TOP STORIES
A combination of cancer immunotherapy drugs Yervoy and Opdivo from Bristol-Myers Squibb secured FDA approval as a new drug cocktail for treating advanced melanoma, but are likely to get just as much attention for their cost:$250,000 for one year of treatment per patient. The FDA made its decision based on a Bristol-funded study that showed the regimen significantly shrank tumors in 60 percent of melanoma patients, compared with 11 percent of patients receiving Yervoy alone. — The Wall Street Journal
LIFE SCIENCES
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Ecelyx Therapeutics raised $40 million in a Series E round to support clinical trials for Metformin Delayed Release — a drug to support 40 percent of Type 2 diabetes patients who cannot use metformin due to contraindications or poor tolerability. — PR Newswire
Aspen Park Pharmaceuticals has licensed a drug to treat castration resistant prostate cancer. — Columbus Business Journal
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
CMS will pay less than 13 percent of what it owes insurers —$2.9 billion — to support a program enshrined in the Affordable Care Act to protect insurers on the law’s marketplaces from heavy losses or having to spike premiums due to uncertainty as the law gets under way. — The Hill
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
Montana based Bozeman Health Services is suing the executive search service Gallaher MSA Search for failing to turn up in its background check felony convictions for its newly fired president and CEO. Kevin Pitzer was convicted in 1983 in federal court of three felony counts of theft for embezzling approximately $100,000 from an Iowa residential and daycare facility where he worked as an administrative assistance and bookkeeper from 1981 to 1983, according to the report. He was 23 years old at the time. — Beckers Hospital Review
A new report card gives New England states top marks for palliative care but the South tends to score badly. — The Association to Adavance Palliative Care, National Palliative Care Center
A Denver VA Hospital has become one of the world’s most expensive hospitals, with a $1.6 billion price tag after running over budget. It needs another $625 million to finish the project. — The Washington Post
TECHNOLOGY
October 1 was the first day ICD-10 went into effect. It will probably take awhile before any major problems bubble to the surface but some media outlets had some fun with headlines, like this one: ” 70,000 ways to get sick or die” — Bloomberg
Some additional analysis on what happened to Better. — Telecare Aware
The first continuous fitness tracker for the water from Lifetrak claims users can get use it to track heart rate, among other things. — PR Newswire
POLITICS
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican for Louisiana who is also a physician and a member of the health committee, called for a more sophisticated perspective on drug prices, although he totally agree specialty pharma prices are really high. — The Hill
A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
The world’s not ready for an app that claims to be a Yelp for people and no one has learned that lesson better than the people behind Peeple. — The Register
