Pharmas ready to fight Obama’s debt-reduction plan (Morning Read)

Current medical news and unique business news for anyone who cares about healthcare.

The debt-reduction plan and healthcare. President Obama’s proposal to reduce the federal deficit, released Monday, includes cutting $320 billion from prescription drug and nursing home spending and upping users’ payments for Medicare coverage.

Pharmaceutical companies would take a hit under the plan: brand-name and generic drugmakers would be asked to give a discount to low-income Medicare beneficiaries, and the window of exclusivity for biotech drugmakers would be cut from 12 years to seven years, according to a Reuters report.

Pharma companies and hospitals are already firing back.

Star entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneur Walk of Fame was unveiled Friday at Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and the co-founders and namesakes of Hewlitt-Packard were a few members of the inaugural class of honorees.

Gamers to the rescue. Scientists recruited online players of the game Foldit to help solve a mystery about a key protein structure in their work on a drug that could help keep viruses like HIV at bay. The gamers, most of them without a scientific background, solved the problem in three weeks.

Mixed feelings for Express Scripts-Medco. The idea of Express Scripts Inc. acquiring Medco Health Solutions has garnered many headlines and lots of discussion over the past several weeks. So what’s the general consensus about the proposed merger? Well, there appears not to be one.

New flu shot. A new form of the flu shot for adults is now being shipped all over the U.S.. This one has a tiny needle that delivers the vaccine just under the skin — perfect for the needles-make-me-queasy type.