Current medical news and unique business news for anyone who cares about the healthcare industry.
Caregiver tech. Those caring for aging relatives, it turns out, are as excited about some technologies more than others. The Wall Street Journal Health Blog noted a report that said caregivers we’re not so excited about items such as a symptom monitor and transmitter or a video-phone system. However, the Health Blog did point out three innovations most caregivers would buy no matter what the cost.
Personal health record tracking: A full 77% of respondents said they’d find a web- or software-based personal health record very or somewhat helpful to track medications, test results and other data.
Caregiving coordination system: This kind of system, which 70% said they’d find helpful, would log a care recipient’s medical appointments and also coordinate the scheduling of help from family members or other volunteers.
Medication support system: Devices that remind patients to take their meds and give them info on side effects, plus alert a caregiver when the dose isn’t taken, would be useful to 70% of respondents.
You can read additional details of the report.
Accountable care tug of war. The federal government is weeks away from issuing rules for accountable care organizations. The Washington Post says doctors and hospitals groups are still intensely lobbying for changes in those rules that could “undermine the overall goal” by “seeking limits on how the quality of their care will be judged, along with bonus rules that would make it easier for them to be paid extra for their work and to be paid quickly.”
Glaxo development deal. Epizyme and GlaxoSmithKline’s collaboration deal is worth $650 million.
The return of orthopedics? The formerly high-growth market for orthopedic implants won’t bounce back without job growth, industry executives said.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Health threat: The worried well. A rush on flu shots by healthy Britons has exacerbated a shortage and some in the United Kingdom say the “worried well” should be banned from buying flu shots as private patients.
Dealflow and more. Cardiology drugmaker Civitas Therapeutics raised $20 million; Dekkun, a life science startup in stealth mode, has raised $9.9 million; Alzheimer’s test company Neuroptix raised $4 million; central nervous system drugmaker ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has raised $15 million; macular degeneration company VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies raised $31 million; biomedical polymer company Interface Biologics raised $7 million; and lung- and cancer-treatment company Polyplus-transfection raised $3.2 million;
