Company news

New Jersey-based Covance Inc., which employs about 1,500 workers in Indianapolis and Greenfield, has agreed to be acquired by Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings for $6.1 billion. According to Bloomberg News, North Carolina-based LabCorp wants to add contract research services for drug companies to its offering of medical diagnostic tests, the companies announced Monday. Covance manages clinical trials and other aspects of development for drugmakers including Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. and Sanofi, which increasingly outsource such work. Covance acquired Greenfield Labs from Lilly in October 2008 for $50 million and a 10-year agreement from Lilly to use Covance’s services. The company announced a $150 million expansion in 2012 that was expected to create an additional 465 jobs by the end of 2022.

Eskenazi Health will use a $427,000 federal grant to double the size of its Prevention and Recovery Center for Early Psychosis, which is located at Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital. The grant comes from the Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The center opened in 2009 to diagnose psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and to provide early, intense treatment. The clinic cares for more than 120 patients each year.

In the decade after the founding of the BioCrossroads initiative, money spent on life sciences research and companies more than doubled, to more than $25 billion, according to a report released Thursday by the Indianapolis-based life sciences business development group. That infusion—much of which came from out of state—has helped Indiana companies and universities increase the number of life sciences patents, technology licenses, startups and venture capital deals faster than the national average, according to the report. But Indiana continues to lag other states, particularly in funding to its universities and its early-stage companies, the report stated, so continued investments and new strategies will be required to sustain Indiana’s pace. Significantly, venture capital skyrocketed to $349 million invested in 39 life sciences companies in the most recent decade, up from $80 million invested in 14 companies in the prior decade. Also, Indiana’s universities spent a total of $578 million on life sciences research in 2012, 53 percent higher than in 2002. But that rate of growth was still slightly off the national average of 58 percent.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is canceling the policies of about 30,000 Hoosiers and asking them to switch over to new health plans that comply with Obamacare rules. That change could cause some customers’ premiums to spike while limiting their choices of hospitals and doctors. For the past few months, the Indianapolis-based health insurer has been sending notices to holders of individual insurance policies who renewed their coverage before Dec. 31, 2013. Such early renewals allowed Anthem customers to continue coverage under pre-Obamacare rules The Obama administration has said these so-called transitional policies can continue until as late as 2016. But an Anthem spokesman said the insurer chose to end them now due to what it perceived as modest demand. By contrast, about two-thirds of Anthem’s small-employer customers early-renewed their plans in 2013, and Anthem will keep those plans in place for 2015, Felts said.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Eli Lilly and Co. won a more than 99-percent cut in a $9 billion punitive damages award over claims the drugmakers hid the cancer risks of their Actos diabetes medicine, according to Bloomberg News. A federal judge in Louisiana ruled that an early jury verdict was correct in finding that Japan-based Takeda and Indianapolis-based Lilly intentionally hid the health risks of the drug and should pay punitive damages. But the judge determined that the jury’s assessment of fines was excessive and should be reduced to a total of $36.8 million. Lilly previously said it is "indemnified by Takeda for its losses and expenses with respect to the U.S. litigation and other related expenses in accordance with the terms of its indemnification agreement." Takeda and Lilly still said they would appeal that ruling, seeking a reversal of the verdict against them.