General Electric Co. has mounted an all-out effort to get its supporters in Congress to defy Defense Secretary Robert Gates when the House of Representatives votes on the $567 billion defense bill for fiscal 2011. GE wants Congress to keep funding its backup engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Gates says a second engine […]
In the wake of a recession blamed largely on Wall Street, boards need to act. But reducing executive pay shouldn’t
be their primary objective.
In 2008, Eli Lilly and Co. asked drug regulators to change the label on Alimta so Lilly could no longer promote it as a treatment
for all patients suffering from non-small-cell lung cancer, but for only about 70 percent of the patients. Since then, sales
of the drug have accelerated, growing a whopping 48 percent last year.
AgeneBio Inc. this month landed a $300,000 investment from the Indiana Seed Fund to fund operations, bolster its intellectual
property, and begin learning how to make a drug into a once-a-day pill.
Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. spent about $2.3 million in the first quarter of 2010 lobbying the federal government
on health care reform, Medicare reimbursement and trade issues among other topics.
Top executives at Indiana's public companies have largely been insulated from the economic crash. IBJ's
review of executive pay found that, although 131 of the 238 executives listed in proxy statements the past two years saw annual
compensation fall in 2009, only 10 experienced cuts of more than $1 million.
The price increase was fueled by the debate over the health-care overhaul in Washington, D.C., Medco Health Solutions Inc. CEO David Snow said.
Lilly Endowment announced Monday that its assets declined 7 percent, to $5.3 billion, in 2009, as the foundation continued
to lose money on Eli Lilly and Co. stock.
U.S. companies, including Eli Lilly, amassed at least $1 trillion in foreign profits not taxed in the U.S. as of the end of
last year. That cumulative total increased 70 percent over three years.
After purchasing the Franklin-based company two years ago, TruFoods says it now is positioned to seek franchisees in an attempt
to grow the Ritter’s chain to 100 locations within five years.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week pushed its self-declared deadline for rendering an approval decision on the
drug Bydureon to Oct. 22. The previous deadline was in March.
Indianapolis-based drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. is on course to cut 5,500 jobs by the end of 2011 in a bid to eliminate $1
billion in annual expenses.
Elanco Animal Health chief Jeff Simmons predicts that consumers will opt for food made cheaper by using
Elanco’s productivity-enhancing drugs over pricier organic and locally grown products. But, as a hedge,
he has Elanco developing products to help organic farmers, too.
Watson Pharmaceuticals filed for FDA approval to sell a low-cost version of Eli Lilly and Co.’s osteoporosis medicine. Indianapolis-based
Lilly is seeking a court order that would block approval until three of its patents expire in 2017.
Lilly Endowment has been a substantial Lilly stockholder for 73 years, so to focus on the past decade is a mistake.
The university is hoping to find a private company to take over the 5-year-old facility, which formulated and manufactured
small batches of drugs used in clinical trials.
Company news
A federal judge in Minnesota rejected Guidant Corp.'s guilty plea to charges it hid defects in heart
defibrillators, after some doctors and patients complained about the deal, Bloomberg News reported. Guidant is a coronary
products company spun off from Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. in the 1990s and acquired by Boston Scientific
in 2006. Boston Scientific agreed to plead guilty and pay $296 million to settle the case brought by the U.S. Department of
Justice. But U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank suggested the company should be placed on probation for failing to disclose
defects with its heart devices to regulators. Prosecutors said in court papers that Guidant officials learned as early as
2002 that some of the implantable defibrillators had a tendency to short-circuit and caused users’ deaths. The company
didn’t disclose the defects for more than three years, the government said.
The first phase of a $65 million expansion opened Tuesday at Marquette, a retirement facility located south
of St. Vincent Hospital on Township Line Road. The expansion is designed to appeal to more active seniors, and includes a
bistro, performing-arts venue, a putting green and exercise facilities with a full-time trainer. A second phase of the expansion,
to be completed later this summer, will include 48 apartments.
The Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis gave $1 million to Wishard Health Services
to help it purchase software to better coordinate care for pediatric asthma patients. The program provides coaching and educational
materials for children with asthma in coordination with their primary-care providers, including school clinics. The software,
known as RelayHealth Virtual Information Exchange, will electronically deliver patient-education materials to patients in
the pediatric asthma program, with easy-to-understand illustrations and animations. Eventually, Wishard hopes to use the software
to allow patients to schedule appointments, obtain prescription refills and have electronic visits with health care professionals.
The Lifeline helicopter medical service is starting to replace the aircraft it uses for emergency flights across much of
Indiana, according to the Associated Press. Indianapolis-based Clarian Health is buying four new helicopters
to replace aging ones. Lifeline program director Shelly Maersch says the new helicopters will have safety enhancements, with
the pilots being able to use night-vision goggles. The new helicopters also will allow for rear loading and not vibrate as
much. The first new helicopter will be stationed at Howard Regional Hospital in Kokomo. Lifeline also has regional bases in
Lafayette, Muncie, Columbus and Terre Haute.
Purdue University’s decision to close the Chao Center in West Lafayette is a setback for Indiana’s effort to grow
a vibrant contract drug manufacturing sector. But it’s just the latest in a series of unexpected changes—not all for
the worse—since Indianapolis-based BioCrossroads launched a contract drug manufacturing initiative in late 2007.
