TOP STORY
Merrick Garland, nominated Wednesday to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, has a record when it comes to healthcare. That’s because Garland, 63, currently serves as chief judge of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which often is the last step before the Supreme Court for challenges to federal laws.
Most recently, Garland last year was on a three-judge panel that ruled that HHS needed a better explanation for calculating Medicare outlier payments. In 2014, his court decided to re-hear Halbig v. Burwell, a challenge to the Affordable Care Act that became moot after the Supreme Court ruled on King v. Burwell last year. — Modern Healthcare
At least one fiscally conservative group, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, doesn’t like the pick because they believe Garland has favored regulators over small businesses. Perhaps the NFIB is still smarting from losing its 2012 challenge to the ACA’s individual insurance mandate. — Washington Business Journal
On the other hand, Garland has accepted arguments by the federal government in cases related to medical marijuana, access to experimental drugs for terminally ill patients and on reducing public exposure to mercury. — STAT
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
It’s official: Andrew Witty retires in March 2017. But it’s bigger than that. Four GSK board members also won’t stand for re-election — a move the company refers to as a “board refreshment.” You’ll recall GSK started a succession process a few months ago. — Bloomberg, GlaxoSmithKline
The first conference call between lawyers for the Broad Institute and the University of California in the CRISPR patent fight got contentious. — STAT
French medical device company Gecko Biomedical closed a $24.5 million round led by Sofinnova Partners, which will further develop Gecko’s cardiovascular reconstruction product. — Business Wire
Laurent Pharmaceuticals closed a new round of financing led by Cystic Fibrosis Canada (it will get the company ready for a Phase 2 trial). — CNA
When it comes to life science investing, “2015 was something of a complicated picture: one of both positives and negatives, with the outlook for 2016 and beyond depending on how one interprets the level and limits of the volatility of those 12 months.” Well, there you have it. — FierceBiotech
Leftover cancer drugs are costing America $3 billion a year. — NBC News
InfoBionic won FDA 510(k) clearance for MoMe Kardia, a wireless remote monitoring system to detect and manage cardiac arrhythmias. — PR Newswire
A dengue vaccine developed at NIH was 100 percent effective in a small-scale trial. — Reuters
British biotech firm Vectura will buy rival SkyePharma for $621 million. — Reuters
Teva Pharmaceuticals needs more time to complete its $40.5 billion purchase of Allergan’s generics business. — Philadelphia Business Journal
Novartis is struggling to get doctors to prescribe its supposed blockbuster heart-failure drug Entresto. — The Wall Street Journal
PAYERS/PROVIDERS
Humana executives now have 20 percent of their bonuses riding on the health of the company’s members. — Louisville Business First
MediGold, a Medicare Advantage plan in Ohio owned by Mount Carmel Health System, has overbilled Medicare by as much as $65.3 million since 2009. — Columbus Business First
Two embattled hospitals in Arizona, namely Gilbert Hospital and Florence Hospital at Anthem, have gotten together to form New Vision Health. — PR Newswire
Almost two-thirds of doctors polled by physician social network Sermo said that screenings for colon cancer should start before age 50. — Business Wire
TECHNOLOGY
HHS has named 21 people to the new Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force. — HHS.gov
More than two dozen companies have jumped into the real-time patient monitoring market, and medical ethicists are struggling to keep up. — STAT
Cancer Action Now has launched iCAN, a service that provides patients and caregivers secure online access to a worldwide network of oncologists. — PR Newswire
San Francisco startup SelfCollect has introduced a Web-based service for at-home collection of samples for STD testing. — PR Newswire
Fujifilm is most displeased with losing out on its bid to buy Toshiba’s medical device business. — MassDevice
Coming soon, in stunning 4K ultra-HD resolution, your innards, thanks to a new, big-screen Olympus surgical system. — PR Newswire
POLITICS
Brace yourselves: CMS has added 5,500 new ICD-10 codes for fiscal year 2017. — Healthcare IT News
The Senate HELP Committee unanimously signed off on the narrowly written Mental Health Reform Act, but narrow is probably as good as it’s going to get in an election year. — The Hill
A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
A tip of the keyboard to Kaiser Health News co-founder and longtime health journalist Peggy Girshman, who died Monday at the age of 61. — USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism
Photos: Mark Wilson/Getty Images, Kaiser Health News
