that it and most health insurers have taken in the past. But he spoke about new kinds of contracts,
rather than acquisitions.
A pharmacy that makes specialty medications is recalling nearly 100 compounded drugs after federal regulators found
potential safety problems during an inspection. Nora Apothecary Alternative Therapies of Indianapolis says
it is recalling all sterile drugs that have not reached their expiration date. The drugs were made on or before April 19.
The company said it initiated the recall after the Food and Drug Administration found quality control problems that threaten
the sterility of its products. If compounded drugs are not sterile, they can cause infections, though the company said it
has not received any reports of illness.
Record sales of seeds and new crop protection products helped boost Dow AgroSciences LLC
revenue 14 percent in the first quarter, leading to record profit. The Indianapolis-based maker of agricultural products,
a unit of Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co., brought in $2.1 billion in revenue compared with $1.7 billion a year earlier. Profit
in the latest quarter totaled $484 million before accounting for interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. That was
a 7-percent jump from $451 million a year earlier, Dow Chemical reported April 25. Sales of crop protection products swelled
7 percent, driven by gains in North America and Latin America. Sales of seeds, genetic traits and oils rocketed 37 percent,
due in part to strong demand for the firm’s genetically modified SmartStax products.
Eli Lilly and Co. said the Food and Drug Administration will perform a priority evaluation of its experimental stomach cancer drug ramucirumab
under a program designed for drugs that treat serious or life-threatening diseases for which there are few other therapies.
According to the Associated Press, this fast-track status gives companies extra meetings and correspondence with regulators
throughout the review process, and it allows the drugmaker to submit data as it compiles it. Lilly is seeking approval for
ramucirumab as a second treatment in patients with gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancers that have spread. In the
first quarter, Lilly's earnings jumped 53 percent largely due to a $495 million payment for the transfer to former drug
development partner Amylin Pharmaceuticals of commercial rights outside the United States for the diabetes treatment exenatide.
Lilly earned $1.55 billion, or $1.42 per share, in the three months that ended March 31. Not counting the exenatide payment,
Lilly reported adjusted earnings of $1.14 per share. Analysts expected, on average, earnings of $1.05 per share.
WellPoint Inc. reported better-than-expected financial results for the quarter ended March
31. The Indianapolis-based health insurer earned $885.2 million in the first three months of the year, or $2.89 per share.
Profit was 3.4 percent higher than in the same quarter a year ago. Excluding investment losses and other extraordinary charges,
the company would have earned $2.94 per share, a nearly 26-percent increase over the same quarter last year. On that basis,
analysts were expecting profit of $2.38 per share, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters. The higher earnings prompted
WellPoint to raise its full-year profit forecast to $7.75 per share, up from its previous prediction of $7.60 per share.
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I'd rather the state keep my $7 instead of sending $3 to me and $4 to some attorney.
Hey Horace, I totally support your right for freedom of religious expression as well as your right to take this class. BUT I do believe this class should be presented as part of a religion curriculum and not as a science course.
Gob Bluth
Scotty's Lakeside at Geist was SO much better than this new Detour. We enjoyed the family nights, atmosphere, food and selection of local beers at Scotty's Lakeside. The new Detour has a lower level of service and we were not impressed with the food and beer selections. Would love to have Scotty's Lakeside back!!!
I have only been to The Precedent Scotty's location, but food and service have been consistently good and they are always packed. I'd love to say 'good-bye' to Detour(big babies). Since that area is built and intended to a mix of residential and business, there should not be any kind of noise level that would disturb any of the homeowners or patrons nearby. I've been to Detour only once (all it takes for me) and the food was so-so and overpriced and the service was under-par. Keep on trucking Mr. Wise!