Company news

Zimmer Holdings Inc. plans to outsource its 120-person transportation management team to Memphis, Tenn., and also will cut another 50 positions by year’s end in an effort to offset an anticipated $60 million hit from the medical device tax enacted by the 2010 health reform law. The Warsaw-based maker of orthopedic implants informed its employees of the impending job changes on Feb. 29, even though they won’t take effect for another six months, according to spokesman Garry Clark. He said Zimmer hopes its affected employees can transfer to other roles inside the company. The medical device tax, which will take effect next year, will assess a 2.3-percent fee on all U.S. sales of medical devices. It is expected to generate $2 billion per year to help fund an expansion of health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Medical device companies, including Zimmer and Bloomington-based Cook Group, have consistently opposed the tax, saying it would inevitably force them to cut jobs in the United States.

Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded $2.5 million to the Indiana University School of Medicine in part to establish an endowed chair for the medical school’s initiative in Eldoret, Kenya. Matching funds from IUPUI will bring the total grant to $4 million. IU’s program in Kenya is called AMPATH, which stands for the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare. It is a collaboration of numerous universities, all working to provide basic needs and health care to patients in Kenya, particularly those suffering from HIV and AIDS. The endowed chair established through the grant will fund the work of the program’s field director in Kenya—which is now Dr. Joe Mamlin—so the work there can continue for years to come. The chair will be named the Stephanie and Craig Brater Chair in Global Health in honor of IU medical school dean Dr. Craig Brater, and his wife.

After losing $1.5 million in its most recent fiscal quarter, West Lafayette-based Bioanalytical Systems Inc., decided to close its laboratory in McMinnville, Ore., and instead consolidate that work in at its headquarters in West Lafayette. The move will bring as many as 20 new positions to West Lafayette and save the company more than $2 million per year, the company estimated. The leader of the Oregon lab, Lori Payne, will move to Indiana to become vice president of bioanalytical operations. Bioanalytical performs analysis for drug companies before they submit drugs for human trials. Bioanalytical CEO Anthony Chilton said the move would save money “by eliminating redundancies in expensive laboratory equipment and improving laboratory utilization.”