Highlights of the important and interesting in the world of healthcare:
Who’s living with less? While questioning each other’s money-making techniques, the chiefs of Massachusetts’ most prominent hospital network and private health insurer agreed that controlling soaring healthcare costs begins with a shift in thinking: adjust to a climate of limited resources and learn to live with less, reports MetroWest Daily News.
Merck to buy insulin developer SmartCells. With an eye on remaining one of the leaders in the diabetes field, Merck (NYSE:MRK) has agreed to pay more than $500 million to acquire SmartCells, a Beverly, Massachusetts, biotech with some intriguing insulin technology that originated at MIT, according to FierceBiotech.
Using Informed Awareness to Transform Care Coordination and Improve the Clinical and Patient Experience
This eBook, in collaboration with Care Logistics, details how hospitals and health systems can facilitate more effective decision-making by operationalizing elevated awareness.
Hospital perks: Are they worth the cost? As healthcare reform moves forward, we need to decide whether hospital amenities like hotel-style room service, massage therapy and magnificent views are worth their cost, according to a perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine.
A pearl of a COPD therapy. Pearl Therapeutics bagged a $69 million venture round last month, and now its clear why. The Redwood City, California, biotech has clinical trial results that show its inhalable drug for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease works better than standard Tiotropium (Spiriva), a $3 billion annual seller for Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim, reports Xconomy San Francisco.
M&A the hot ticket in med devices. From Medtronic’s (NYSE:MDT) deal to buy Ardian for $800 million to Stryker’s (NYSE:SYK) agreement to buy Boston Scientific’s (NYSE:BSX) neurovascular business for $1.5 billion, mergers and acquisitions are picking up in the medical device industry, Reuters reports.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Asthmatx device holds $443.5M of promise. And how promising is Asthmatx Inc.’s device to treat patients with severe asthma? Up to $443.5 million-worth, based on how much Boston Scientific is willing to pay for the Sunnyvale, California, company if it hits revenue targets laid out in its acquisition deal, according to the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.
