Duke Energy to retire five Indiana coal-fired plants by 2018
A state administrative law judge oversaw the settlement, which was signed Wednesday by Duke Energy, the Sierra Club, Citizens Action Coalition, Valley Watch and Save the Valley.
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RACE: City, state planning must account for climate change
There’s a heavy cost associated with ignoring the environment as we envision our future.
Small biz owners: Unemployment systems not working
Business owners told members of the Indiana General Assembly’s Small Business Caucus that there’s a problem: They can’t compete with public assistance programs.
Company news
Dr. Segun Rasaki, an Indianapolis physician, has been charged with 24 felonies for allegedly prescribing controlled substances such as hydrocone, methadone and oxycodone without a legitimate medical purpose, according to charges announced Monday by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office. Rasaki, who was being held Monday in the Marion County Jail, describes himself as an "independent hospital and health care professional" on his LinkedIn page. In an unrelated case, Rasaki was convicted in 2012 of sexually abusing patients. The state’s medical licensing board revoked his medical license in the same year. According to an investigation by state and federal investigators, Rasaki prescribed painkillers illegally to 11 patients as well as to one undercover agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. He also allegedly filed more than $5,000 in fraudulent claims against health insurer Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield for “ghost” office visits and unneeded medical services.
Eli Lilly and Co. stock jumped 5.5 percent Thursday after the Indianapolis-based drugmaker announced clinical trial results showing its experimental lung cancer medicine necitumumab increased patients' overall survival compared with those on chemotherapy alone. According to Bloomberg News, the drug was tested in nearly 1,100 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer with tumor types known as squamous. “This is a clear upside surprise,” Mark Schoenebaum, an analyst with ISI Group LLC, said in a note to clients. Analysts had “basically zero” expectations for necitumumab, Schoenebaum said in his note. The drug failed in a prior non-squamous lung cancer trial, he said. Lilly expects to publish results of the trial and submit the drug to regulators next year.
Public broadcasting station WFYI-FM 90.1 aims to expand distribution of its locally produced “Sound Medicine” show to at least 30 radio stations in large and medium-size markets in the next two years. The 12-year-old show already airs on 16 out-of-state stations as far away as Alaska. WFYI has lassoed two years’ funding to “build a sustainable national brand” for the show, which the station produces through a partnership with Indiana University School of Medicine. As for how much money was recently committed, and by whom, station executives declined to say. In the past, much of the funding has come from Indiana University Health Physicians and from IUPUI, which often are mentioned during the program. The new funds are being used to add an executive producer tasked with improving distribution and content of the program, which is distributed without charge to stations interested in running it. "Trying to negotiate a license fee at this point is a barrier to carriage," said Alan Cloe, executive vice president of content services at WFYI. "Sound Medicine," whose primary host is former WRTV-TV Channel 6 anchor Barbara Lewis, covers everything from new medical treatments to dispelling common medical myths.
Ivy Tech Community College is cutting hours for its part-time professors in preparation for implementing the Obamacare overhaul of health insurance. The law requires employers to provide health insurance to part-time employees who work 30 hours a week or more, and the Obama administration has said it will start enforcing that provision in 2015. Colleges and the Obama administration are also still trying to figure out how to convert colleges’ system of counting credit hours into a reliable system of hours worked. Ivy Tech President Tom Snyder said the college system reduced most of its part-time faculty's credit hours to nine to provide leeway for unresolved issues such as how preparation time is counted. About 60 percent of Ivy Tech professors work part time. Snyder says college officials would prefer the figure be 50 percent, but he says that would require an additional $50 million in state funding.
Constitutional referendum on marriage could yield media bonanza
Television and radio stations have grown fond of income from “issue ads” in recent years on everything from right-to-work legislation to immigration reform.
Colts’ Luck playing catch-up as a pitchman
While Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is exceeding off-the-chart expectations on the field heading into his second NFL season, some marketers think he’s underachieved as a corporate spokesman and product sponsor.
KENNEDY: Detroit reflects our moral bankruptcy
The city of Detroit has declared bankruptcy. It is the largest city in the United States ever to do so, and the punditry—what the late Molly Ivins called “the chattering classes”—are pointing fingers at those their particular ideologies suggest are to blame. It’s “white flight” or de-industrialization or lack of economic diversification or corrupt government or a combination of these and more.
Lilly’s new strategy built around head-to-head drug trials
Lilly has set up not one, not two, but five head-to-head trials of its experimental drug dulaglutide against other leading diabetes therapies. So far, dulaglutide’s record is four wins, no losses.
