TOP STORIES
New standards are out for genetic testing.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology said Thursday that it had developed “reference materials” that could be used by laboratories to determine whether their machines and software were properly analyzing a person’s genetic blueprint, or genome.
Read more about the Denali Therapeutics “dream team” (and its $217 million) from Forbes, the Business Times, Xconomy and Fierce.
LIFE SCIENCE
Alpine Immune Sciences Inc., formed in January and led by former Dendreon CEO Mitch Gold, just raised another $1.3 million financing round.
In a new guidance, the FDA has said it may approve devices only for certain subpopulations.
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.
Belgian biotech Galapagos came through with a $275 million IPO on the strength of its pipeline of immunology treatments.
Mylan investors could take a tax hit if the company teams up with Teva.
Microbes that clean our water in sewage plants may also be piecing some pharmaceuticals back together.
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
Nurses see the good, the bad and the ugly. Here are some of the more ugly truths, as told by nurses.
Healthcare jobs continue to rise despite static prices for hospitals and physicians, according to data from the monthly Health Sector Economic Indicators briefs released by Altarum Institute’s Center for Sustainable Health Spending.
TECH
Facebook announced second year details of its FbStart program with even more benefits, eight new partners, and an additional track for prelaunch startups. The new partners are: App Annie, Balsamiq, GitHub, Mobile Action, Namecheap, TransparentBusiness, Yandiki, and Zendesk.
Google Fit has a new update, which includes an historic view and calorie tracking, among other things.
A London hospital is going to use the Apple Watch for medication adherence in cancer patients.
Children and teens who received automated prompts from electronic health records were three times more likely to start the vaccination process for the human papilloma virus and 10 times more likely to get all recommended doses than those who were not sent reminders, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
Denver health IT company LaClaro has been acquired by SourceMedical.
POLITICS
New legislation proposes an ICD-10 transition period.
CarePoint Health is stepping in to revise New Jersey legislation that would bar hospitals from from billing the patient for urgent or emergency out-of-network care “in excess of any of the deductibles, copayments or coinsurance amounts that they would normally charge for in-network care.”
The California Senate has approved the vaccination bill that eliminates the belief exemption.
Maryland has become the 21st state in the union to allow nurse practitioners to practice independently of a physician.
A House subcommittee on Thursday advanced a bipartisan measure aimed at smoothing the path for new medical cures, as expected.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s suit against the Obama administration for allegedly withholding federal funds to coerce the state into expanding Medicaid is heading to Congress.
A LITTLE EXTRA
Engineers at Cornell have come up with a design for a fish-like robot which could glide through Europa’s oceans in search of alien life.
Inspired by the lamprey, a toothy, eel-like species, the soft robot would move and behave like a fish, albeit it looks more like a squid. The innovative explorer’s design is complete with electrodynamic “tentacles,” which serve as energy-harvesting tethers. These structures would generate power using the strong, fluctuating electromagnetic fields donated by Jupiter.
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.
