TOP STORY
As he enters what he called his “final campaign” last week in support of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama is touting his signature legislative achievement — the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — but also calling for more healthcare reform.
In a “special communication” published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Obama discussed the Affordable Care Act’s progress in reducing the number of uninsured Americans and in putting Medicare on a path toward value-based payment. He also called on Congress to revisit the idea of a “Medicare-like public plan” that fell by the wayside six years ago and to pressure pharma companies to disclose their R&D costs in an effort to bring drug prices down.
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That’s sure to go over like a lead balloon at next week’s Republican National Convention. — Journal of the American Medical Association, CNN Money.
The JAMA piece is said to be the first scholarly article published by a sitting president, though it was not peer-reviewed. (Does the president of the United States actually have any peers, other than his four living White House predecessors?) — Fortune
LIFE SCIENCES
Celyad has sold marketing rights to its NKR-2 T-cell immunotherapy to Ono Pharmaceutical in a deal that could be worth as much as $306 million. The Belgian seller insists its compound is safer than the one from Juno Therapeutics that has been linked to three deaths in clinical trials. — FierceBiotech
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The FDA approved dry-eye drug Xiidra (lifitegrast), giving the go-ahead for Shire to market its most promising pipeline medication in the U.S. — Reuters
Nichi-Iko Pharmaceutical, the largest generic drug-maker in Japan, is buying Sagent Pharmaceuticals for $736 million. The price represents a 40 percent premium over Sagent’s last closing share price. — FierceBiotech
Pharma services provider Patheon is looking to raise as much as $771 million in an IPO. — 24/7 Wall St.
3Scan, a San Francisco-based biotech startup that is developing a robotic microscope and automated vision systems for tissue analysis, has raised a $14 million Series B round. — TechCrunch
Vigilant Biosciences, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has closed a $5 million Series B2 financing round. — PR Newswire
“The Billion Dollar Molecule,” a 1994 book about biotech pioneer Vertex Pharmaceuticals, is being made into a movie. — Boston Business Journal
The first U.S. appearance of colistin-resistant superbug mcr-1 actually took place in May 2015, a year earlier than previously thought, and infectious disease specialists expect more cases soon. — STAT, Reuters
Mylan has launched a biosimilar to Merck’s oncology drug Temodar in the U.S. — Pittsburgh Business Times
PAYERS-PROVIDERS
A pay gap between men and women persists, even among physicians. The disparity is nearly $20,000 a year at major public medical schools. — The New York Times
Advertising by U.S. cancer centers more than tripled between 2005 and 2014, according to a newly published study. Some 20 of the largest institutions accounted for 86 percent of the spending in 2014. — Reuters
At all its Northern California hospitals, Kaiser Permanente has standardized a surgical procedure recommended to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer without adversely affecting hysterectomy outcomes. — Kaiser Permanente
Zoom, a Pacific Northwest startup trying to reinvent the primary care clinic, was the target of protests in Portland and Seattle on Monday because it doesn’t take Medicare or Medicaid. — Portland Business Journal
Highmark Health has sold its HM Insurance Group worker’s compensation division to BrickStreet Mutual Insurance of Charleston, West Virginia. — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The newly hired CEO at United Medical Center in Washington, D.C., left his last job as head of a New York hospital under a cloud of controversy. — Washington Business Journal
National Home Health Care Corp., Scarsdale, New York, has named former private equity executive Stan Dennis as its new CEO. — PE Hub
TECHNOLOGY
Enli Health Intelligence — formerly called Kryptiq — has inked a deal for Dell to sell its population health management technologies. — Healthcare IT News
In a small study, gay dating app Grindr proved to be an effective means of providing home HIV test kits to vulnerable black and Hispanic gay men. — The New York Times
St. Jude Medical has won FDA approval for pacing software to help physician manage patients with heart failure who do not respond to other pacing technologies. — Business Wire
POLITICS
At the GOP convention week, frontrunner Donald Trump may need to come out strongly against abortion if he wants to win over a skeptical party base. — STAT
As of Monday, AIDS is no longer considered a reportable public-health issue in Australia. — Reuters
A LITTLE BIT EXTRA
Don’t want your kids to develop allergies? Let them bite their nails and suck their thumbs. — Reuters
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