Company news

Carmel-based Mainstreet Property Group plans to build a 100-bed “health care resort” on seven acres at 5404 Georgetown Road, according to a tax-abatement request filed with the city. The $9.25-million, 65,000-square-foot nursing-home and assisted-living facility would feature an Internet cafe, movie theaters and restaurant-style dining with an on-site chef, spokeswoman Kate Snedeker said. Seventy of the beds would be for skilled nursing and 30 for assisted-living residents. Mainstreet would lease the property to a third-party operator, which hasn’t been identified. Mainstreet estimates the operator would employ 80 people earning an average $17.30 per hour. Mainstreet is seeking a three-year property-tax abatement that would save the company about $468,000, according to a preliminary resolution that goes before the Metropolitan Development Commission on June 5.

Indiana University and Purdue University joined nine other members of the Big Ten athletic conference June 1 to form the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium. The schools intend to conduct collaborative clinical trials to develop insights and products to treat cancer. Indianapolis-based cancer research organization Hoosier Oncology Group will serve as administrative headquarters for the consortium. Since 1984, Hoosier Oncology Group has initiated more than 150 clinical trials with more than 4,000 patients. “The advantage of this, particularly during a time of austerity for research, is that we can build upon the strengths of the institutions and fortify some of the shortcomings,” Dr. Patrick Loehrer, director of the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center, said in a prepared statement.

Eli Lilly and Co. suffered a setback on one of its attempts to win approval for new indications for its blockbuster lung cancer drug Alimta. The drug did not extend progression-free survival times longer than the old chemotherapy drug paclitaxel when studied in a clinical trial of patients with nonsquamous non-small lung cancer. Paclitaxel, or Taxol, was given to patients with two other chemotherapy agents, carboplatin and bevacizumab. Alimta was given to patients along with carboplatin. Alimta had nearly $2.6 billion in global sales last year, but its rate of growth slowed to just 5 percent. Lilly hoped a new indication would reignite Alimta growth rates, helping it offset revenue Lilly will lose in the next year as patents on its drugs Cymbalta and Evista expire. Alimta, by contrast, has patents that will likely extend its life through 2021.