TOP STORIES
A CVS and IBM Watson partnership will give the national pharmacy chain access to a predictive analytics tool to flag up which customers are showing deteriorating health, with an eye to chronic conditions. But that’s not the only goal of the partnership, as Dr. Troyen A. Brennan, Chief Medical Officer for CVS Health, noted in a company statement.
“This partnership will enable us to leverage advanced technologies and key health information to develop a tool that can be applied by a variety of health care providers such as pharmacists, nurse practitioners at MinuteClinics or connected health care providers, and that can help our pharmacy benefit management clients improve member health and manage cost.” — PR Newswire
GE Healthcare said it is investing $1 billion in healthcare provider education and training over the next 5 years.
GE Healthcare said the enhanced training will reach more than 2 million healthcare professionals by 2020 and help more than 300 million patients. The program will deliver localized offerings and include technology-enabled training solutions. — Mass Device
LIFE SCIENCES
A group of 27 major U.S. medical organizations, led by the American Medical Association, are banding together to tackle the continuing epidemic of narcotic painkiller abuse.
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.
“We have joined together as part of this special Task Force because we collectively believe that it is our responsibility to work together to provide a clear road map that will help bring an end to this public health epidemic,” AMA Board Chair-Elect Dr. Patrice Harris said in an AMA news release.
Seattle biotech Kineta just landed a federal contract from the National Institutes of Health for about $4 million to develop an immunotherapy treatment which would treat a variety of infectious diseases, such as the flu, dengue fever, Ebola and others. — Puget Sound Business Journal
Eximo Medical has closed a Series A funding round, bringing in $1.6 million to support its Cathi hybrid catheter. — Mass Device
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
Health insurer Humana reported consolidated revenues, including investment income, of $13.7 billion for the second quarter of fiscal year 2015, up 12.4 percent from $12.2 billion in the same period a year ago. — Becker’s Hospital Review
TECH
Healthcare growth equity firm Foresite Capital has raised $450 million for an oversubscribed third fund. Foresite Capital Fund III will focus on healthcare products, technologies and services that have “the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes while decreasing the cost and burden of human disease.” — Business Wire
HopeLab, a health-focused R&D organization that’s part of The Omidyar Group, has named Margaret Laws as its new president and CEO. Prior to joining HopeLab, Law spent 17 years at the California HealthCare Foundation in several roles, including Director of Public Financing and Policy and Director of the Innovations for the Underserved program. — HopeLab
Text message reminders that were tailored or included a reminder doubled the chance that expectant and new mothers would receive an influenza vaccine in a new randomized trial of Text4baby, a texting service for new mothers, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. — MobileHealthNews
POLITICS
Sen. Bernie Sanders has accused congressional Republicans of falling in with a “long-term smear campaign” to defund Planned Parenthood.
“The attempt by Senate Republicans to cut off support for Planned Parenthood is an attack on women’s health,” Sanders said in a statement. “The current attempt to discredit Planned Parenthood is part of a long-term smear campaign by people who want to deny women in this country the right to control their own bodies.” — The Hill
A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
A look at the pros and cons of having killer robots:
This week, an open letter was presented at an AI conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina calling for a ban on autonomous weapons. The letter was signed by nearly 14,000 prominent thinkers and leading robotics researchers, but not everyone is on the same page. Here’s a perspective on why the ban on such robots is potentially misguided. — io9
Photo: Getty Images
