Company news

Indianapolis-based PTS Diagnostics is on pace to boost revenue 60 percent this year, fueled by its acquisition of a blood glucose test and a shift to help doctors and nurses do a better job monitoring the health of their patients. PTS acquired the A1C Now test in December 2013 from Germany-based Bayer AG. That product has provided about half of the revenue surge this year, up from PTS’ 2013 revenue of $31 million. PTS struck deals with Walmart and Walgreens to sell A1C devices under their in-store brands. Sales of PTS’ CardioChek monitors are also growing, as PTS has signed up new distributors and had success targeting retail clinics needing quick results on blood tests.

Three health insurance companies will divide up an estimated $151 million over the next four years in state Medicaid contracts to manage the health care of blind, disabled and senior Hoosiers. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, MDwise Inc. and Managed Health Services of Indiana were selected last week by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to provide health care services under the new Hoosier Care Connect program. The roughly 84,000 Hoosiers that qualify as aged, blind or disabled can choose any of the three companies to manage their Medicaid health benefits. The money each company will earn from the contracts will hinge on how many Medicaid beneficiaries they enroll. State officials hope the program will launch in April.

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. and London-based AstraZeneca plc have started enrolling patients into a clinical trial of an experimental Alzheimer’s drug being developed by AstraZeneca. The drug is known as a beta secretase inhibitor, because it binds to an enzyme involving a protein called amyloid beta. Amyloid beta clumps into plaques, which are thought to cause damage to the brain’s neurons, leading to memory loss and death. The clinical trial will enroll about 1,500 patients from as many as 15 countries. Under an agreement announced earlier this year, Lilly is leading clinical development of the drug, while AstraZeneca will handle manufacturing. The companies will share development costs as well as any revenue the drug produces, if it reaches the market. Lilly is also conducting a large trial of another experimental Alzheimer’s drug, solanezumab, which aims to clear amyloid beta out of the brain.