Lilly, Roche dive deep into diagnostics
Two Indianapolis giants—Eli Lilly and Co. and Roche Diagnostics—are working hard to pair up drugs and diagnostic
tests to gin up more sales.
Two Indianapolis giants—Eli Lilly and Co. and Roche Diagnostics—are working hard to pair up drugs and diagnostic
tests to gin up more sales.
Eli Lilly and Co. is launching a diagnostics division to produce tests that can winnow out the patients most likely to benefit
from a Lilly drug.
More than 100 staff members of Indiana Medical Associates LLC likely will land at one of two area hospital systems. The move
mirrors national and local consolidation of practices with hospitals.
The program currently includes 1,200 physicians—about 10 percent of all doctors in Indiana.
As doctors threaten to drop Medicare patients, Congress delays cuts for another six months.
Beleaguered home builder doesn’t appear to have funds available to pay an attorney to prepare
necessary paperwork for Chapter 7 liquidation, trustee says in court filing.
In a name change that sounds like a merger of perfidy and profanity, Quadraspec Inc. is now called Perfinity.
Actually, the West Lafayette-based company merged itself into a sister company, Perfinity Biosciences Inc.
That company was created to commercialize a new method of biological sample preparation, developed by Fred Regnier, one of
the founders of Quadraspec. The shareholders of Quadraspec will remain the owners of Perfinity, and they have committed an
extra $2.33 million to the company. Quadraspec, which has raised more than $20 million in outside investment capital, makes
DVD-like discs capable of holding 272 samples that can be analyzed by a reading machine, like a DVD player.
Who knew? The Clarian North Medical Center in Carmel—famous locally for its terrazzo marble interior—is
the 20th most-beautiful hospital in the nation. At least according to health care staffing firm Soliant Health. The Georgia-based
firm built its rankings on votes cast on its Web site. In a press release, Soliant noted that beautiful surroundings help
people heal better. Not mentioned was that pretty hospitals in rich suburbs also tend to attract patients with the money and
private insurance plans to make a hospital profitable.
St. Vincent Health finally won the go-ahead from the Lawrence County Commissioners and County Council to
absorb Bedford’s Dunn Memorial Hospital. St. Vincent now operates 19 hospitals around the state and
has a joint venture with Clarian Health on a rehab hospital in Indianapolis. The Bedford hospital will now be known as St.
Vincent Dunn Hospital. Bedford is one of the places outside of Indianapolis where Clarian and St. Vincent, the state’s
two largest hospitals systems, are competing head-to-head. Clarian owns the cross-town Bedford Regional Medical Center.
AIT Laboratories plans to create as many as 160 jobs by 2014 and move its corporate headquarters to the
northwest side. The Indianapolis-based forensics, clinical and pharmaceutical testing firm plans to invest $74 million to
acquire and equip an existing 90,000-square-foot building in Woodland Corporate Park near West 79th Street and Interstate
465. AIT also plans to build a toxicology lab adjacent to its new headquarters. Its clients range from law-enforcement agencies
to physicians.
Clarian Health promoted Todd Stanley to the role of administrative director of Clarian Radiology. In this
new position, Stanley is responsible for oversight of radiology services for Clarian’s three downtown Indianapolis hospitals
and its beltway locations.
Dr. Debra Larkins, an OB/GYN doctor, recently joined the physicians at County Line Medical Pavilion, a new
Community Physicians of Indiana office. Larkins trained at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. Sherry L.
Harmon, a certified nurse midwife, and Debra Taylor, a nurse practitioner, also have joined the
new practice.
The Indiana Health Care Association has a new president. Scott Tittle, an attorney at the Indianapolis-based
Krieg DeVault law firm, took over from Steve Smith earlier this month. Smith returned to Affiliated Computer
Services, where he had worked previously.
Dr. Gaston Dana has been named medical director of the Wound Healing Center at Johnson Memorial Hospital.
Physician offices will begin receiving payments from the Medicare that are 21.3-percent below
what they’ve been getting so far this year. Doctors still expect Congress to reverse the payment cuts, but physicians
and the Medicare program will have to reprocess claims, costing both extra money.
As a practicing physician, I was disappointed by [Morton Marcus’] support of the recently passed health care legislation
[in his May 31 column].
The Indianapolis-based forensics, clinical and pharmaceutical testing firm, led by CEO Michael Evans, plans to invest $74
million to acquire and equip
an existing 90,000-square-foot building in Woodland Corporate Park near West 79th Street and Interstate 465.
What recession? Some firms are enjoying explosive growth.
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.
Medical technology companies employed 19,950 Hoosiers in 2007 and supported another 35,000 jobs in supplier companies, according
to an analysis funded by an industry trade group.
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.
WellPoint plans to build a network of primary care doctors and specialists who will be available any time to consult with
patients.
The federal government is currently doling out $1.1 billion in stimulus funds to pay for research that compares multiple medical
treatments against one another to determine which is most effective. Drug companies like Eli Lilly and Co. are wary that comparative-effectiveness
research could threaten their sales.
We’re all quick to say we want lower taxes, but we’re slow to sacrifice services that affect us.
Dr. George W. Sledge Jr., a breast cancer specialist at the Indiana University School of Medicine, began
serving this month as president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He will remain president for the next year.
Harlan Laboratories has named Dr. Hilton Klein global vice president, science and new product introduction,
for the company’s research models and services operating group, and Steve Jennings global vice president,
marketing and sales for the research models and services operating group. Indianapolis-based Harlan tests experimental medicines
on animals on a contract basis.
SynCare LLC promoted Rachelle Davis, its executive vice president of medical management, to president of
the Indianapolis-based disease-management company. Davis will report directly to SynCare CEO Stephanie DeKemper and have chief
responsibility for day-to-day operations.
Indianapolis-based Benefit Associates/Benefit Consultants hired Spencer Milus, a registered nurse, as an
adviser for wellness and on-site strategies. Milus previously worked at Community Health Network/Infinity Employer Health
Solutions and WellPoint Inc.
Community Health Network appointed three of its physicians as vice presidents of medical affairs, all newly created positions,
at its three Indianapolis hospitals. Dr. Don Ziperman has the title at Community Hospital East, Dr.
Bob Lindeman at Community North and Dr. Randy Lee at Community South.
Clarian Health named Linda K. Chase, a registered nurse, chief nursing officer of Methodist Hospital, where
she will oversee 1,800 nurses. Chase will come to Methodist in July, leaving her current position as chief nurse at The Ohio
State Medical Center’s University Hospital and Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.