A study of acid reflux drugs found that a variation of these drugs — proton pump inhibitors — can play a role in triggering heart attacks. The findings by a Stanford University researchers were published in PLOSOne. Part of the research involved an analysis of 3 million patients’ electronic medical records from Practice Fusion.
Jawbone’s parent company has sued Fitbit for the second time in as many weeks.
The second suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, claims Fitbit infringed on Jawbone patents, and seeks an injunction to stop Fitbit sales. The Wall Street Journal notes in a footnote the company plans to take its case up with the International Trade Commission to halt imports on Fitbit components and products. Not the kind of news development companies generally like in the runup to an IPO.
LIFE SCIENCES
An FDA panel gave a thumb’s up for Amgen cholesterol injection Repatha.
Melinta Therapeutics raised $67 million to advance its antibiotic for drug-resistant infections through a Phase 3 clinical study.
The Coriell Institute for Medical Research announced that it received a five-year, $6.5 million award from the National Institutes of Health to facilitate research on aging.
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
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.
Lancaster General Health made an accountable care agreement with Humana.
Wellstar Health System backed out of its merger with Emory Healthcare. If they merged, it would have been one of the largest nonprofits in Georgia.
The Greater Rochester Independent Practice Association implemented a secure data exchange solution to improve communications for members, reduce costs and increase ability to improve patient outcomes.
A woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy from a transplant of her own frozen ovarian tissue preserved when she was a teenager.
TECH
Can a mobile phone dispatch system to connect people in cardiac arrest with people knowledgeable in CPR to help them save lives? Yes it can.
According to the study in the New England Journal of Medicine, a mobile-phone positioning system was activated when ambulance, fire, and police services were dispatched and used to locate trained volunteers who were within 500 meters of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Volunteers were dispatched to the patients. “The primary outcome was bystander-initiated CPR before the arrival of ambulance, fire, and police services.”
POLITICS
Democratic senators are lunching a push to protect Obamacare’s contraception mandate.
A federal appeals court upheld pieces of Texas’s abortion law, requiring that providers must seek admitting privileges to nearby hospitals and facilities must be upgraded to meet the standards of an outpatient surgical center.
A LITTLE EXTRA
The Environmental Protection Agency will establish emissions rules for airplanes, like the ones it currently has for motor vehicles and power plants, in order to decrease contributions to global warming.
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.
