TOP STORIES
Just a few days after winning FDA approval for its female libido enhancing drug Addyi, Sprout Pharmaceuticals has a suitor. Valeant Pharmaceuticals plans to make a $1B deal to acquire the business. The Wall Street Journal cited a person familiar with the deal. Under the terms of the deal, Valeant would pay all cash, one $500 million installment upfront and one next year, for Sprout Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its pink libido pills that will be sold under the brand name Addyi. — The Wall Street Journal
Behavioral Health, Interoperability and eConsent: Meeting the Demands of CMS Final Rule Compliance
In a webinar on April 16 at 1pm ET, Aneesh Chopra will moderate a discussion with executives from DocuSign, Velatura, and behavioral health providers on eConsent, health information exchange and compliance with the CMS Final Rule on interoperability.
Allscripts and CoverMyMeds have agreed to partner to help patients receive their prescriptions faster and increase the number of health plans available for Allscripts eAuth software clients.
Allscripts eAuth software enables providers to quickly authorize prescriptions electronically instead of through phone calls or faxes, which can take days or weeks. Performing prior authorization electronically within EHR workflow helps improve efficiencies and reduce costs throughout the prior authorization
process. — Allscripts
LIFE SCIENCES
Atlanta-based biotech Phigenix Inc. is planning to raise $10.5 million. The company uses molecular therapeutics that target the immune system to prevent and fight prostate cancer. The company is developing diagnostic tests which may detect prostate abnormalities at the pre-malignant state years before the onset of cancer. — Atlanta Business Chronicle
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.
Diagnostics firm Veracyte has named Neil Barth as its new chief medical officer. Barth founded an oncology clinic in Orange County, CA, and has served previously as CMO of the diagnostic companies Agendia and Ambry Genetics.
— Xconomy
An experimental vaccine has protected monkeys against the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus, U.S. researchers report. — Drugs.com
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
In a move that shows just how keen the Department of Health and Human Services is to reduce hypertension it is holding a competition with the Centers for Disease Control. The Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge seeks to identify clinicians, practices, and health systems “that have demonstrated exceptional achievements in working with their patients to control hypertension.” The intention of the national initiative is to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. — HHS
The Iowa Department of Human Services has awarded Medicaid managed care contracts to four private insurers. The following four companies were chosen: Amerigroup Iowa, which is a member of Anthem; UnitedHealthcare Plan of the River Valley; WellCare of Iowa; and AmeriHealth Caritas.
TECH
LaunchPoint raised $22.5 million from Carrick Capital Partners towards its platform to improve the way insurers process claims payments. —LaunchPoint
Ralph Lauren has moved into the wearables business. — The Wall Street Journal
WellDoc and Samsung will bring a new version of WellDoc’s BlueStar mobile prescription therapy for diabetes to 300 Toronto citizens in partnership with the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN), a Canadian government-funded nonprofit. The new offering, BlueStar-S, will combine features of BlueStar and Samsung S Health. — MobiHealth News
POLITICS
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia criticized the FDA’s move to approve OxyContin for children as young as 11 years old. In a letter to the FDA’s acting Commissioner Stephen Ostroff, Machin called the move a reckless act.
“I have pleaded with your agency since I became a senator almost five years ago to cease the flood of painkillers that is killing so many people in my state and around the country,” he wrote. “Instead, you continue to ignore the agency’s purpose and show allegiances with everyone but the people you are charged to protect.” — The Hill
A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
Klinger, a two year-old German Shepherd, will make history this week by becoming the first professionally trained running guide dog to assist an athlete who is visually impaired.
Klinger’s placement marks the initiation of the Running Guides pilot program at Guiding Eyes for the Blind—an internationally accredited nonprofit that provides guide dogs to those with vision loss. With this, it is hoped a new expansion of the organization’s commitment to increasing independence for people with visual impairments will follow.
