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
Google is behind funding designed to take down Obamacare in the Supreme Court.
Official doc fix update: Congressional leaders Thursday announced a bipartisan, bicameral deal to permanently repeal Medicare’s loathed sustainable growth-rate formula for paying doctors. Bills containing terms of the deal were introduced in both chambers of Congress.
LIFE SCIENCE
Is the Biogen Idec Alzheimer’s drug for real?
A group of senior American scientists and ethics experts is calling for debate on the gene-engineering of humans.
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.
The concern is over a rapidly advancing gene-editing technology, called CRISPR-Cas9, which is giving scientists the ability to easily alter the genome of living cells and animals. The same technology could let scientists correct DNA letters in a human embryo or egg cell, for instance to create children free of certain disease-causing genes, or perhaps with improved genetics.
The CDC reports that the decline in tuberculosis cases is slowing down.
TECH
Collective Health has raised $38 million in a round led by Founders Fund and NEA, with participation from Formation 8, Redpoint Ventures, RRE Ventures, Subtraction Capital, and Rock Health.
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has really affected the healthcare industry, including the creation of 90 new companies, according to a report from PwC’s Health Research Institute.
A federal jury has found three former executives of the Sacred Heart Hospital in Chicago guilty for their involvement in a kickback scheme.
POLITICS
The Turkish president is claiming to have had the idea for Obamacare.
Healthcare lawyers demand a closer look at Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Act.
A LITTLE EXTRA
Amazon, with official FAA approval, now has limited permission to test and develop drones in the United States.
To use the drones stateside, Amazon must abide to several rules including keeping the drone under 400 feet and during daylight hours. The operator also must have a pilot’s and medical certification and most notably, keep the drone within sight at all times. The FAA is also requiring Amazon to provide monthly data logs of flights and operators.
[Photo of Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health from Flickr user chicabrandita]
