Lab software firm raises $8.5M, names new CEO
A San Diego venture capital firm has made a big bet on Indigo BioSystems Inc., which just installed its founder as the new chief executive.
Life Science & Biotech
Articles
The real health care money in this town is at IU Health
While the biggest hospital profit margins are made in the suburbs, the biggest pile of cash—$353 million in 2012—is made at the three downtown campuses run by Indiana University Health. In fact, those hospitals generated 32 percent of all operating gains posted by central Indiana hospitals in 2012.
Why are we so fat? Our food, health care are so cheap
Two new studies show that Americans have every economic incentive to consume too much food and then, when that overeating creates health problems for them, to consume lots of health care to fix it.
Rotten Teeth Report Card
Indiana ranks 10th in the nation for the highest spending on health care and 10th in the nation for the number of adults missing six or more teeth. That’s not a coincidence. Hoosiers do a poor job of taking care of themselves, and we end up paying for it in higher taxes and health insurance premiums.
Isotope maker plans $40M project in Noblesville
Radiopharmaceuticals maker Zevacor Molecular plans to open a $40 million isotope-production facility in Noblesville, creating nearly 50 good-paying jobs within five years.
Dropping health plan for Obamacare, this firm saved money but sacrificed choice
RANAC Corp., a small firm in Indianapolis, cut its spending on health benefits 25 percent after dropping its group health plan. Could it be a sign of things to come?
Drugmaker hid diabetes drug’s cancer risks, lawyer says
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. executives covered up the cancer risks of its diabetes medicine Actos to protect billions of dollars in sales, a lawyer for two women argued.
Pence’s HIP 2.0 insurance expansion has national aspirations all over it
Gov. Pence's HIP 2.0 plan is nothing less than an attempt to roll back liberal policy on low-income health benefits as far as currently possible–and to get other states to follow suit. It might even be an opening bid for president.
Marathon talks yield good deal for hospitals in Pence’s HIP expansion
Fees on hospitals will generate the lion’s share of the funds for Gov. Mike Pence’s Healthy Indiana Plan expansion. But the benefits hospitals will receive will outweigh those costs.
Study: Hospital-doctor hook-ups swell prices
Now that Indianapolis-area hospitals employ large numbers of physicians, a new study suggests the integrated health systems will be able to charge higher prices to private health insurers.
Algaeon to take big step after landing $2.75M
An Indianapolis-based biotech company plans to use $2.75 million in new funding to begin commercial production of its algae-based nutritional supplements, the firm announced Monday.
U.S. House votes to revive expired research tax credit
The 274-131 vote follows calls to restore the credit by a coalition of companies including Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. and Texas Instruments Inc.
Indy’s most profitable hospitals, revisited
On the eve of Obamacare, almost no central Indiana hospitals were having trouble making money. Hip replacements, heart surgery and Hamilton County were the biggest drivers of profits.
Life sciences critical mass elusive in Indiana after years of effort
Attempts to build the sector are making headway, but Indiana still lags leading states.
Time to eat crow and fix my error on Obamacare sign-ups
When I predicted on March 13 that Obamacare would fail to expand individual private insurance coverage in Indiana, I was completely off. It now looks like an extra 30,000 Hoosiers have bought individual health insurance this year.
A silver lining for Endocyte
The news this morning couldn’t have been worse for Endocyte Inc. But if it had to come, the timing couldn’t have been better–because it allowed Endocyte to raise a pile of cash to spend on the other drugs in its pipeline.
Endocyte shares plunge 60 percent after drug trial is stopped
Endocyte Inc.’s stock fell more than 60 percent in early trading Friday after the drug it’s developing with Merck & Co.’s backing failed to help patients in a trial for ovarian cancer.
IU plots $200M life sciences hub in former Wishard Hospital
The envisioned 26-acre, $200-million-or-more complex would bridge IU’s School of Medicine with the city’s life sciences firms, including those at the nascent 16 Tech, a business park.
Enough blame to go around
A new report from the Commonwealth Fund provides plenty to criticize everyone involved in health care in Indiana: It shows health care costs run higher in Indiana than the rest of the country while patients’ health and the quality of health care providers in some key areas are worse.
What health care really needs is a full-meal deal
Until doctors and hospitals make a whole lot more headway—or, perhaps, more accurately, are allowed to make more headway—in offering package deals, it’s hard to see major progress on containing out-of-control health care costs.