Small-business lending is key to full economic recovery
Availability of credit is one of the most fundamental issues facing small businesses, and small businesses are one of the most crucial drivers of commercial real estate demand. Thankfully, both the financial markets and the economy are not where they were just a year ago, as they have strengthened considerably to the point where it […]
Crowd funding taps passionate fan base for fantasy figurines
A growing number of small game companies will join a pantheon of industry titans starting Aug. 15 at the Gen Con Indy gaming convention. The small guys are there largely because they can get the money they need to keep themselves alive via the fundraising technique known as “crowd funding” or “crowd sourcing.”
Brizzi hit with another legal malpractice suit
Defrocked Secretary of State Charlie White has sued Carl Brizzi, the former Marion County prosecutor who represented White during a criminal case that led to his removal from office.
Company news
Indianapolis-based ApeX Therapeutics Inc. has raised $2.5 million to fund clinical trials of an experimental childhood leukemia drug. The fundraising, disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, was partly funded by Indianapolis-based BioCrossroads’ Indiana Seed Fund II. ApeX’s drugs are based on the work of Mark Kelley, a researcher at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
WellPoint Inc. CEO Joe Swedish predicted July 24 that the Indianapolis-based company’s operating revenue will soar nearly 27 percent over the next three years, to a whopping $90 billion, up from about $71 billion this year. He added that he expected the revenue growth to also come with compounded growth in annual profit of 4 percent to 6 percent per year—even before any acquisitions. Previously, there were concerns both inside and outside WellPoint because a huge portion of the company's profit comes from its plethora of small employer customers. With Obamacare creating new online exchanges later this year for those small employers, it looked like WellPoint would struggle to compete with more health insurers and in unfamiliar markets, just to hold its profit steady. But now, most health insurers are just focusing on the local markets where they are already strong, WellPoint officials said—rather than trying to steal business from their peers. And WellPoint thinks its well-recognized brand and established relationships in local markets will win the day in the exchanges. In addition, WellPoint expects growth to come as half of the 14 states in which WellPoint operates its Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans expand their Medicaid programs. WellPoint’s 2012 acquisition of Amerigroup Corp. is helping WellPoint move from an employer-focused company to one with a competitive business for managing government-funded health plans.
Sales grew but profit fell in the second quarter at Dow AgroSciences LLC, the company reported July 25. The Indianapolis-based ag biotech firm racked up nearly $1.9 billion in revenue in the quarter, an increase of 10 percent from the same period a year earlier. Quarterly profit totaled $290 million before accounting for interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization—down from last year’s second-quarter record of $307 million. Sales of crop-protection products rose 12 percent, driven by large gains in Latin America, where sales of new crop-protection products grew 14 percent. Dow AgroSciences is a unit of Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co.
Zimmer Holdings Inc. saw second-quarter earnings slump 29 percent as the orthopedic-device maker set aside an additional $47 million to cover the cost of lawsuits related to its Durom hip cups, according to the Associated Press. The Warsaw-based company stopped marketing the products in 2008 and has put more than $400 million in reserve to cover potential legal costs, including $108 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. Earnings fell to $152.1 million, or 89 cents per share, from $214.5 million, or $1.22 per share, a year ago. If the legal reserve charge and other one-time items are excluded, Zimmer said, its earnings rose to $1.43 per share from $1.34 per share. Revenue increased 4 percent, to $1.2 billion. Zimmer narrowed its profit guidance for the year and now expects to earn $5.70 to $5.80 per share. The company had previously projected adjusted profit of $5.65 to $5.85 per share.
Eli Lilly and Co. earned $1.2 billion in the second quarter, an increase of 31 percent compared with the same quarter last year, the drugmaker reported July 24. Earnings per share totaled $1.11, compared with 83 cents a year ago. Because it outperformed analysts’ expectations, Lilly hiked up its profit expectations for the year by a range of 13 cents to 18 cents per share. The company now expects to earn $4.28 to $4.38 for the year. In the second quarter, Lilly was able to boost its sales 6 percent worldwide, to $5.9 billion. Lilly’s best-selling drug, the antidepressant Cymbalta, is set to lose its U.S. patent protection in December, after which its sales will switch to cheaper generics. Sales of Cymbalta grew 22 percent in the second quarter, to nearly $1.5 billion. Lilly is hoping to win approval on new diabetes and cancer drugs to offset those coming hits to its sales. Lilly expects a 20-percent reduction in revenue in 2014 because of the U.S. expiration of the Cymbalta and Evista patents.
