Company news

Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group Inc. will make the prices it pays for health care services available to consumers on the Internet, according to Bloomberg News. The effort, organized by the Health Care Cost Institute, will include two other insurers, Louisville-based Humana Inc. and Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna Inc. They will make public a “reference price” for health services in local communities, based on aggregated data from insurers. Customers of each insurer will get more precise information about prices, including how much they’ll have to pay out of pocket. Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. has been working recently to make prices available to its customers via a partnership with Castlight Health, a San Francisco-based software firm.

Eli Lilly and Co. lost a United Kingdom lawsuit over its Alimta lung cancer treatment but plans to appeal, according to Bloomberg News. A judge ruled May 15 that a generic version of Alimta, planned by Actavis Plc, doesn’t breach European patents. Indianapolis-based Lilly, which had first quarter sales of $632 million from Alimta this year, has fought lawsuits across the globe to protect patents related to the product. In March, a U.S. District Court upheld a patent regarding vitamin dosage in a dispute with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Some European patents for Alimta expire in December 2015, and Actavis is seeking regulatory approval for a rival treatment, according to a written decision by Judge Arnold handed down in London. Lilly said in its statement that it had won an Alimta patent case in Germany earlier this year. The company said it expected European patents related to vitamin dosage to remain in force until 2021.

Purdue University trustees authorized the completion of a $54 million flex lab, to be built south of the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue’s Discovery Park. The 75,000-square-foot lab will be financed with up to $38 million in proceeds from bonds, up to $13.5 million in gift funds and up to $2.5 million in university central reserve funds. Also, the trustees OK’d a $14 million, 32,000-square-foot expansion of Jischke Hall to enhance the university's biomedical engineering research capabilities. Purdue will also spend $10 million to construct a 25,000-square-foot center for seed processing and analysis, and will spend $8.2 million to expand its Zucrow Laboratories to add 14,600 square feet of space.

HR Dimensions LLC has acquired by Chicago-based WIA Group to form HRD Advisory Group LLC. The merger gives HRD a practice that covers all types of employer insurance, including health benefits, as well as risk management consulting services. The combined firms will continue to operate out of HR Dimension’s offices in Carmel.