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Indiana health startups have raised $100M this year

Investors seem to have rediscovered the Midwest this year, pouring a record $777 million into 139 companies, according to BioEnterprise. In the first half of 2013, Midwest companies raised $351 million.

Company news

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new Type 2 diabetes drug from Indianapolis-based drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. and its German partner, Boehringer Ingelheim, according to the Associated Press. The drug, called Jardiance, is designed to block glucose reabsorption in kidneys and remove excess glucose through urine. Unlike many other diabetes treatments, it does not depend on a patient's insulin levels to be effective. European Union regulators approved the drug, also known as empagliflozin, in May. Lilly is expected to garner $518 million in annual sales from Jardiance by 2019, according to the average of five analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg earlier this year. Lilly and Boehringer had said FDA didn't approve the drug because of concerns about the Boehringer factory in Germany where it will be made. But a Lilly spokeswoman said Friday those concerns have been resolved.

Indianapolis-based SonarMed Inc., which makes an airway monitoring system used in operating rooms and intensive care units, has raised $2.4 million from institutional investors, according to the BioCrossroads life sciences business development group. The Series A1 funding round was led by Baylor Angel Network, Hyde Park Angels, Visiontech Partners, BioCrossroads’ Indiana Seed Fund II, Spring Mill Ventures, two former Abbott Laboratories executives and the SonarMed management team. SonarMed will use the money to develop a second version of its adult monitoring system as well as a version for children and infants. “Providers are being pressured to find new and better ways to provide higher quality care with a focus on patient safety, and doing so with fewer resources,” said SonarMed CEO Tom Bumgardner. “Consequently, health care systems are increasingly interested in our technology.”

Endocyte Inc. swung to a second-quarter profit of $22.4 million due to a change in accounting after its leading drug candidate failed and its partner, New Jersey-based Merck & Co. Inc., cancelled its development contract. The West Lafayette-based drug development firm earned 52 cents per diluted share compared with a loss of 23 cents per share in the same quarter last year. Revenue shot to $49.2 million from $16.5 million. All of that money comes from collaboration payments from Merck, not all of which were immediately recognized in Endocyte’s accounting. But now that the contract has ended, Endocyte accelerated its accounting recognition of the revenue, producing the spike in revenue and profit. After the failure in May of its drug vintafolide as a treatment for ovarian cancer, Endocyte is continuing to study the drug as a non-small cell lung cancer drug. The company has no products on the market.

WellPoint Inc. beat expectations with its second-quarter profit and raised its full-year profit forecast. But unlike peers UnitedHealth Group and Aetna, the Indianapolis-based health insurer could not improve its profit over the same quarter last year. Profit fell 8.6 percent, to $731.1 million, from $800.1 million. Excluding investment gains and other special items, WellPoint earned $2.44 per share. On that basis, Wall Street analysts expected $2.26, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters. WellPoint raised its full-year profit forecast 10 cents per share, saying it now expects more than $8.60 per share. Revenue rose 4.4 percent to nearly $18.5 billion. Analysts expected $18.2 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

People

Kyle DeFur will step down as president of St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital after more than six years in the position. Dr. Joel Feldman, chief medical officer, will serve as president while St. Vincent Health searches for a permanent replacement. Before coming to Indianapolis, DeFur was president of St. Vincent Anderson Hospital, then known as Saint John’s Health System. DeFur holds a bachelor’s degree from Anderson University as well as master’s degrees in hospital administration and business administration from Xavier University.

Dr. Mary Abernathy has been named executive director of medical education at St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital. Abernathy joined St. Vincent Indianapolis in October as program director for medical residents in obstetrics and gynecology. Before that, she was director of graduate medical education and residency program director positions at Indiana University School of Medicine’s South Bend and Indianapolis campuses. Abernathy earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Purdue University as well as medical and master’s degrees from IU School of Medicine.

Dr. Brent Benscoter, an otologist and neurotologist, has joined Midwest Ear Institute in Indianapolis and Mooresville. Benscoter earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Not so golden: Wealth gap lasting into retirement

With traditional pensions becoming rarer in the private sector, and lower-paid workers less likely to have access to an employer-provided retirement plan, there is a growing gulf in the retirement savings of the wealthy and people with lower incomes.

EPA coal-plant emission limits challenged by 12 states

A dozen states, led by West Virginia and including Indiana, sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday to block a proposed rule that would limit carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.

FDA approves Lilly, Boehringer diabetes drug

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it will permit Jardiance tablets to be used by adult patients with type 2 diabetes who also are trying to control their condition with diet and exercise.

Clay Township sewer-overflow project halted

The Clay Township Regional Waste District on Wednesday withdrew its offer to buy part of a church’s land and build a million-gallon sewage-overflow tank near 106th Street and Keystone Parkway.