WellPoint Inc. earned $2.64 per share in the second quarter, the health insurer reported July 24. Excluding investment gains, WellPoint earned $2.60 per share, a 27.5-percent increase over the same quarter a year ago. WellPoint raised its full-year profit forecast 20 cents per share, excluding the impact of investments, to $8 per share. Overall profit for the quarter rose 24 percent from a year ago, to $800.1 million, as WellPoint’s customers continued to file modest amounts of medical claims. WellPoint spent 83.9 percent of its premium revenue on claims, a tick higher than in the first quarter but well below its predicted level of 85.5 percent for the year. WellPoint’s revenue for the quarter rose 16 percent, to $17.8 billion. WellPoint provided health benefits for 35.7 million Americans at the end of June, more than any other company in the United States.
Company news
Eli Lilly and Co. will freeze pay this year for most workers, including executives, in a move designed to save $400 million by the end of 2016, according to Bloomberg News. The Indianapolis-based drugmaker, which employs more than 38,000 workers worldwide, is reducing expenses and counting on emerging markets, animal health products and experimental diabetes drugs to revive growth as it loses revenue from top products to generic competitors. Cymbalta, a depression pill that at $5 billion a year is the drugmaker’s biggest seller, loses U.S. patent protection in December. That development, as well as the 2014 expiration of patents on the osteoporosis drug Evista, will slash Lilly’s revenue 20 percent, the company said.
Indianapolis-based ApeX Therapeutics, a cancer drug discovery firm, received a $240,332 grant from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health via the Small Business Innovation Research program. ApeX, which uses technology licensed from Indiana University, will use the grant to develop an oral or injectable medicine to treat leukemia and other tumors in children. ApeX previously received funding from Indiana University's Innovate Indiana Fund and Indianapolis-based Pearl Street Venture Fund.
Indianapolis-based Elevate Ventures invested $50,000 in Evansville-based Curvo Labs LLC, which has developed a data platform to help hospitals, surgery centers and medical device companies share information. Curvo uses supply purchase histories and surgeon preference data from hospital and surgery centers to identify business opportunities for medical device companies. It also helps hospital administrators drive down their costs of purchasing medical devices. Elevate Ventures is a private organization charged with investing funds provided by the state of Indiana.
Marian’s med school quest was leap of faith
Marian University, a small Catholic college started by Franciscan nuns, next month will launch just the second medical school in Indiana. Marian President Dan Elsener is credited with pulling off the audacious move with a mix of big dreaming, careful planning, deft networking and “don’t take no for an answer” fundraising.
IU to use Conour funds to help fraud victims
Indiana University plans to use $450,000 donated to its Indianapolis law school by former attorney William Conour to aid the clients defrauded of more than $4.5 million. Conour pleaded guilty to fraud charges Monday morning.
Company news
Eli Lilly and Co. said it will test its experimental Alzheimer’s drug in patients with early stages of the disease after the medicine failed to slow the condition in more advanced patients. According to Bloomberg News, the trial of 2,100 patients, called Expedition III, will measure patients’ ability to do daily tasks like cooking or driving, and to remember words after a delay. Lilly is pushing ahead with the drug, called solanezumab, as potentially the first medicine to demonstrate that it treats Alzheimer’s causes rather than just the symptoms. The drug targets the buildup of plaque known as beta amyloid in the brain that’s thought to be a basis of Alzheimer’s. The trial should take about 22 months to complete. In earlier clinical trials, solanezumab failed to show overall effectiveness, but did appear to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s in patients with mild forms of the disease. Lilly’s new trial will use new tests for biological signs of the disease to help enroll early-stage patients and to see whether their illness is advancing. More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, and the number is expected to surge to as many as 16 million by 2050 as the population ages, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. No drugs on the market have been shown to slow the disease. The market for medicines may be worth $20 billion annually, Deutsche Bank estimated last year. Merck & Co., Novartis AG, Roche AG and other large drugmakers are pursuing treatments.
San Diego-based American Specialty Health Inc., a wellness-program provider, plans to open an office in Carmel by March, employing at least 300 in “an operations, customer service and redundancy center.” Sources familiar with the situation said Carmel may also become the company’s corporate headquarters. Founded in 1987 in CEO George DeVries’ extra bedroom, ASH operates 13 subsidiaries that offer health-and-wellness services to employer groups, health plans and insurance companies nationwide. Its Healthyroads unit, for example, provides a Silver&Fit “healthy aging” program to Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. ASH and other players in the wellness industry are expected to keep growing thanks to provisions in the 2010 Affordable Care Act that create incentives to promote health-management programs. Privately held ASH reported revenue of $221 million last year, up 64 percent from 2009, when the company first appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of the country’s fastest-growing businesses. DeVries is a graduate of Culver Academies in northern Indiana and serves on its board. ASH already has a nine-person office on 96th Street in Indianapolis, and Freeman said those employees eventually will move to Carmel.
