Oracle Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Technology Officer, Larry Ellison (Photo:Getty Images [Kimberly White)
Oracle Founder and CTO Larry Ellison has donated $200 million to University of Southern California for a cancer research center. David Agus, a professor of medicine and engineering at USC, will lead the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine. The goal of the center is to bring a diverse group of rphysicists, mathematicians and engineers to wrestle with fundamental questions about the disease. Although the center is not expected to open for more than two years, research studies are set to begin immediately. With a net worth of $50 billion, Ellison is among the richest people in the world, according to Forbes. — Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg
Theranos President and COO Sunny Balwani has left the embattled diagnostic company, seven years after he joined to become the second executive after its founder Elizabeth Holmes. The company is under investigation from the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorneys office over suspicions that it misled investors and regulators about its technology. — The Wall Street Journal
LIFE SCIENCES
G1 Therapeutics, a University of North Carolina spinout, raised $47 million in a Series C round to support its approach to protecting bone marrow during chemotherapy treatments. If successful, it could mark a breakthrough in cancer treatments. — Triangle Business Journal
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.
Longitude Capital, a life science investment firm, is raising its third fund with a fundraise goal of $525 million. The firm’s investments include Aptinyx Inc., which raised $65 million in a Series A this week.— BioCentury
An article wrestles with the question of how best to share data from clinical trials. — New England Journal of Medicine
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
Howard University Hospital has cut 100 staff — 10 percent of its workforce — as part of a restructure. — Becker’s Hospital Review
North Carolina Children’s Specialty Clinic has dropped the name of a sponsor — Krispy Kreme — from its moniker. It was previously named Krispy Kreme Challenge Children’s Specialty Clinic in 2015. — Vox
TECHNOLOGY
Teladoc generated nearly $27 million in revenue in the first quarter — a 63 percent jump over the same period last year. Most of it was from subscription fees, with a little under one-quarter from visit fees. — MobiHealthNews
Rebecca Freeman, chief nursing officer at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, says nurses need to have a more active role in electronic health record implementation. — Fierce EMR, Health IT Buzz
LITTLE BIT EXTRA
Want to see how some seniors react to driverless cars? It’s almost as amusing as cat videos. Almost. — Wired
