Company news

Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. won’t put Pfizer Inc.’s cholesterol drug Lipitor on its generics list and instead will favor a copy made by Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., according to Bloomberg News. Lipitor, the best-selling brand-name drug of all time, began facing competition from cheaper generic copies on Nov. 30. India-based Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. won approval to sell generic Lipitor, called atorvastatin. And New York-based Pfizer authorized New Jersey-based Watson to also make generic copies. But Pfizer turned heads by striking deals with insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, such as New Jersey-based Medco Health Solutions, to reject claims for generic atorvastatin in exchange for price cuts that made patients' co-pays on brand-name Lipitor equal to the generic pill. But some have questioned whether the total cost to health plans will be higher under Pfizer’s plan. Three U.S. senators sent a letter last week to Pfizer questioning whether the deals will artificially prop up patient costs, according to Bloomberg. “By working with manufacturers to push brand-name drugs, drug-benefit companies may be abusing Medicare to boost their profits and deny generic alternatives to patients—a practice that needs to end immediately,” said Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who leads the Finance Committee. WellPoint said it would charge co-pays of $20 to $35 for Lipitor prescriptions, instead of co-pays of $10 to $15 for generic atorvastatin.

Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health opened its newest hospital in Fishers on Dec. 1. IU Health Saxony, the construction of which was delayed by the 2008 financial meltdown, cost $270 million to build. The 200,000-square-foot facility has 42 inpatient beds and an outpatient surgery center. IU Health also built a medical office building with a retail pharmacy, café and sleep disorders center. About 60 physicians will work from the hospital campus, most of them employed by IU Health. The whole facility will employ 250 workers. Near IU Health’s new hospital, Indianapolis-based St. Vincent Health operates an emergency room and medical center that it is expanding into a full-service hospital. The expanded facility, which will include 40 inpatient beds, is scheduled to open in early 2013. 

Zimmer Holdings Inc. will establish a new research and development center in Beijing, where the Warsaw-based maker of orthopedic implants already has offices. Zimmer did not say how many people it plans to employ at its R&D center. But the company hopes to develop a network of similar R&D centers around Asia. "Investment in local research and development represents a critical component of Zimmer's long-term strategy to provide clinically relevant offerings for Asian markets,” CEO David Dvorak said in a prepared statement. Zimmer plans for its Beijing researchers to collaborate with local engineers and health care professionals to develop products specifically tailored to the needs of Asian patients.