In opening statements Tuesday, a lawyer for Indianapolis-based Lilly told the jury there is no evidence the synthetic estrogen known as DES causes breast cancer in the daughters of women who took it.
Four sisters who claimed their breast cancer was caused by a drug their mother took during pregnancy in the 1950s reached a settlement Wednesday with Eli Lilly and Co. in the first of scores of similar claims around the country to go to trial.
Local startups Esanex Inc. and Algaeon Inc. have received $500,000 and $250,000, respectively, from Indiana Seed Fund II, BioCrossroads’ second fund to help fledgling life sciences companies.
Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest seller of health-care products, won the backing of U.S. advisers for a diabetes pill the company is seeking to make the first in a new family of drugs for managing blood sugar.
BioCrossroads Inc.’s newest seed fund has plowed $750,000 into two Indianapolis-area life sciences companies. Esanex Inc. received $500,000 to help it develop a therapy that inhibits the ability of cancer cells to grow and survive. The investment will be used to complete a Phase 1 study in patients with tumors and to conduct multiple Phase 2 trials. Esanex is part of the portfolio of Lilly Ventures, the venture capital firm spun out of Eli Lilly and Co. in 2009. Algaeon Inc., meanwhile, received $250,000 to develop a technology for making micro-algae-based products used in human supplements and in animal and fish-feed stocks. The company will use the investment to expand operations and produce additional products. Algaeon is located on the northwest side on West 82nd Street. BioCrossroads, the Indianapolis-based life sciences development group, launched Indiana Seed Fund II in April after raising $8.25 million to help fledgling life sciences companies grow. Its first seed fund raised $6 million that was invested in 11 companies.
WellPoint Inc.’s plan to raise rates that small employers in California pay for medical insurance was criticized as unreasonable by the state insurance commissioner, who said customers are being charged this year to cover U.S. health-law taxes that won’t begin until 2014. According to Bloomberg News, WellPoint’s Anthem Blue Cross unit in California is raising those rates an average of 10.6 percent. Indianapolis-based WellPoint sells small group policies that cover 284,000 California employees. California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones accused WellPoint of overstating future medical use and cost trends, and improperly including next year’s taxes. The commissioner provided his findings last month to the insurer, which plans to proceed with the rate increase. Anthem Blue Cross said rates will go up an average of 6.5 percent and the increase is lower than not-for-profit competitors. Around the country, Aetna Inc., UnitedHealth Group, Centene Corp. and other health insurers have proposed large increases on small businesses and individual buyers in recent months, citing rising costs for medical care and greater requirements of the health-care law. The Obama administration has said provisions in the law have kept increases from being even higher.
Johnson & Johnson won the backing of an FDA advisory panel for a diabetes pill the company is seeking to make the first in a new family of drugs for managing blood sugar, putting it ahead of Eli Lilly and Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and AstraZeneca plc, which all are trying to develop similar drugs. According to Bloomberg News, New Jersey-based J&J received a 10-5 vote from the panel to support its drug canagliflozin, although the panel also said the drug raises concerns about heart risks. The once-a-day pill is part of a treatment group known as SGLT2 inhibitors that are intended to have fewer side effects, such as low blood sugar and weight gain, than current diabetes drugs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to decide on canagliflozin by the end of March; the agency usually follows recommendations of its advisory panels, but it does not have to. Lilly’s drug, which it is developing with Germany-based Boehringer Ingelheim Gmbh, is called empagliflozin. The two companies plan to file for FDA approval later this year.
Catheter Research Inc. has acquired assets from Illinois-based Marshall Medical Systems & Equipment Inc., one of the distributors of medical equipment for a subsidiary of Catheter Research called Thomas Medical Systems. Thomas Medical makes medical devices for reproductive and OB/GYN care. Catheter Research did not disclose the purchase price.
Zoo CEO Michael Crowther says multiyear funding from the Eli Lilly and Co. Foundation enabled the increase in The Indianapolis Prize's cash award.
European regulators approved the use of an imaging agent from Eli Lilly and Co., which can help doctors diagnose Alzheimer's disease.
While taxes and spending (and related work-force and economic development matters) will consume the bulk of legislative attention in coming months, several other major issues will dot—or blot—the agenda, and should bear your attention.
The value of Lilly Endowment Inc.’s principal holding—Eli Lilly and Co. stock—has increased nearly $2 billion over the past two years, bolstering the private foundation’s philanthropic firepower after a decade of declining or stagnant assets.
Gov. Mike Pence on Thursday named Debra Minott, an attorney with health care regulatory experience, to run the Indiana's human services agency while it implements the looming Medicaid expansion. Pence also named Gina Sheets to lead the Agriculture Department.
