Morning Read: UnitedHealth may say goodbye to Obamacare exchanges; more on Pfizer’s $150B Allergan merger
Also, some questionable dealings from nonprofit Blue Shield, and a new Apple Watch app from CVS Health.
Morning Read: A Pfizer-Allergan acquisition is in the works, Allergan’s Warner Chilcott coughs up $125M to settle kickback charges
Pfizer and Allergan are in acquisition talks.
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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.
Morning Read: Allergan makes antidepressant acquisition, an Allergan deal could give Teva big pharma status
Allergan is the center of attention in a couple of stories this morning with anti-depressant acquisition and a sale of its generics business to Teva.
3 billionaire tech industry leaders will build robots, Allergan will pay $2.1B for double chin eliminator Kythera (Morning Read)
SoftBank Robotics, Alibaba Group and Foxconn Technology Group will collaborate to bring humanoid robots to the global market, Botox owner Allergan, has agreed to pay $2.1 billion for Kythera and its double chin eliminator treatment.
Medtronic named best place to work in medical sales in 2015
MedReps.com surveyed 1,400 members of the site’s community, who currently work or recently worked in medical sales, to determine which companies are the best to work for overall. Best medical device company: Medtronic. Stryker and Johnson & Johnson ranked second and third. Best pharma company: Johnson & Johnson. Pfizer and Eli Lilly ranked second and […]
Four CEOs in healthcare make the top 10 in Harvard Business Review’s list
Harvard Business Review’s annual list of the 100 top performing CEOs in the world is out, and four of the top ten are in the healthcare industry. John Martin of Gilead Sciences, David Pyott of Allergan, Lars Rebien Sørensen from Novo Nordisk and J. Michael Pearson, CEO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals all made made it to […]
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.
Allergan delays drug that would rival Regeneron’s Eylea
May 1 (Reuters) - Allergan Inc said approval of its Darpin eye drug could be delayed up to two years, providing a new boost to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc whose successful treatment Eylea stands to gain from a lack of new competition. Shares of Alle...
Botox maker Allergan expands R&D in U.S., defies outsourcing trend (and wrinkles)
The trend of outsourcing research and development work that spurred massive layoffs by pharmaceutical companies and the growth of the contract research organization industry doesn’t seem to be in Allergan’s (NYSE:AGN) playbook. The drug and device maker famous for its anti-wrinkle treatment Botox has opened a 93,000-square-foot R&D facility in New Jersey that is expected […]
FDA approves Allergan weight-loss Lap-Band for more patients
Allergan's Lap-Band will now be available for a new group of obese patients. It used to be available only to people with a body mass index of 40 or at least 100 pounds over their ideal weight. Now, patients with a body mass index as low as 30 may be eligible to use the innovative medical device for weight loss. The announcement could increase sales by 51 percent to at least $390 million by 2016.
On the road to healthcare rationing (Morning Read)
Unequal access to healthcare is hardly a new phenomenon in the United States, but the country is moving toward rationing at an unprecedented pace. The underlying problem is that doctors are reimbursed at different rates, reports the New York Times.
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Kindler out, biopharma head Read in, at Pfizer (Morning Read)
Jeff Kindler, a lawyer tapped as a fresh face to lead drugmaker Pfizer out of its dodrums, is out, after just a little over four years as chairman and chief excutive, reports NPR's health blog. Kindler's executive bio already has been erased from Pfizer's website. Ian C. Read, 57, head of the company's global biopharmaceuticals operations, is in.
Healthcare companies repay feds in False Claims Act settlements
The Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund calculates that the U.S. Justice Dept. recovered more than $3.16 billion from fraudulent False Claims Act settlements, with pharmaceutical companies topping the list. The U.S. Dept. of Justice recovered more than $3.16 billion in False Claims Act settlements in the past fiscal year. The top 10 settlement payments came […]
Drug companies pay the most False Claims Act settlements
The U.S. Dept. of Justice recovered more than $3.16 billion in False Claims Act settlements in the past fiscal year. The top 10 settlement payments came from the healthcare industry, and eight of those were from pharmaceutical companies, according to a new report from the advocacy group Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund. The 10 largest […]
Ohio to get $4M from national settlements with two drugmakers
Ohio will receive a $4 million cut of national legal settlements with two drugmakers that allegedly promoted medications for unapproved uses. In one case, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. engaged in so-called off-label promotion of its drug Topamax. In the second case, Allergan Inc. promoted the off-label use of Botox for patients suffering from headaches, pain, overactive bladder and muscle spasticity.
Allergan directors: You pay the $600M fine (Morning Read)
Remember last week's $600 million Department of Justice settlement by Botox maker Allergan? A shareholder has filed a lawsuit claiming the Allergan board should pay the fine, according to the Pharmalot blog.