TOP STORIES
Yet another edited video from conservative group Center for Medical Progress has been released showing a different Planned Parenthood executive talking about the acceptable cost of handling a fetal tissue sample.
The video features Mary Gatter, who is president of the group’s medical director council, engaging in a conversation with the Center for Medical Progress’ actors, who posed as representatives of a firm that handles fetal tissue donations.
— Politico
A South San Francisco sickle cell drug developer, Global Blood, which recently nabbed former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick as a board member, is planning to hold a $115 million IPO.
The company is going after a quiet killer in sickle cell disease. It is positioning its lead drug, GBT-440, to be a chronic, once-a-day treatment for a disease that warps red blood cells, leading to strokes, kidney failure and other conditions.
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.
LIFE SCIENCES
Oral therapeutics specialists Chiasma and Protagonist Therapeutics bring in a combined $140 million through IPO and VC funding.
Doctors have found that an 18-year-old woman infected with HIV at birth via mother-to-child transmission has been in remission despite not receiving any antiretroviral therapy for the past 12 years.
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
U.S. News & World Report has released its 2015-16 Best Hospital rankings, the 26th edition of its annual rankings.
We sifted through data for nearly 5,000 hospitals and results from surveys of more than 140,000 physicians to rank the best centers in 16 adult specialties from cancer to urology. Death rates, patient safety and hospital reputation were a few of the many factors we considered.
Zynx Health announced the nursing winners of its inaugural 2015 “Clinical Improvement Through Evidence” (CITE) award, which recognizes nurses for excellence in the use of clinical decision support (CDS) solutions to drive improvements in patient care.
TECH
Medidata and Validic announced a collaboration to propel connectivity and innovation in clinical research by expanding access to patient-generated data from a broad range of consumer and medical grade mobile health devices and apps.
POLITICS
Three New York lawmakers are warning that victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks could lose financial support in October 2016 if Congress doesn’t reauthorize the compensation fund.
— The Hill
A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
Google’s test-phase of autonomous vehicles has resulted in some accidents, but they’ve all been caused by humans. For this reason, a testing center has been constructed in Michigan to eliminate the human error factor.
It’s called Mcity: A $10 million, 32-acre simulation of city streets, suburban roadways, and everything in-between, designed by a group of researchers, government agencies, and car companies in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Its moveable facades make it possible for researchers to rearrange any kind of conditions imaginable, from blind corners to odd intersections, all in the service of developing smarter autonomous vehicles. Gravel roads? Mcity has them. Paving brick? No problem. Freeway signs, graffiti, HOV lanes—it’s all recreated here, so that engineers and researchers can figure out how autonomous vehicles will react.
— Gizmodo
Photo: Screenshot via YouTube
