Wellpoint has stuck to the $6-per-share forecast since January even after reporting that first-quarter net income jumped 51
percent, easily topping Wall Street expectations.
What recession? Some firms are enjoying explosive growth.
One-time events influenced bottom lines of some of the few companies that made more money in 2009.
Few escaped the Great Recession unscathed, and unusual circumstances helped some appear as though they did.
U.S. regulators may phase in requirements on how much health insurers spend on medical care to avoid pushing plans out of
the market for people who buy their own coverage, WellPoint Inc.’s chief financial officer said Wednesday.
The Indiana University School of Medicine ranked below average for its output of primary-care physicians,
according to a study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Roughly one-third, or 34.1 percent, of
physicians minted by the IU med school go into primary care, ranking IU No. 79 out of 141 schools on the list. Some of the
nation's most prestigious medical schools—including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, New York University and the Mayo Clinic—ranked
among the bottom 15 for turning out primary-care docs. To see the full ranking, click here.
Eli Lilly and Co.’s experimental drug Bydureon helped diabetics lower their blood sugar and their
weight—but not any more than the cheap, old diabetes pill metformin. That’s the upshot of clinical trial data
released Tuesday by Indianapolis-based Lilly and its development partners on Bydureon. The once-a-week version of Byetta helped
patients reduce their blood sugar, measured by hemoglobin A1c, by 1.5 percentage points. So did metformin. Patients on Bydureon
lost an average of 4.5 pounds a piece. Patients on metformin lost 4.4 pounds on average. Bydureon did reduce blood sugar more
than Januvia, a medicine made by New Jersey-based Merck & Co. Inc., and roughly the same as Actos, a drug made by Japan-based
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. However, patients lost less weight on Januvia, and actually gained weight on Actos. Lilly is
waiting for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve Bydureon for market.
WellPoint Inc. got some recognition for practicing what it preaches. The National Business Group, a not-for-profit
organization of large employers, named WellPoint one of 66 Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles because the company encourages
its workers and families to adopt long-term, healthy habits. Meanwhile, Indianapolis-based WellPoint is developing online
care options to give patients a quicker way to converse with a physician—using online video and chat or using a phone.
In a partnership with Boston-based American Well, WellPoint will launch its online care option in the fall with a network
of primary-care and specialist physicians committed to conducting virtual visits with patients. The online care option will
begin in a few markets and then expand throughout WellPoint’s territories across the country.
Purdue University's Healthcare Technical Assistance Program is hiring 50 professionals to help 2,200
Indiana primary-care doctors adopt electronic records that meet federal standards. Purdue's center, armed with $12 million
in federal stimulus funds, will aid small Indiana practices of 10 or fewer health care providers, community health centers,
federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics.
Eight programs at Riley Hospital for Children ranked among the top 30 children's hospitals in the nation
in U.S. News' annual America's Best Children's Hospitals list. The rankings will be released in the August
issue of U.S. News & World Report. Riley ranked third in urology, 14th in pulmonology, 15th in diabetes, 20th
in neonatal care, 22nd in digestive disorders, 29th in cardiology and neurology and 30th in cancer. No other hospitals in
Indiana were named in the rankings. U.S. News based the rankings on each hospital's reputation, outcomes, and
such measures as nursing care, advanced technology, and credentialing.
One in five medical claims is processed inaccurately by commercial health insurers—and a unit of Indianapolis-based
WellPoint Inc. does even worse—often leaving physicians shortchanged, according to the nation's largest doctor's
group.
Thompson Thrift, based in Terre Haute and Carmel, has started construction on Washington Square Commons, a 9,000-square-foot
retail strip at 10110 E. Washington St., at a major entrance to Washington Square Mall.
Company announced plans in May 2009 for a $2 million lube shop and car wash in Avon. But more than a year later, work hasn’t
started.
Addition of University of Nebraska to conference in 2011 will lead to football playoff.
Pat Bauer sent Indiana Secretary of Commerce Mitch Roob a letter formally requesting the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
disclose public records about promises companies gave the state in exchange for job-creation incentives.
Three of the four principals in Page Development were in court June 8 to sift through the fallout from a $1.35 million judgment
against them. It’s only the tip of Page Development’s financial straits.
A fixture in downtown Indianapolis since 1987, the Academy hasn’t yet been evicted from its Pan American Plaza ice rinks,
but it operates under a cloud of uncertainty.
India-based JPSK Sports Private Ltd. hired JMI to provide strategic consulting for the venue that will host the inaugural
Formula One Indian Grand Prix in 2011.
The state is building a massive data system with a tough-love intent of rewarding good educators and schools and hammering
poor performers.
IUPUI took two steps closer to creating a School of Public Health as it gave Lilly Scholars awards to help
two professors start up public health research projects. The awards are funded by a $1 million gift from the Eli Lilly
and Co. Foundation. Jennifer Wessel, who was hired from personalized genetics company SRI International, will focus
her research on developing interventions based on individuals' genetic profiles that can promote healthy lifestyles to
prevent or delay coronary artery disease. Silvia M. Bigatti, who has been a professor of psychology at the Indiana
University School of Medicine since 2000, will study factors related to stress and coping in cancer patients and
their partners and also community-based preventive health behaviors among Latinos.
The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has approved a Stop Diabetes specialty license plate. Like Indiana's
other special group-recognition license plates, the Stop Diabetes plate will cost $40, with $25 of that cost directly benefiting
the American Diabetes Association. The funds raised will support education and research about diabetes. According to the American
Diabets Association, more than 714,000 Hoosiers have diabetes and at least 1.6 million, roughly a fourth of the state's
population, are at high risk for it.
Endocyte Inc.'s experimental cancer drug doubled survival times for women with difficult cases of ovarian
cancer. In a clinical trial of 91 women, Endocyte’s drug EC145, when combined with another chemotherapy drug, Doxil,
held off ovarian cancer for six months, compared with 3 months for patients given Doxil alone. The data are interim results
from a Phase 2 clinical trial involving 150 women. Endocyte, based in West Lafayette, plans to move its drug into a large
Phase 3 trial later this year.
Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. and Merck KGaA’s Erbitux failed to slow early-stage colon cancer,
in a clinical trial that left scientists mystified. Erbitux is already approved to treat colon cancer in advanced stages,
and scientists presumed it would also work in earlier stages, according to Bloomberg News. The finding is the latest of at
least three studies that have narrowed the scope of Erbitux. It recorded sales last year of $1.4 billion, according to IMS
Health.
Indianapolis developer Buckingham Cos. is in discussions to build a mixed-use development that could include apartments, shops,
office space, and a hotel and conference center.
A lawyer says too many parents withhold information about estate from heirs and unwittingly set up the heirs for a battle.
Jim Irsay and Herb Simon join to co-chair fund-raising committee for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, which has encountered
financial troubles the past few years.
