J.K. Wall

It took a year and a half. But Indianapolis-based Taliera Holdings LLC finally acquired its first beverage brand. Taliera, led by Indianapolis entrepreneur J. Smoke Wallin, acquired Texasbased Red Eye Brands this month. The company makes Red Eye Bloody Mary mix, as well as salsas and sauces. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But Wallin said Red Eye holds less than 5 percent of the Bloody Mary mix market. He hopes to take the company to 10 percent three…

Growth at Roche Diagnostics will push across 96th Street and take over the Marsh Supermarkets headquarters building, Roche announced today. By the end of 2010, Roche will transfer roughly 340 jobs to the new location from its campus in the northeast corner of Marion County, which serves as the company’s North American headquarters. Swiss-based Roche, […]

Conseco Inc. reported today that it has been working with investment bank Morgan Stanley for months to explore “strategic alternatives” for the company – a phrase often used when a company is searching for a buyer. Carmel-based Conseco made the announcement this morning as it declined a request from one of its largest investors, Steel […]

Eli Lilly and Co. will pay at least $7 million to acquire rights to a diabetes compound developed by Toronto-based Transition Therapeutics Inc., the companies announced tonight. Indianapolis-based Lilly will work with Transition to complete a Phase II trial of a compound called TT-223, which provided sustained improvement in blood sugar control during preclinical studies. […]

A law firm pressing a racial discrimination lawsuit against Eli Lilly and Co. says a security guard found a noose hanging in a tree on Lilly’s corporate campus in Indianapolis. Rose & Rose, a Washington, D.C., law firm, sent a statement about the incident late yesterday. The law firm is representing a group of current […]

WellPoint Inc.’s woes made for a gloomy day on Wall Street and could turn into year-long gloom for the whole industry. That’s what at least one Wall Street firm said after Indianapolis-based WellPoint sharply lowered its profit forecast late yesterday. Its share price fell 26 percent this morning, to $48.55. Goldman Sachs and Co. slashed […]

Eli Lilly and Co. confirmed this evening that it will abandon its inhaled insulin program, citing increased uncertainties about its commercial potential and the regulatory environment. The decision will cost Lilly $90 million to $120 million, or from 5 to 7 cents per share. The Indianapolis-based drugmaker now expects to per-share profit of $3.73 to […]

The company helping Eli Lilly and Co. develop inhaled insulin said it expects Lilly to scuttle the project next week. Massachusetts-based Alkermes Inc. said in a news release this morning that Lilly officials have told the company they are evaluating the business prospects for inhaled insulin, called AIR Insulin. Alkermes’ statement said company officials are […]

Shares of Eli Lilly and Co. fell this morning after the company announced regulators had rejected its application for a long-acting, injectible version of its best-selling drug, Zyprexa. Lilly’s stock price fell roughly 2 percent, to $50.73. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a “not approvable” letter that it needs more information on […]

Eli Lilly and Co. has been rejected in its attempt to win approval for a long-acting, injectible version of its best-selling drug, Zyprexa. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration told the Indianapolis-based drugmaker in a “not approvable letter” that it needs more information on the medicine’s major side effect, excessive sleepiness, the Indianapolis drugmaker announced […]

Community Health Network plans to announce a $130 million expansion of its Community Hospital South on Thursday. The city’s third-largest hospital chain said the expanded hospital would help “meet demand of (the) growing south market,” according to a press statement. The hospital is located on the north side of County Line Road. Less than a […]

Stock in Conseco Inc. sank 4 percent this morning after the Carmel insurer said it would restate earnings for nearly the past three years and alter other information as far back as 2003. The shares slumped to $11.62. Conseco said the action will correct errors identified by the company’s process of improving its internal financial […]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission wants to know more about how Eli Lilly and Co. and WellPoint Inc. decide how to pay their top executives. The two Indianapolis companies exchanged letters last fall with the SEC. The federal agency requested more information about executive compensation from 350 of the nation’s largest public companies. The correspondence led Lilly to include more detailed information in a preliminary version of its proxy statement that it filed Feb. 6. WellPoint officials have promised…

UnitedHealthcare has signed a three-year contract with the Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital, bringing the specialty hospital into UnitedHealthcare’s central Indiana network of health care providers. The contract, announced today, took effect on Feb. 1. It gives the orthopedic hospital “in-network” status, which typically means bigger discounts for UnitedHealthcare customers. OrthoIndy, a group of more 60 orthopedic […]