TOP STORIES
There is a lot of news on the M&A front.
Healthcare revenue-cycle management company MedAssets is going private, thanks to a $2.7 billion purchase by Pamplona Capital Management. At $31.35 a share, that’s a 44 percent premium over the average price for the last 30 days. — GlobeNewswire
Enhanced Direct Enrollment: Georgia Access and the Power of Partnership
Across the nation, state-based health insurance exchanges are searching for ways to better serve their communities while making enrollment easier, more personal, and more accessible for everyone.
Bristol-Myers Squibb is buying private biotech firm Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, which is developing a potential blockbuster treatment for heart failure, for $300 million. The deal could eventually be worth as much as $2.1 billion. — FierceBiotech
Irish pharmaceutical company Shire is acquiring U.S. biotech firm Dyax for as much as $6.5 billion. — The Wall Street Journal
Ambulatory surgery center operator AmSurg had no such luck in its bid to take over medical staffing firm TeamHealth Holdings. AmSurg withdrew a revised, unsolicited offer of $7.6 billion Monday after TeamHealth rejected that and two previous offers since Oct. 20. — The New York Times, Nasdaq.com
LIFE SCIENCES
Could QuantalX’s Device Make Managing Brain Health Easier?
CEO and neuroscientist Dr. Iftach Dolev on how the new device can bring a powerful tool to psychiatrists and neurologists alike.
The latest act of damage control by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International is a letter to physicians saying that the company will somehow come up with a way to get its medications to pharmacies after Nov. 8, when the distribution deal with Philidor Rx Services expires. — Reuters
Meanwhile, Philidor continues to deny any wrongdoing. — PR Newswire
Florida pharmaceutical distributor Ricardo Jurado pleaded guilty to illegal drug diversion. — South Florida Business Journal
Will the low-cost competitor to Daraprim really have much of an impact on Martin Shkreli’s Turing Pharmaceuticals? — Pharmalot
Boehringer Ingelheim and the Biomed X Innovation Center are expanding their crowdsourced R&D efforts into psychiatry. — PR Newswire
Researchers from Spain think they might be able to prevent malaria in humans by giving pigs a drug that’s toxic to mosquitoes. — The New York Times
Formerly high-flying genomics startup Knome has been sold, apparently for a substantial loss. — Xconomy
The FDA has fast-tracked review of an Acadia Pharmaceuticals drug for psychosis related to Parkinson’s disease. — Business Wire
Merck’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) has received a third Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA. — Business Wire
Agilent Technologies has wrapped up its purchase of Seahorse Bioscience for an undisclosed sum. — Business Wire
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
St. Luke’s University Health Network, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is posting all-in retail prices for about 80 common outpatient procedures and tests. — NewsWorks/WHYY News
Minnesota is running out of hospital beds for psychiatric care. — Minneapolis Star Tribune
Believe it or not, there’s a Healthcare Internet Hall of Fame, and, for the first time in the Hall’s five-year history, a patient is being inducted: “E-Patient” Dave deBronkart. — Healthcare Internet Hall of Fame
More proof that the general public doesn’t get that hospitals are dangerous, expensive places for all but the most acute of care: The American Legion is outraged over plans to close a VA hospital in South Dakota. — Business Wire
TECHNOLOGY
Quality Systems, parent company of ambulatory EHR vendor NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, has acquired Health Fusion Holdings, maker of cloud-based EHR and practice management technology, for at least $165 million. The deal ultimately could be worth as much as $190 million. — Business Wire
A wearable device designed to help people with autism improve their communication abilities is unintentionally shining new light on seizure disorders. — MobiHealthNews
The National Science Foundation has named and funded four Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs to, among other things, study new technologies for data-driven discovery in healthcare and for reducing healthcare disparities. — National Science Foundation
A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
A “mix up at a grocery store” is being blamed for trick-or-treaters in Quebec being given bipolar medication instead of candy. Um, yeah. — WCNC.com/USA Today
Photo: Flickr user s_falkow