TOP STORY
A report from the Centers for Disease Control said the rate of new diabetes cases fell by roughly one-fifth from 2008 to 2014. It marks the first sustained decline since the disease began to boom in this country about 25 years ago. Last year there were 1.4 million new cases compared with 1.7 million in 2008. Although there is no one reason, data suggests people are gradually eating less unhealthy food and exercising more. But the diabetes treatment community won’t be retiring just yet. One in every 1o Americans has the chronic condition, which is the leading cause of amputation, kidney dialysis and blindness. — The New York Times
LIFE SCIENCES
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.
Roche has inked a deal to develop drugs to treat inflammatory diseases with Upsher-Smith Laboratories subsidiary Proximagen. — Pharma Times
Siemens Healthcare got FDA approval for its Robotic Advanced X-ray. The Multitom Rax is designed to be a universal diagnostic imaging system that provides a way to do a variety of examinations in multiple clinical areas such as emergency medicine, interventional, pain management, and orthopedics. It can also do conventional 2D radiography, fluoroscopy exams and angiography applications. — Pharmaceutical Business Review
Alphabet has filed for a patent with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for a laser ablation device to remove surgical tissue through electromagnetic radiation. The device would be for its medical arm, Google Life Sciences. The device uses a laser of electromagnetic radiation guided by a sensor for detecting high-temperature regions of tissue. — Fierce Medical Devices
PAYERS AND PROVIDERS
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.
An ongoing dispute between Highmark and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center was resolved yesterday when a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling preserved in-network access to UPMC hospitals and doctors for 182,000 Western Pennsylvania seniors with Highmark Inc.’s Medicare Advantage health insurance plans until 2019. — Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Texas Medical Center has visions of grandeur that go beyond being just a hospital. It wants to transform its camps into mixed use applications with retail stores, a hotel, shared research space, and perhaps a transit line. — Houston Chronicle
In a counter move to Martin Shkreli’s Turing Pharmaceuticals, pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts will collaborate with Imprimis Pharmaceuticals to provide a generic version of Daraprim that costs about $1 per pill to treat toxoplasmosis. — PRNewswire
TECHNOLOGY
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine developed a telemedicine platform designed for sleeping disorders called Tell A Sleep Doc. — PR Newswire
A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
Behshad Behzadi, director of search innovation at Google’s Zurich lab, revealed some details about the future of search at the Futurapolis conference in Toulouse, France. — Venture Beat
Photo: Flickr user Steven Depolo
