TOP STORIES
The White House’s Precision Medicine Initiative took center stage Thursday and a flood of projects, pilots and other initiatives came out as well. I had figured the initiatives would primarily involve pharma and biotech companies, but I was way off. Hospitals, health IT vendors and are behind the ones highlighted by the White House as part of its summit.
- The National Institutes of Health said a massive database will track the health of at least 1 million volunteers by 2019 as part of the PMI Cohort Program. The idea is it will not only include standard medical exams but will also have day-to-day wellness info from smartphones or wearable sensors. Vanderbilt University is running the pilot with help from Verily. — The Washington Post
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Here is a summary of some of the other PMI collaborations:
- St. Joseph Health and its partner, Hart, will work with electronic health record vendors Allscripts and Meditech, to make patients’ data available through an API. It is intended to use health data to drive shared decision-making and personalized treatment plans.
- Intermountain Healthcare and Syapse will give patients direct access to their cancer genomic data, including clinical data from their medical records, tumor genomics, treatments, and outcomes.
•Surescripts will give the enrollees of the Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort, the ability to contribute their most current medication information and other health information to the Medication History and National Record Locator Service.
•University of California Health System will give patients tools to download their information from its medical centers and to share the information with providers and researchers.
•Validic will make it easier for patients to donate personal health data for research through partners including health systems and EMR providers through an opt-in on their patient portal.
•Yale New Haven Health and Hackensack University Medical Center will provide ways for patients to share their data at their institutions for precision medicine research. Yale said it will also give patients access to their medical record. — The White House Fact Sheet
Baxalta will work with Precision BioScience to develop allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies to fight cancer in a deal valued at up tp $1.7 billion. — Pharma Times
McKesson has agreed to acquire integrated oncology provider Vantage Oncology and oncology pharmacy services business Biologics for $1.2 billion. They’ll be integrated into its Specialty Health division. — StreetInsider
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
LIFE SCIENCES
Life science entrepreneur and investor Alfred Mann has died. He founded 17 companies in biotech, medical devices and other sectors and sold many of them, gaining billionaire status in the process. Among his most notable devices were the first rechargeable pacemaker and artificial retina that allowed blind people to see. — Los Angeles Times
In the latest volley in the ongoing drug price debate, Doctors Without Borders is taking umbrage with Otsuka Pharmaceutical for its tuberculosis treatment price tag: $1,700 for a six month course. — STAT
Speaking of drug costs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dana Farber Cancer Institute are on the case. Their proposal calls for using securitization to create a diversified portfolio of healthcare loans to finance drug costs. Continued repayment of those loans would be tied to drug performance — BioCentury
APN Health received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration to market Navik 3D, a cardiac mapping system to cut the cost and complexity of electrophysiology procedures. — BusinessWire
Private equity firm Vance Street Capital acquires medical device designer A&E Medical Corp. — PE Hub
Mainsail Partners, a firm that invests in bootstrapped companies in healthcare and technology, has closed a $300 million fund. — Fortune
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
Intermountain Healthcare has implemented precision medicine as part of cancer treatment. Director of Cancer Genomics Dr. Lincoln Nadauld director said using genomics has affected treatment decisions for 80 percent of its cancer patients. He’ll be talking all bout it at HIMSS next week. — Healthcare IT News
East Jefferson Hospital in Southeastern Louisiana has added Teladoc as its telehealth vendor. — BusinessWire
University of California San Francisco Medical Center and CipherHealth have launched a population health platform called View. — PRNewswire
Cleveland Clinic conducted the first uterus transplant in the U.S. —STAT
TECHNOLOGY
Clinical communication provider PatientSafe Solutions, named co-founder Si Luo as CEO. — BusinessWire
Medical image exchange network lifeIMAGE has formed a strategic collaboration with Client Outlook. — Healthcare IT News
AmericanWell has launched a software developer kit to support its telemedicine platform. The idea is that hospitals, insurers, retailers or medical publishers can use it to add online doctor visits into their native mobile apps. — PR Newswire
POLITICS
Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Texas and Wisconsin are suing the Obama Administration over the Health Insurance Providers Fee in connection with the Affordable Care Act.— Becker’s Hospital Review
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin has introduced a bill calling for data collection to be standardized in investigations and autopsies in Sudden Infant Baby Death Syndrome cases to make it easier to make comparisons across different populations, identify risk factors and ways to prevent it. — Forbes
A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
For those who will be attending HIMSS next week, beware of the spelling lest you end up on a wall of shame. — HIStalk
Photo: BigStock Photo