Researchers have chosen an experimental drug by Eli Lilly and Co. for a large federally funded study testing whether it's possible to prevent Alzheimer's disease in older people at high risk of developing it.
The Indiana Applied Research Enterprise already has received support from John Lechleiter, CEO of Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co., as a place for collaboration between academic and industrial scientists.
Two new health clinics opened on the west side of Indianapolis last week. HealthNet Inc. opened a community health center on West 10th Street, providing primary, pediatric and OB/GYN care, as well as optomemtry, podiatry, behavioral health and social work services. Also, Community Health Network opened a medical office building in Speedway, which is part of its westward expansion after its acquisition of Westview Hospital on West 38th Street. The offices offer primary care, walk-in care, imaging, infusion therapy and occupational health services. Community also will work with the new Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine to conduct training for medical residents in Speedway.
WellPoint Inc. is still considering former Amerigroup Corp. CEO James Carlson among several finalists to become CEO, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The Indianapolis-based health insurer has delayed defining a role for Carlson, who joined WellPoint through its $4.9 billion acquisition of Amerigroup in December, because he is a contender for the top position, said the person, who asked for anonymity because the information is private. Retired Aetna Inc. CEO Ronald Williams also has been a leading candidate, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations. Carlson, 60, would replace Angela Braly, who was forced out in August amid investor complaints about the company's performance. Carlson built Amerigroup into one of the biggest insurers focused on the growing Medicaid sector. In an e-mail, Kristin Binns, a WellPoint spokeswoman, said the company wouldn’t comment on the CEO search. Maureen McDonnell, an Amerigroup spokeswoman, also declined to discuss the process or Carlson’s role. Katherine Mentus, a spokesman for Williams, declined to comment when reached by telephone. Analysts expect WellPoint to make a decision by the end of February.
Eli Lilly and Co. will have to conduct more studies of its experimental Alzheimer’s drug, but it is getting some outside help. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston chose Lilly’s drug solanezumab for a large federally funded study testing whether it's possible to prevent Alzheimer's disease in older people at high risk of developing it, according to the Associated Press. Lilly’s own studies of solanezumab found that it did not help people with moderate to severe Alzheimer's, but it showed some promise against milder disease. Researchers think it might work better if given before symptoms start. The new study will enroll 1,000 patients between age 70 and 85 who show a buildup of plaques in their brains but do not yet show signs of Alzheimer’s, including loss of memory and ability to do daily activities. Lilly’s solanezumab is also one of two drugs being studied in Alzheimer’s patients by researchers at Washington University. The other is made by the Genentech unit of Switzerland-based Roche Holding AG.
Indianapolis-based Defender Direct, a home security dealer, has opened an on-site health clinic, joining a number of other area employers that offer such services. Defender Direct’s 650 employees and their families now can receive primary care at the East 96th Street clinic, operated by Indianapolis-based OurHealth. Indianapolis-based MJ Insurance, which has helped such employers as Interactive Intelligence Inc. and others set up onsite clinics, brokered the deal.
Roche Diagnostics Corp. in Indianapolis ranks 89th on Fortune magazine’s latest annual list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” the magazine announced Thursday. In selecting Roche, the only Indiana company to appear on the list, Fortune cited its on-site medical clinic and fitness center, the company's $30,000 budget for intramural sports, and its health insurance plans tiered to income levels. The Indianapolis campus serves as the North American headquarters for the diagnostics business of Switzerland-based Roche Holding AG.
The life sciences industry in Indiana employs 55,500 workers paying average wages of more than $88,500 per year, according to new figures released Tuesday by Indianapolis-based life sciences development group BioCrossroads.
Greenwood-based Elona Biotechnologies Inc., which has been trying to bring a generic version of insulin to market, was declared in default on $8.4 million in incentives from the city of Greenwood.
The Franciscan Alliance hospital system has signed a deal with Philadelphia-based health insurer Cigna Corp. to offer an accountable care plan to Cigna’s customers in the Indianapolis area. Mishawaka-based Franciscan will use the same accountable care organization it formed in 2011 to work with the federal Medicare program. That organization includes Franciscan hospitals in Carmel, Indianapolis and Mooresville, as well as 600 physicians in central Indiana. Franciscan and Cigna will rely heavily on case managers, who will help patients, especially those with chronic diseases, navigate the health system. The case managers will use Cigna data to identify patients in need of such attention and will in some cases refer patients to Cigna’s health management and wellness programs.
