A property housing a closed arena and a new facility on the University of Southern Indiana campus are being considered as options as the Indiana University School of Medicine expands its Evansville program from two years of study to four.
Pete Kissinger hopes Phlebotics will follow in the footsteps of another of his creations, Bioanalytical Systems Inc.
And back again. Women’s Health Alliance, a seven-doctor OB/GYN practice, will move Nov. 19 into the medical office building next to St. Vincent Carmel Hospital and will make that facility its main location for delivering babies. Women’s Health had been near the Indiana University Health North Hospital since it opened in 2005. Before that, however, Women’s Health Alliance had been affiliated with the St. Vincent Women’s Hospital on West 86th Street. Calls to the practice, which also includes four nurse practitioners, were not returned in time for IBJ’s deadline. However, the shift is the latest move by Indianapolis-area physicians to align with different hospital systems, as each health system tries to secure the referrals necessary to keep their beds filled. St. Vincent Health and IU Health, the two largest hospital systems in Indiana, have been particularly fierce competitors in the physician chase.
West Lafayette-based Endocyte Inc. suffered a 14-percent decline in its stock price on Friday after it made no change in its time line for completing a Phase 3 trial of its leading drug candidate, vintafolide, for treatment of ovarian cancer. Vintafolide, formerly known as EC145, is progressing toward market approval in the European Union. But in the United States, the Food and Drug Adminstration has required Endocyte to complete its Phase 3 trial before it will consider the drug for market approval. That trial had been delayed by short supplies of a comparison drug, called Doxil. Now that those shortages have ended, Wall Street analysts were hoping the time line for the trial might speed up. But Endocyte officials said they still expect data from the trial in the first half of 2014. Endocyte also reported that it lost $1.2 million, or 3 cents per share, during the three months ended Sept. 30. Analysts were expecting Endocyte's partnership with New Jersey-based Merck & Co. Inc. to push it out of the red, making 1 cent per share, according to a Thomson Reuters survey. Endocyte's quarterly revenue of $12.4 million also fell below analysts' expectations of $12.9 million.
Eli Lilly and Co.’s experimental Alzheimer’s drug did what it was designed to do: It removed free-floating pieces of the protein amyloid from patients’ brains and carried them to the bloodstream. That conclusion, issued Oct. 29 by a team of outside researchers, further confirms that Lilly’s drug solanezumab has some effect on the memory-sapping disease and the mechanism believed to cause it. Two large clinical trials of solanezumab demonstrated no effect on amyloid plaques seen in PET scans nor another protein associated with Alzheimer’s, called tau. Analysts continue to expect regulators to require another large clinical trial of the drug before they approve it for the market. That delay, coupled with the small effects so far documented for solanezumab, have analysts adjusting their potential sales estimates down. Whereas estimates ranged from $4 billion to $10 billion a few months ago, one recent estimate issued by Credit Suisse analyst Catherine Arnold predicts solanezumab will reach peak sales of $2.5 billion, according to a report from Reuters. That’s still big, but not quite the single-handed savior analysts thought solanezumab could be for Lilly, which is struggling through patent expirations on numerous blockbuster drugs.
Indianapolis Colts rookie quarterback Andrew Luck announced a four-year sponsorship agreement with Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health. The Riley/Luck “Change the Play” initiative will include programs such as sports performance camps, educational tools for kids, and Luck speaking engagements. Luck will be paid to promote the hospital and the initiative, but financial terms were not disclosed. Luck won't be the first Colts quarterback to partner with a hospital. Peyton Manning, who departed the Colts last off-season for Denver, signed one of his first local deals as a professional football player in 1998 with St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital. Manning's deal with St. Vincent grew over the years until the hospital's children's facility was named the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent in 2007. Despite his move to Denver, Manning still remains active with St. Vincent. St. Vincent used its association with Manning to try to chip away at Riley's market share in children's and pediatric care.
Eli Lilly and Co. will spend $140 million to construct an 88,000-square-foot plant southwest of downtown to make cartridges for insulin pens. The Indianapolis-based drugmaker announced details of the expansion Nov. 1 at a press conference on the site of the new plant on South Harding Street. The new plant, first announced Oct. 30, will adjoin Lilly’s existing manufacturing complex, known as the Lilly Technology Center. About 100 workers will staff the plant, which will be constructed by spring 2014 and ready for operations in 2015. But only “some” of that number will be additional jobs on top of the 3,000 manufacturing workers Lilly already employs in Indianapolis, according to Lilly. Wages for the new jobs will be similar to those earned by Lilly's existing manufacturing work force, although Lilly officials declined to disclose details. Lilly officials also said they plan to apply for tax abatements from the city. Lilly needs the new plant because demand for insulin continues to rise in the United States and globally. The company already makes insulin cartridges in Italy and France, and will continue to expand those plants, too.
Dr. Elizabeth Nowacki, an obstetrician and gynecologist, has joined the medical staff at St. Vincent Medical Center Northeast in Fishers. Nowacki earned her bachelor’s in biology from Grinnell College in Iowa and a master’s degree in physiology and biophysics from the Indiana University School of Medicine. She received her medical degree from the Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Before joining St. Vincent, Nowacki practiced at Hancock Regional Hospital in Greenfield.
