The Indianapolis industrial real estate market didn’t escape the recession unscathed, but the sector outperformed most other
cities and took less of a hit than in the last recession.
Greenwood pharmaceutical firm Elona Biotechnologies plans to build a $28 million production facility and create 70 jobs to
help develop a cheaper form of insulin that could gain significant market share.
Hey, wait a minute! That was the reaction, somewhat delayed, by the Indiana chapter of the National Federation
of Independent Business, to a late-December change to federal health reform legislation. The
Senate version of reform exempts companies with fewer than 50 employees from a requirement to provide
health benefits. But in late December, Senate leaders made a change for construction firms, saying the
exemption would apply only if they have five or fewer employees. The change was a favor to union groups,
which said non-union construction contractors would have an advantage over unionized shops that do provide
health benefits. Local NFIB leaders staged a protest/press conference last week, calling on Congress to “strip this
job-killing provision from a final health care bill.”
Orbis Education, a locally based maker
of nursing-education software, received $8 million in venture capital from Menlo Park, Calif.-based Lightspeed
Venture Partners. Founded in 2003, Orbis offers online instruction to help universities and hospitals
train new nurses. A key hurdle in the looming nursing shortage is the lack of capacity for nursing schools
to accept all qualified applicants. Last year, it had $4.5 million in revenue and 33 employees. Orbis
aims to boost its work force past 50 by the end of the year. Orbis had previously raised $4 million from
family, friends and angel investors.
Watch out, Eli Lilly and Co. A Greenwood pharmaceutical
firm plans to build a $28 million insulin facility there to make a cheaper version of the diabetes-fighting medicine. According
to the Daily Journal of Franklin, Elona Biotechnologies expects its 50,000-square-foot facility to employ as many
as 70 people. Greeenwood officials are considering $8.5 million in incentives, including some loans,
to help Elona build the facility and get it approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Elona
was founded in the late 1980s by former Lilly researcher Ron Zimmerman.
West Lafayette-based
IVDiagnostics LLC won a $124,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to further
its cancer diagnostics research. The Small Business and Innovation Research Phase 1 grant will pay for
the company to improve the design of its IVFLow medical device, which analyzes and monitors tumor cells without taking blood
from a patient.
Physicians working in a surgery center connected to Community Hospital South kicked
in $500,000 to help the hospital complete a massive expansion. The gift, given by 65 doctors, boosts
to $1.2 million the money raised for the project by the philanthropic arm of Community Health Network.
The $130 million expansion will add 40 beds. It is scheduled to open in mid-2010.
WellPoint’s sale of its NextRx unit was the largest deal in the Indianapolis area in 2009.
Shares of Lilly and partner Amylin rose on hopes that their new version of Byetta will be approved following U.S. regulators’
clearance of a similar drug.
Massachusetts’ election of a Republican senator has put health reform legislation on life support. But for the health
care industry, reform is a reality that isn’t going to die.
Two local researchers show why Eli Lilly and Co. and its peers are interested in developing medicines to treat automimmune
diseases: The costs of treating them are growing twice as fast as the prescription drug market.
The Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis will be one of 12 sites for a clinical trial
of a potentially groundbreaking treatment for autism. New York-based Curemark LLC has developed an ingestible powder designed
to help patients digest protein. The drug is the product of research by Curemark founder Dr. Joan Fallon, who found that many
autistic children lack enzymes to digest protein, meaning their bodies cannot produce the amino acids crucial in brain development.
If it proves effective against autism, the powder, called CA-MT, would be the first treatment to reverse the underlying causes
of autism.
Hopes rose Tuesday that Eli Lilly and Co. and its partner Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc.
will win approval of their new version of diabetes treatment Byetta. That’s because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
on Monday approved a Byetta rival, Victoza, developed by Denmark-based Novo Nordisk A/S. Victoza is a once-daily shot, compared
with the twice-daily Byetta. But Indianapolis-based Lilly and San Diego-based Amylin have asked the FDA to approve a once-weekly
version of Byetta, which would be the most convenient for patients. Analysts expect sales of once-weekly Byetta to reach as
high as $2 billion by 2015, which would be split by Lilly and Amylin. Sales of twice-daily Byetta last year were on pace to
reach about $790 million. What’s been holding up Victoza and the once-weekly Byetta have been regulator concerns about
patients developing inflammation of the pancreas while taking the drugs. The FDA required Victoza’s label to warn about
pancreatitis as well as use in patients at risk for a rare thyroid cancer. Those warnings were milder than many analysts had
feared. One analyst expects the FDA to make a decision on once-weekly Byetta by March 5.
Warsaw-based Symmetry
Medical Inc. will manufacture implants, instruments and cases for OrthoPediatrics Corp., another
Warsaw-based company that makes orthopedic implants for children. Symmetry expects to bring in $3 million in revenue from
the deal this year. Symmetry also will receive fees for inventory management, warehousing and supply-chain management services.
The agreement will last for five years.
The Indianapolis-based drugmaker says a weaker dollar depressed earnings in the fourth quarter compared with a year ago.
Analysts worry about dive in already paltry sales of new blood thinner Effient
Massachusetts’ election of a Republican senator has put health reform legislation on life support. But for the health
care industry, reform is a reality that isn’t going to die.
Greenwood-based Zimmerman Biotechnologies LLC hopes to become the first company in the United States to make generic insulin,
a long-awaited development in diabetes treatment. The Greenwood Common Council on Feb. 1 will consider an $8.4 million deal
that would finance construction of an insulin factory, as well as help Zimmerman with FDA-approval and equipment expenses.
Dr. Kristine Courtney, Eli Lilly and Co.’s senior director of corporate health services, describes
how and why the company spent two years making its clinics some of the first to electronically swap patient records with
a local hospital database.
An Indiana University prof thinks Indianapolis should anticipate a future without Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and a potentially
reduced Eli Lilly and Co.
Richard Shepperd is retiring as president and CEO of Bioanalytical Systems Inc., a
West Lafayette-based provider of clinical research services and equipment. Sheppard already surrendered his position as president,
and the company’s board named Anthony Chilton, the company’s chief operating officer, interim
president. The board said it would conduct a national search for a new CEO. Shepperd, 69, became CEO in September 2006 and
had agreed to stay no later than December 2009. During his tenure, Bioanalytical’s stock lost 85 percent
of its value.
Dr. Michael Langley has joined Carmel-based Anson Group as a regulatory consultant.
Langley retired from Eli Lilly and Co., having served in many roles, including director of regulatory affairs and clinical
research.
Dr. Shanna Bowman and Dr. Stacey Smith have joined County Line Pediatrics,
a new practice on South Emerson Avenue that’s part of St. Francis Medical Group. Both Bowman and Smith earned
their medical degrees at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
The Indiana Health Industry Forum made Kristin
Jones its president and CEO after she had performed those jobs on an interim basis since 2008. Also, the health and
life sciences group named former Roche Diagnostics executive Joerg Schreiber chairman.
The first half of a short session will close Wednesday, meaning bills must have passed out of either the House or Senate to
stay alive. Legislation regarding unemployment taxes and township-government reform easily met that deadline.
Mississippi will receive $18.5 million from Indianapolis-based drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. as part of a settlement over claims
the company promoted the anti-psychotic Zyprexa for ailments it was not federally approved to treat.
Key measures cleared their chambers of origin by the Feb. 3 deadline.
Eli Lilly and Co. CEO John Lechleiter’s total compensation increased $4.1 million in 2009.
