Valeant offers Salix Pharmaceuticals $10.96 billion in cash and uninsured Americans go down by a third (Morning Read)

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. increased its takeover offer for Salix Pharmaceuticals Inc. to $10.96 billion in cash, eliminating Endo International Plc. as a contender as a contender, which was the only other bidder for the maker of gastrointestinal drugs.

The Morning Read provides a 24-hour wrap up of everything else healthcare’s innovators need to know about the business of medicine (and beyond). The author of The Read published it but all full-time MedCity News journalists contribute to its content.

TOP STORIES

Valeant Pharmaceuticals increased its takeover offer for Salix Pharmaceuticals Inc. to $10.96 billion in cash, eliminating Endo International as a contender. But Endo may not be done shopping. Possible targets: BioDelivery Sciences International or Impax Laboratories

The percentage of people without health insurance coverage has dropped about a third since 2012 – from 20.3 percent to 13.2 percent in the first quarter of 2015.

A big test for mobile phones in health: India will use cheap devices to get health advice to pregnant women and mothers.

LIFE SCIENCE

Labels on herbal and dietary supplements aren’t sufficient when consumers are pregnant women, according to a public health group, and they are asking the FDA to change warning labels.

The British-backed Dementia Discovery Fund has raised $100 million.

A solid summary and context over the Watchman’s FDA approval.

Bad news for Hepatitis C treatments: the economics don’t make sense. Governments and insurance companies need to shell out $65 billion to get $16 billion in savings from eliminated Hep C complications.

Novartis’ Jakavi, which treats the rare blood cancer polycythemia vera, has won approval in the EU.

Illumina hits U.K. company with prenatal test patent suit.

PAYERS/PROVIDERS

New alliances in the hospital wars in the Bay area: UCSF Medical Center and John Muir Health are creating a joint network to battle Stanford Health Care.

Pharmacists are being asked to step up and see patients in Britain – with fears of “medicine on the cheap.”

Here’s a solid summary of the American College of Cardiology meeting.

America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) announced the opening of a new Innovation Lab in Chicago’s West Loop.

Real disparities: 40 percent of hospitals and clinics in developing clinics have no source of water.

TECH

The NIH is offering $200,000 if you can bring them a biosensor that tracks alcohol blood levels in real time.

Humana’s network was down most of Monday so they relied on social media to communicate with patients and staff.

High profile journals are retracting papers by Christopher Bielawski’s University of Texas, Austin, team amid an investigation into scientific misconduct.

POLITICS

A new House Republican budget and a new caveat to repeal Obamacare blah blah blah blah blah.

The House passed legislation on Monday to require the Drug Enforcement Administration to classify drugs within a specified time frame with the intention of allowing new treatments to hit the market faster.

A LITTLE EXTRA

Well this is kind of disturbing. Farmed salmon is dyed from gray to pink so people won’t freak out and lose their appetite.

 

[Photo of Mayo Clinic’s Gonda building from Flickr user Stefan P.]

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