TOP STORIES
The subjugation of old-school biopharma continues:
- Valeant Pharmaceuticals is now in the political cross hairs – a Congressional subpoena seems imminent – Reuters
- Valeant CEO in a letter to shareholders: It’s all good. – FiercePharma, SEC
- Biotech stocks continue their tumble. – The Street
- Is the biotech downturn not about politics, but really the sector correcting itself? – CNBC
- Hillary Clinton is already running campaign ads on how she beat-up pharma’s bad boy(s). – The Hill
- “This political campaign has been dishonest and virtually fact-free.” – Wall Street Journal
- When are the government folks going to make a villain out of patent law? – The New York Times
This year’s MacArthur Fellow include healthcare thinkers like Heidi Williams, Lorenz Studer and Beth Stevens. – MacArthur Foundation
LIFE SCIENCES
Bayer beat back a U.S. Federal Trade Commission lawsuit accusing it over making making unsubstantiated claims about a dietary supplement (FTC isn’t talking). – Reuters
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.
Hype is underway on the Genentech $5 billion multiple sclerosis drug. – San Francisco Business Times
The Gores Group has sold Therakos to Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals for $1.325 billion. – L.A. Biz
The FDA is now reviewing Sanofi’s diabetes drug lixisenatide. – PharmaTimes
Medtronic’s eighth deal of the year: Lazarus Effect for $100 million. – Star Tribune
Medtronic’s Ireland move pays off for Medtronic. It’s paying less taxes. – Wall Street Journal
NovaTarg, which is developing a kidney disease treatment, won $3.2 million in federal grants. – Triangle Business Journal
Annie Hai-yuan Lo, a Johnson & Johnson CFO, has joined the Quintiles board of directors. – Business Wire
Steris faces a shareholder suit over executive tax-relief payouts. – MassDevice
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
Doctors are being taught to ID wealthy patients to help build the donor pipeline. This is going to go over well. – The New York Times
A great piece: Understanding Health Care’s Short-Termism Problem – Harvard Business Review
Surprised? Some payers and providers aren’t buying the Anthem party line that his purchase of Cigna won’t hurt competition. – Indiana Business Journal
Henry Ford Health System is building a $110 million cancer center – part of a $500 expansion. – Detroit Free Press
A great look at Dr. Laura Esserman, “one of the most vocal proponents of the idea that breast cancer screening brings with it overdiagnosis and overtreatment.” – The New York Times
TECHNOLOGY
Apple is “blowing up privacy” – and here are some details on how that changes their healthcare data.
Health and fitness data is isolated on the device with an encryption key generated based off of your passcode. This type of personalized encryption makes it even more difficult for anyone, including Apple, to ever see data you don’t want them to. This passcode key encryption is used throughout Apple’s products now.
Why Texas wants Teladoc’s antitrust suit thrown out. – MobiHealthNews
Survey confirms that millenials have data ADD and like to flex in the mirror. – MobiHealthNews
POLITICS
Here comes another Congressional swing at Obamacare taxes (which will fail) – The Hill
The CMS’ Medication Therapy Management (MTM) model will experiment with increasing medication adherence for Medicare beneficiaries on Part D plans. – Modern Healthcare
A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
Scientists have figured out a way to tell what color dinosaur are. I am sure this is groundbreaking research with some pretty broad applications. But, at the moment, the second-grader in me just got very excited. – The Atlantic