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. will pay $1.7 million to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to resolve allegations it left the information of more than 612,000 members available online because of inadequate safeguards. According to the Associated Press, between Oct. 23, 2009, and March 7, 2010, security weaknesses in an online application database left the information of 612,402 people accessible to unauthorized users. That information included names, birthdates, addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, and health data. WellPoint, the nation’s second-largest health insurer, reported the breach to the Health and Human Services Department. The agency then started an investigation, saying WellPoint's actions may have violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.
Catarmaran Corp., a pharmacy benefits manager, plans to hire 205 people within two years at a hub it's building in Jeffersonville, according to the Associated Press. The Illinois-based company has committed to hiring 104 full-time, permanent employees next year and a total of 205 by 2015. The jobs paying an average of nearly $24 per hour will include pharmacists, technicians, call-center employees and others.
KENNEDY: Equality economics hitting home
When it comes to the culture-war politics of same-sex marriage, our governor and legislators would be well advised to listen to Indiana’s business and corporate leadership and forgo their pious pandering to the shrinking number of Hoosiers spooked by social change.
Company news
Eli Lilly and Co. and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH submitted their long-acting insulin for market approval in Europe, using the pathway for generic biotech, or biosimilar, drugs. If approved, the drug, known as insulin glargine, would finally allow Indianapolis-based Lilly to catch up with competitors Sanofi-Aventis SA and Novo Nordisk N/A in offering a once-a-day insulin for diabetics. France-based Sanofi launched the first long-acting insulin, Lantus, in 2000. Denmark-based Novo followed with its own version, Levemir, in 2004. Analysts predict sales of Lilly’s insulin glargine could top $1 billion by 2020, with some of that revenue flowing to Germany-based Boehringer.
The federal Medicare issued a mostly negative reimbursement proposal for Eli Lilly and Co.’s Amyvid imaging agent for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease in living patients. According to Bloomberg News, the federal health plan for seniors will pay for the brain scans using Lilly’s drug only for patients participating in approved clinical studies. The $3,000 test, approved last year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, identifies clusters of the brain protein amyloid, which is an indicator of Alzheimer’s disease. Previously, such protein clusters could be viewed only during an autoposy. The ruling is an unexpected setback for Amyvid after European Union regulators endorsed it in January. Lilly paid $300 million in 2010 to acquire the drug and its developer, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc.
The private equity firms that own Warsaw-based Biomet Inc. want their money back, according to the Financial Times. They are considering relisting the maker of orthopedic implants as a public company or selling it whole to other investors, the London newspaper reported, citing three unnamed sources. Biomet was purchased in 2007 for $11.4 billion by four private equity firms: Blackstone, KKR, TPG and the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs. The volume of hip and knee surgeries has declined since Biomet was purchased, but Biomet’s financial performance has improved, anyway. The company concluded its most recent fiscal year with $3 billion in sales and $946 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Still, the Financial Times says current stock prices for Biomet’s competitors suggest the company may have a value of $8 billion—less than what its owners paid for it.
Major Health Partners will decide in the next six months whether to spend $23 million to maintain its existing hospital in downtown Shelbyville or spend $100 million to build a new hospital in the Intelliplex business park north of town. According to the Shelbyville News, Major Health Partners has been gradually moving to Intelliplex since 2005, opening outpatient centers focused on oncology, orthopedics, cardiology and obstetrics. Now hospital officials have drawn up tentative plans to build a 240,000-square-foot facility in Intelliplex. Major officials also said they could build a “shell” facility at Intelliplex and then add services there, while maintaining its existing, 61-bed hospital. “At some point, we will have to move, but when do we pull the trigger? That is the tough question," Major CEO Jack Horner told the Shelbyville News. Major, which is owned by the city of Shelbyville, will hold community forums before making a decision.
Indiana University Health lost a four-month battle to convince the Illinois Medicaid program to pay for a multi-organ transplant for two patients. The surgeries were expected to cost more than $1 million each, according to Crain’s Chicago Business, yet no hospitals in Illinois are capable of performing them. That’s why the two patients, a 32-year-old woman and a 67-year-old woman, came to IU Health in Indianapolis. An ethics panel called the procedures, which IU Health’s surgeons have performed 38 times, experimental. Also, the Illinois Medicaid program cited a dearth of resources in declining to cover the procedures.