St. Vincent faces expensive growth options
The hospital system’s 45-year-old campus will likely need hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrades in coming years to keep it competitive long term.
Health Care
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Vaping has grown into full-blown health crisis in Indiana, panel says
Indiana health officials are investigating 30 cases of severe lung injury linked to vaping. Eight of those have been confirmed—most of them among individuals between the ages of 16 and 29. Earlier this month, the state confirmed the first death linked to vaping.
Cook Regentec spins off first biotech from Indy-based incubator
The spinoff, called Sexton Biotechnologies, has raised $5 million in outside investment and will spin off in October. The biotech develops cell and gene therapy tools used to grow cells for medical purposes.
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.
Opioid deal may set price for drug industry settlements
Purdue Pharma may have just set the starting point for determining what it will cost dozens of pharmaceutical companies to resolve legal liability over their role in creating the U.S. opioid epidemic.
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.
Government to propose banning flavors used in e-cigarettes
President Donald Trump said Wednesday his administration will propose banning thousands of flavors used in e-cigarettes to combat a recent surge in underage vaping.
Indiana attorney general stalls BMV gender change rule
The new stalled rule would require applicants to have the state health department, not the BMV, sign off on an individual’s attempt to be recognized on their driver’s license or state ID as anything other than their gender at birth.
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.
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.
App’s success leads Don Brown to embrace consumer market
After building and selling three companies and starting a fourth, Dr. Don Brown thought he had seen it all. Even so, he still gets an occasional surprise.
Popular Medicare Advantage plans come under fire
Regulators say the insurance industry has been annually overbilling the government by billions of dollars, and now the federal government is stepping up moves to recoup money.
Merger could lift Planned Parenthood
A new alliance with the Seattle-based affiliate chapter might be the key to the turnaround and longevity of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky.
Medicare to cover pioneering cancer treatment nationwide
The treatment costs $375,000 or $475,000, depending on whether it is used for advanced lymphoma or pediatric leukemia. Hospital stays can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of care.
Boom in overdose-reversing drug tied to fewer drug deaths
Prescriptions of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone are soaring, and experts say that could be a reason overdose deaths have stopped rising for the first time in nearly three decades.
Drug cost bill advances but GOP resistance could spell trouble
A prescription drug compromise that would lower costs for Medicare recipients and save billions for Medicare and Medicaid cleared a key hurdle in the Senate on Thursday.
Trump meets with drug industry lobby as pricing bill advances
The meeting occurred as a bipartisan effort is underway in the Senate that two of its sponsors say would lead to $100 billion in savings on prescription-drug spending over a decade.
FDA warns top marijuana company for making CBD health claims
CVS Health, which started carrying CBD skin products in some states this year, plans to remove Curaleaf products from its shelves following the FDA’s warning.
Many companies contributed to U.S. opioid crisis, new figures show
Records kept by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration show that 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pills—the vast majority of them generics, not brand names—were shipped to U.S. pharmacies from 2006 to 2012.
J&J accused of dodging liability for ‘cunning’ opioid drug push
The trial in Oklahoma City is the first of more than 1,900 local U.S. government lawsuits against drug makers and distributors over the fallout from opioid abuse.