Dr. Cynthia Seffernick, an obstetrician and gynecologist, has joined the medical staff at St. Vincent Medical Center Northeast in Fishers. She received her bachelor’s in biology from the University of Toledo and her medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo. Before joining St. Vincent, Seffernick practiced at Dearborn County Hospital in Lawrenceburg.
Attorney Ellen Chambers has joined Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman’s Indianapolis office, focusing on health care providers. She holds a bachelor’s from Iowa State University, a master’s of health administration from the University of Iowa, and a law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law.
Attorney Joel Swider has joined Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman’s Indianapolis office, focusing on contracts, transactions and taxes for hospitals and physicians. He holds a bachelor’s from the University of Virginia and earned his law degree from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.
Attorney Drew Howk has joined Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman’s Indianapolis office, practicing health care litigation. He holds a bachelor’s from Wabash College and a law degree from the Saint Louis University School of Law.
Gwen O’Malley has been named primary care executive director at Community Physician Network. She was previously practice director for the physician network. O’Malley has a bachelor’s from St. Mary of the Woods College and a master’s from Indiana University. Before coming to Community in 2010, she was director of operations for specialty care at St. Francis Medical Group.
A new agreement in Wisconsin provides a glimpse of the kind of “narrow network” arrangements that Indianapolis-based Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield might attempt in Indiana.
Community Health Network thinks it can help patients, engage doctors and maybe even make some money by trying to turn ideas within its organization into commercial products, service and companies.
The voters of Vigo County may know more about who will win the presidential race than any pollster or strategist. In more than half a century, Vigo County election returns have been right every time, making it the nation’s finest bellwether county.
Community Health Network thinks it can help patients, engage doctors and maybe even make some money by trying to turn ideas within its organization into commercial products, services and companies. It’s the latest in a string of efforts to capitalize on problem-solving that goes on inside local hospitals. The Indianapolis-based hospital system this month announced […]
Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma is picking a new Ways and Means chairman with an eye on dealing with health care costs in the coming years.
Indiana Gov.-elect Mike Pence closed the door on a state-run health insurance exchange Thursday, arguing that the estimated $50 million cost of the state program was not worth the limited autonomy granted in return.
Indiana lawmakers can add confusion over the federal health insurance law to their already overflowing plate when they return for their 2013 legislative session in January.
Diagnotes LLC, an Indianapolis-based developer of health care software, won the inaugural Hoosier Healthcare Innovation Challenge held by the economic development group Develop Indy. Diagnotes and two other finalists, CreateIT and Freedom Solutions, presented product demonstrations at the annual conference of the Indiana Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. Diagnotes’ On Call software, which delivers patient medical records to smartphones of an on-call doctor, won $5,000 for taking first place. Diagnotes also won the business competition that was part of the Indiana Life Sciences Summit, staged by Indianapolis-based BioCrossroads, in October.
In a bid to compete for cancer patients with Indiana University Health and St. Vincent Health, Community Health Network will make its North and East hospitals affiliates of the University of Texas’ MD Anderson Cancer Center. MD Anderson, one of the best-known treatment centers for cancer, will certify the cancer physicians at the two hospitals and give Community access to the evidence-based treatment and follow-up plans developed by MD Anderson. “This is a game changer for our network,” Bryan Mills, CEO of Indianapolis-based Community Health Network, said in a prepared statement. “Professionals in the medical field know the MD Anderson name very well, as it’s the gold standard for cancer care.” Community also plans to seek MD Anderson Cancer Network certification at its hospitals in Anderson, Kokomo and on the south side of Indianapolis.
Advantage Health Solutions Inc. suffered a security breach that potentially affects members of the Franciscan Alliance accountable care organization. The breach occurred Oct. 19 when a subcontractor of Indianapolis-based Advantage mailed generic health questionnaires to 2,575 beneficiaries with individual identification numbers inadvertently displayed. No personal health or financial information was disclosed. Advantage, which provides care management and data services for the Franciscan ACO, said it is offering free credit monitoring to all members of the health plan.
West Lafayette-based Tymora Analytical Operations LLC received $300,000 from the National Institutes of Health to help it develop technology to help researchers develop drugs to treat cancer and diabetes, as well as immune and neurological disorders. The company’s technology, called PolyMAC, is based on research by Andy Tao, a Purdue University professor of biochemistry. Tymora received a $150,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health this year, and has also received a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. All the grants are part of the federal government's Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, program.
Dr. Huma Khan, a family physician and obstetrician, has joined Franciscan Physician Network as part of its South 31 Family Care practice. She previously practiced at St. Vincent Dunn Hospital in Bedford. Khan earned her medical degree in Pakistan and completed residency training at Marquette General Hospital in Michigan. Khan also received a master’s degree in public health from the University of New Mexico.
Bloomington-based Cook Medical won approval for the first drug-coated stent for clogged leg arteries in the United States, which accounts for 40 percent of the soon-to-be $3 billion market.
William Anthony Buckles, chief financial officer of Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center Inc., is a finalist in the private companies (revenue $100 million or less) category.
Skyrocketing health care costs prompt search for new ways to improve lifestyle choices.
Vasc-Alert proves its technology, plans to expand into Europe.
