TOP STORIES
Abbott has agreed to acquire cardiac medical device maker St. Jude Medical in a deal valued at $25 billion. The move is part of a wider consolidation trend among device makers to gain more clout in negotiating contracts with hospitals. The combined company’s product development pipeline not only includes cardiovascular devices, but also diabetes and neuromodulation patient care. — Bloomberg, Abbott
“Now that failed inspections, government sanctions and a criminal investigation have shadowed the once stellar expectations surrounding the blood-testing company Theranos, the big question is turning from whether the company will eventually prevail to why so many people were so enamored of it in the first place.” — Bloomberg
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.
LIFE SCIENCES
Speaking of embattled companies, the future of Valeant Pharmaceuticals “remains dim,” despite departing CEO Michael Pearson’s mea culpa to Congress Wednesday. The future starts by cleaning house on its board. — STAT, The Wall Street Journal
While we’re piling on, Pfizer will pay $784.6 million to settle Medicaid fraud charges tied to Wyeth, a company Pfizer bought in 2009. Two whistleblowers will share $98 million of that total. — Reuters
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong received $147.6 million in pay for 2015 from NantKwest, the highest reported for any public company’s executive to date. — Bloomberg
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.
The FDA requested more information from Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Proteus Digital Health about their combined “smart pill” version of the antidepressant Abilify. — MassDevice
The latest advancement in CRISPR-Cas9 technology solves the “Energizer bunny” problem in gene editing and lets geneticists edit just one copy of each gene. — STAT
New Illumina CEO Francis deSouza wants to raise the profile of his company, which has a $22 billion market capitalization but lacks the name recognition of 23andMe. — Fast Company
Microsoft will purchase 10 million strands of lab-made DNA strands from startup Twist Bioscience, apparently to store lots of data for hundreds of years. — Business Insider
Biogen has poached a Pfizer executive to run its R&D operations. — BioSpace
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
Geisinger Health System has had such demand for a study on combining genomics and EHRs that it’s raising its target to 250,000 participants. — Healthcare IT News
While UnitedHealthcare bails on Affordable Care Act exchanges, Anthem Chairman Joe Swedish still believes “a sustainable model can be built.” — Forbes
Seven types of procedures account for 80 percent of all deaths in emergency general surgery, according to a new study. — HealthDay via WebMD
The five major health systems in the Milwaukee area have formed an alliance to build the local healthcare workforce. — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Partners HealthCare has announced its second annual “Disruptive Dozen” technologies that could transform cancer care in the next decade. — Business Wire
TECHNOLOGY
Major health systems share their strategies for fighting ransomware. — HIStalk
Health analytics company CloudMedx has acquired startup Gyrus Labs. — Marketwired
Healthvana, the app-maker that connects people to STD testing, gets some love from the mainstream media for its HIV educational programs. — The New York Times
POLITICS
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) wants to end the ACA’s financial protections for people with serious medical conditions and move affected patients to high-risk insurance pools at the state level. — Reuters
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) has introduced a bill to cap drug cost-sharing for Medicare beneficiaries. — The Hill
A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
Remember when the American Medical Association used to be chummy with Big Tobacco and accept cigarette ads in JAMA? Britain’s Royal College of Physicians now is cool with vaping. — The New York Times
