Walmart to stop selling electronic cigarettes
The nation’s largest retailer said Friday that it will complete its exit from e-cigarettes after selling through current inventory.
Health Care & Insurance
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Lilly’s hot-selling Taltz approaching blockbuster status
Last year, Taltz rang up sales of $937.5 million, and doctors are increasingly prescribing it. For the first six months of this year, Taltz recorded $606.3 million in sales, putting it on pace to break the $1 billion threshold, perhaps in the third quarter.
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Elanco says it’s buying Bayer division for $7.6 billion
The purchase would swell Elanco from the world’s fourth-largest animal health player to the second-largest, behind only New Jersey-based Zoetis.
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Elanco in advanced talks to buy Bayer animal-health unit, report says
The multibillion-dollar deal would swell the size of Elanco, which already is the fourth-largest global player in animal health.
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Debunking medical myths all in a day’s work for IU’s Dr. Aaron Carroll
Carroll uses Twitter, a New York Times column, blog post, podcast, videos and books to publish his findings on just about any health issue he thinks needs explaining or correcting.
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Articles
Doctors’ pagers finally headed to gadget graveyard
Since the first pager was patented in 1949 and used in New York’s Jewish Hospital, millions of doctors have done their daily rounds in hospitals with the gadget clipped to their waistband, always ready to hear the beep that might signal a medical crisis on the other end. But hospitals are now phasing them out.
Q&A with Dr. Carol Anne Murdoch-Kinch, IU’s new dentistry dean
In July, Dr. Carol Anne Murdoch-Kinch became the first female dean of the Indiana University School of Dentistry in its 140-year history.
Workers feel sting from shift to high-deductible health coverage
Nearly half of Americans with private insurance—47%—are covered by high-deductible plans, up from 25% in 2010. That’s driven up out-of-pocket health spending among people with employer coverage—from $493 in 2007 to $792 in 2017.
Buttigieg calls Warren ‘extremely evasive’ on health taxes
Speaking Thursday, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg issued his most pointed attack yet on Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The sharpened critique comes as the fall campaign kicks into high gear with Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses scheduled in February.
Indiana joins states seeking to settle with Purdue Pharma
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is among the 29 attorneys general across the country backing a proposed settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, calling the agreement a “significant breakthrough in our important fight against the opioid crisis.”
Medical consulting startup opens downtown office, plans 21 jobs
The company, founded last year, offers legal medical consulting and medical product consulting to law firms, life sciences companies, and health and wellness businesses.
Progress reported in contract talks between GM, union
One of the main sticking points is health care. GM is looking to cut its costs, but workers say they shouldn’t have to pay more when the company is making billions in profit.
Carmel entrepreneur invents headphones to treat anxiety, depression
The device, manufactured in Singapore, won a Mira Award earlier this year for Innovation of the Year, and now its creator said he’s winning over doctors and medical providers with his invention.
Vaping injuries claim first life in Indiana, health officials say
The state says it is investigating 30 cases of severe lung injury linked to vaping. Eight have been confirmed—most of them among individuals between the ages of 16 and 29.
CDC awards Indiana $2 million grant to study maternal mortality
The state, which ranks third worst in the nation in maternal mortality, said it will use the money to develop ways to prevent or manage maternal illness.
State health department receiving $21M grant to combat drug overdoses
Money will go toward such uses as collecting more timely data on overdoses treated at emergency rooms and enhancing the state’s prescription-monitoring program.
E-cigarette maker Juul facing mounting scrutiny from state AGs
The company’s rapid rise to the top of the multi-billion-dollar U.S. e-cigarette market has been accompanied by accusations from parents, politicians and public health advocates that Juul fueled a vaping craze among high schoolers.
Opioid settlement would divide money based on local impact
The formulas would take into account several factors, including opioid distribution in a given jurisdiction, the number of people who misuse opioids and the number of overdose deaths.
Community Health sues insurer for refusing to cover $6M in damage at east-side hospital
The dispute centers on extensive cracking in the foundation at Community Hospital East, which just underwent a massive, $175 million upgrade with a new patient tower.
Veterans’ suicide issue a priority for Trump administration, VA secretary says
Robert Wilkie, secretary of veterans affairs, told the American Legion National Convention in Indianapolis on Wednesday that the issue needs urgent attention.
Doctors don’t always know what patients will owe for meds
While the price of almost any good or service can be found online, most Americans don’t know what they’ll owe for a prescription medication until they get it.
Purdue Pharma in talks to settle for billions in opioid lawsuits
Drugmaker Purdue Pharma is negotiating a multibillion-dollar settlement with lawyers for local and state governments that would resolve about 2,000 lawsuits against the company.
Feds shortchanged Indiana $175M over 2 years in fighting opioid epidemic, report says
Indiana accounted for 4% of the nation’s opioid-related deaths, but received just 1.9% of the nation’s $11 billion opioid-related funding awarded to states over the past two years, according to the new study.
Johnson & Johnson responsible for fueling Oklahoma’s opioid crisis, judge rules
The landmark decision is the first to hold a drugmaker culpable for the fallout of years of liberal opioid dispensing that began in the late 1990s, sparking a nationwide epidemic of overdose deaths and addiction.