Warsaw-based DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. kept selling an artificial hip implant even after the doctors it paid as consultants on the product had begun abandoning it and after the product had failed an internal test, according to internal company documents disclosed in a legal case and summarized by The New York Times. DePuy, a subsidiary of New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson, recalled the troubled hip implant, called the Articular Surface Replacement, or ASR, in 2010. The company has been the target of 10,000 lawsuits filed by patients who had to receive a second hip implant after the ASR failed. The device has been prone to shedding large amounts of metallic debris inside patients. DePuy’s own internal estimates show they expected the ASR to fail in 40 percent of patients within five years of their hip-implant surgery.
Greenwood-based Elona Biotechnologies Inc., which has been trying to bring a generic version of insulin to market, is running out of cash and struggling to find new investors. The company told Greenwood officials of its financial troubles earlier this month, which prompted the Greenwood Redevelopment Commission to vote Jan. 17 to declare Elona in default on $8.4 million of economic development incentives the city gave the company in 2010. Wendy Brewer, an attorney for the Greenwood Redevelopment Commission, said one potential investor in Elona wants the company’s exposure under the incentive programs altered as a condition of investing in Elona. “We’re continuing to talk to them,” Brewer said, adding that the company’s finances dictate that a decision be made in a couple of weeks. Greenwood loaned $6.4 million to help Elona build a 50,000-square-foot, $28 million insulin-production plant in Greenwood and hire 70 workers. The city also gave Elona $1.5 million to help it win approval for its insulin from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and $500,000 for equipment. So far, Brewer said, Elona has made no progress on its jobs commitments. Elona, founded by a former Eli Lilly and Co. scientist, has made its business doing contract drug manufacturing for other firms. But its growth plans hinged on making a generic version of insulin, something that was not allowed in the United States until the 2010 passage of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act. That law called for a pathway for “biosimilar” versions of biotech drugs, including insulin. As it stands now, a drug such as Lilly’s Humulin insulin faces no generic competition even though its patent expired in 2001. Nearly a year ago, the FDA issued draft guidance on “biosimilar” drugs that indicated it would require additional clinical trials of a biosimilar drug. That means a company like Elona would have to spend significant money to test its drug in patients before the FDA would declare it similar to an existing insulin. Calls to Elona founders Ron and Donna Zimmerman were not returned Tuesday morning.
WellPoint Inc. ended the year on a high note, posting fourth-quarter sales and profit that exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. The Indianapolis-based health insurer earned $464 million, or $1.51 per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, a 38-percent leap from the same quarter a year earlier. Excluding investment gains and one-time charges, WellPoint would have earned $1.03 per share. On that basis, analysts were expecting 95 cents per share. Membership in WellPoint’s health plans shot up nearly 8 percent in the fourth quarter to more than 36 million nationwide. That represented a net gain of more than 2.6 million customers. The increase was entirely attributable to WellPoint’s $4.9 billion acquisition of Virginia-based Amerigroup Corp., which added 2.7 million members in Medicaid plans. But the Blue Cross Blue Shield insurer on Wednesday gave analysts a conservative forecast for 2013, due in part to a daunting list of expenses it could face. WellPoint will spend roughly $300 million this year preparing for coverage expansions under the health care overhaul coverage and changes to its Medicare Advantage business. The insurer also expects to spend as much as $125 million integrating Amerigroup into its business, and it says it could take hits from flu claims, possible cuts to Medicare funding and an increase in health care use. Counting those expenses, WellPoint expects to earn at least $7.60 per share in 2013 compared to the $8.18 per share it earned last year.
St. Vincent Health will add air medical service at Rush Memorial Hospital in Rushville. The new StatFlight helicopter base, scheduled to open in late April or early May, will be St. Vincent's fourth helicopter base in Indiana. The others are located in Anderson, Danville, North Vernon and West Lafayette. St. Vincent contracts with PHI Air Medical LLC to operate its StatFlight air medical service.
The Community Health Network hospital system has created a new partnership with Indianapolis-based Lutheran Child and Family Services to provide treatment for children who have experienced trauma and are dealing with behavioral challenges. Indianapolis-based Community will help Lutheran manage the behavioral health services for children and adolescents at Lutherwood, a youth residential treatment facility, and Trinity House, a transitional group home for young men. The collaboration also will include community-based programs previously managed separately under Indianapolis-based Gallahue Community Mental Health Center and Lutheran. Lutheran will continue to offer spiritual care programs of its own for children and their families. Community serves more than 25,000 behavioral health patients each year. Its behavioral health unit employs more than 600 physicians, psychologists, advance practice nurses, psychiatric nurses, therapists, counselors, life skills specialists and care managers.
The next time you’re shopping and the cashier asks you if you would like to receive e-mail notices of sales and specials, think of Bryan Wade.
Price increases and sales gains helped Eli Lilly and Co. offset declining revenue from its former blockbuster Zyprexa in the fourth quarter, allowing the company to beat analysts' expectations and raise its 2013 profit forecast.
