Articles

Cancer taking lead role at IU: New hospital aims to boost reputation, research

To glimpse the priority list of the honchos running the Indiana University medical complex, drive west along Michigan Street and look north toward the IU Hospital. The 38-year-old facility is now nearly totally eclipsed from view by a sparkling, $150 million addition to the IU Simon Cancer Center, which stretches steel, glass and stone across an entire block between University Boulevard and Barnhill Drive. By bulking up its cancer care and research, IU leaders hope to improve the prestige of…

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Lilly investing in venture to speed drug discovery

By J.K. Wall Eli Lilly and Co. is contributing to a $39 million pot of money to fund a startup that will develop tools to speed discovery and development of new drugs. Lilly has joined with rivals Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. Inc, as well as Boston venture capital firm PureTech Ventures LLC, to […]

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Lilly buying cancer-research firm for $64M

Eli Lilly and Co. has agreed to spend $64 million to acquire SGX Pharmaceuticals Inc., a San Diego-based biotech firm developing cancer drugs. Indianapolis-based Lilly and SGX have been collaborating since 2003 on development of cancer drugs. SGX provided X-ray crystallography technology to determine the structure of cancer targets Lilly was trying to hit with […]

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Major moves to keep more patients on home turf: Hospital hires two ortho surgeons, changes name

Nearly three-quarters of orthopedics patients in Shelby County have gone to an Indianapolis hospital to receive care. Now, Major Hospital in Shelbyville wants to keep more of those patients at home. By next June, the hospital will build a $7 million orthopedics center that will house two orthopedic surgeons. They will begin building their practices in Shelbyville next month. The play for orthopedics patients throws Major into a pitched battle among Indianapolis-area hospitals. Surging numbers of patients need new hips…

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IU program aims to turn lab rats into leaders: Business training is tailor-made for scientists

Andrea Walker is a chemist with management aspirations. But instead of signing up for a traditional MBA program, the team manager at Indianapolis-based AIT Laboratories will enroll this year in a slimmed-down business program that focuses on the life sciences. The program, called the Kelley Executive Certificate in the Business of Life Sciences, is a new creation of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. The program will conduct most of its classes online over a one-year period. The courses will…

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Are job cuts next for WellPoint?

WellPoint Inc.’s main rival announced yesterday it would slash 4,000 jobs in order to save money as its profits sag. Will other health insurers follow the lead of Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group? They have few other options to substantially reduce costs, said Les Funtleyder, a health care analyst at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. […]

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Community dips toe into social networking: Hospital encourages patients to create blogs

Facebook and MySpace have harnessed the Internet to revolutionize how Americans keep in touch. Could providers of health care do the same? Indianapolis-based Community Health Network is trying to find out. It has opened its Web site to allow its patients to create their own MySpace-like pages to keep their family and friends informed about their treatment or about their new baby. Community’s Web site also hosts discussion forums for various groups of patients, such as new moms, cancer patients,…

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UPDATE: Lilly shares slide after FDA delay

Investors in Eli Lilly and Co. showed displeasure this morning in the decision announced late yesterday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will extend its review of Lilly’s prasugrel drug by three months. Shares in the Indianapolis pharmaceutical company fell 2 percent, to $46.63 – a 52-week low. The FDA’s decision on the highly […]

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Conseco wins $29M judgment in latest round of legal war

Conseco Inc. has won another round in court against former Merchants National Bank CEO James D. Massey this month, ringing
up a $29 million judgment against him in a court in Illinois. But Massey shows no sign of throwing in the towel in the years-long
litigation over millions he borrowed to buy Conseco stock. Massey was a director of Conseco from 1994 to 2000.

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Columbus Regional Hospital taps savings to survive flood: Center hopes to open emergency room within weeks

If you’re a hospital and a flood has just shut down your facility for months, how do you survive? Pretty much like a person who’s just lost a job. Put big projects on hold and raid the savings account. Columbus Regional Hospital, evacuated and closed on June 7 because of historic levels of flooding, has tapped $30 million it set aside for building projects. It is now using the money to pay employees while it’s closed. Wages and benefits for…

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IU, Purdue to seek $70M for life science pact

Two years ago, Indiana University School of Medicine officials showed up at the Indiana Statehouse holding out their hands for $80 million. In exchange they promised to boost Indiana’s life sciences industries and train more doctors for the state. State lawmakers responded with a little money and a lot of homework. They gave IU $15 […]

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Reorganization points Arcadia in better direction

Arcadia Resources Inc. narrowed its losses in its fiscal fourth quarter, the Indianapolis-based home health care company reported today. Arcadia also grew its net revenue by nearly 8 percent to more than $37 million. The company recorded a net loss of $3.1 million in the quarter ended March 31. In the same period a year […]

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St. Francis buries hatchet with Cigna, Sagamore

St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers settled a contract dispute with Cigna HealthCare and its Sagamore Health Network last week, days before their old contract expired June 15. The new reimbursement contract will run through 2011. Indianapolis’ fourth-largest hospital system made public its feud with the Philadelphia-based health insurer in early May. The agreement allows […]

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Community Health CEO Corley preparing for ‘something different’

This month, 65-year-old Bill Corley gave his 18 months’ notice that he will be retiring as CEO of Community Health Network,
the third-largest hospital network based in Indianapolis. Perhaps Community’s board of directors needed so much time to replace
a man who has held his post so long-nearly 25 years. When Corley arrived in 1984, Community consisted of just one hospital
on Indianapolis’ east side. Today, it has five.

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Lilly, partners release report on diabetes drug

Indianapois-based Eli Lilly and Co., along with California-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Massachusetts-based Alkermes Inc., released clinical trial results Monday night for their long-acting version of Byetta, a diabetes drug that analysts expect to be a big seller. The study showed that patients maintained and even improved on their lower blood sugar and weight levels […]

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Bloomington publisher to expand

Author Solutions Inc. will transfer jobs from China to its home base in Bloomington as part of an expansion announced today. The provider of self-publishing services will spend $4.5 million on the consolidation, which will add 140 jobs to its headquarters. Author Solutions already employs 230 in Bloomington, and another 50 in Indianapolis. It maintained […]

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Benicorp cleanup praised: Customers, employees ease through liquidation

When cash ran dry last summer at Indianapolis-based Benicorp Insurance Co., it could have created a major mess. But 10 months later, Indiana insurance regulators have kept all of Benicorp’s customers covered by health insurance and given its employees a soft landing as they make the transition to new jobs. The last of a backlog of claims has been paid off. “No family in Indiana will have an uncovered claim,” said Jim Atterholt, the Indiana commissioner of insurance. “That’s a…

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IEDC to launch Web site to match startups with suppliers, vendors

For Indiana’s life sciences companies to flourish, they need to get better at romance. Helping companies meet, greet, date
and deal is the idea behind a new Web portal being built by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to match startups with
in-state vendors, suppliers, investors or people who can help them.

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