Highlights of the important and interesting in the world of healthcare:
Allergan answers to Uncle Sam. Botox maker Allergan agreed Wednesday to pay $600 million to settle charges it illegally promoted and sold the beauty-enhancing drug through 2005 for unapproved uses like treating headaches, according to the New York Times. The Irvine, California, specialty drug maker also agreed to drop a First Amendment lawsuit against the government and enter into a five-year corporate integrity agreement with the government.
That’s “J” for jobs. The National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship is holding its first meeting in Washington, D.C., today, according to Xconomy. The 26 national leaders in business, technology and academia are charged with helping the Obama administration “develop a broader strategy to spur innovation and enable entrepreneurs to develop breakthrough technologies and dynamic companies, and to create jobs all across America,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said earlier this summer.
Proton therapy centers shop for investors. Proton Therapy Global Management is talking with private equity firms, family offices and individual investors to raise $250 million to set up a network of proton-therapy centers in the United States and United Kingdom, reports the Wall Street Journal’s Venture Capital Dispatch blog. That raise would set up only one center.
Concentra on selling block. Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe has put healthcare and wellness services provider Concentra on the block for $1.1 billion, peHUB has learned.
Cutting costs king for ACOs. Hospitals looking to run accountable care organizations will have to change their practices from admitting as many patients as possible to learning how to reduce expenses, Donald H. Crane, president and CEO of California Association of Physician Groups, told Becker’s Hospital Review.
CEOs pare workers and prosper. CEOs of the 50 companies that trimmed the most jobs since the latest recession began took home 42 percent more pay than their peers at S&P 500 firms, reports the Pharmalot blog. Who was tops? Fred Hassan, who took a $33 million golden parachute from Schering-Plough last year, and Johnson & Johnson CEO Bill Weldon.