AIT meltdown derails huge Marian gift
Five years after pledging an astounding $48 million to help Marian University build a medical school, an Indianapolis businessman has paid only about one-fifth of that amount.
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State’s life sciences sector on rise while struggling with talent, capital
Shortages of workers and investment dollars remain the two biggest challenges for Indiana’s life sciences industry, which otherwise is showing robust vital signs and embarking on high-profile collaborations.
Company news
Indianapolis-area office buildings that lease a majority of their space to medical tenants boast a vacancy rate of 11.7 percent—about one-third lower than the citywide office vacancy rate, according to data compiled by Indianapolis-based brokerage Summit Realty Group. That’s because cost-conscious hospitals have leased more space in existing buildings, instead of building additional medical office […]
AIT, former execs rack up nearly $5M in legal costs
AIT Labs and its former executives have already incurred nearly $5 million defending themselves against charges by the U.S. Department of Labor that AIT founder Michael Evans sold the company to its employees in 2009 at an inflated price.
People
Dr. Bert Howard O'Neil has been named Joseph W. and Jackie J. Cusick Professor of Oncology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He also directs the gastrointestinal cancer research program at the IU Simon Cancer Center. O'Neil was most recently a professor and director of the gastrointestinal malignancies research program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. O'Neil earned his medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Indianapolis-based AIT Laboratories has named Dr. Kun Ma vice president of science and technology. He most recently served as director of venture analysis at Indianapolis-based CHV Capital Inc. and CEO of University of Health Management China Inc. Before that, Ma worked as a research associate at the National Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Genetic Engineering, and as a business development manager at Indiana University Research and Technology Corp. Ma received a medical degree from Beijing University Health Science Center, a doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Indiana University School of Medicine, and an MBA in marketing and strategy from the Washington University Olin School of Business.
Company news
Plunging revenue from blood glucose monitors has forced Roche Diagnostics Corp. to cut its staff, the company informed the workers last week. Roche, which operates its North American headquarters out of Indianapolis, suffered a 14-percent decline in revenue in its diabetes care unit during the first six months of the year. Roche has put that unit up for sale, according to a May report by the Reuters news agency. Roche spokesman Todd Siesky declined to disclose the number of workers that will be let go, only saying that jobs will be eliminated over the next several months. The cuts will affect Roche’s customer service group in Fishers and its diabetes manufacturing plant on the far northeast side. Between the two sites, Roche employs more than 900 diabetes care workers in the metro area. During the first six months of this year, Roche’s North American sales of diabetes products totaled $224 million. During the same period of 2012, diabetes sales in North American totaled about $257 million. And it’s going to get worse. The price of blood glucose monitors—which account for 90 percent of Roche’s diabetes care revenue—will be hammered by a new competitive bidding process instituted July 1 by the federal Medicare agency. Some projections indicated the Medicare program would drive down its payments 72 percent.
Indianapolis venture capitalist Matt Neff is the new CEO of Indianapolis-based AIT Laboratories, the drug-testing lab founded by Michael Evans. Evans stepped aside once before, in early 2012, and was replaced by Ron Thieme, who had been vice president of information technology. But the move didn’t work out, and Evans returned to the top job that fall. Now, Evans, 69, is stepping aside again, and Neff is becoming chairman, president and CEO, effective Monday. (See related story above.) Evans will remain chairman emeritus and continue as CEO of AIT sister company AIT Bioscience. Neff, meanwhile, is stepping down as CEO and president of CHV Capital, the venture capital arm of Indiana University Health, a post he held for six years. IU Health said the CHV Capital board would conduct a search for his replacement. AIT, founded in 1990 by Evans, then an Indiana University School of Medicine professor, caught fire about 10 years ago when it became the nation’s pioneer in urine drug tests to help doctors monitor patients taking narcotics for chronic pain. But AIT has been in turnaround mode after failing to respond quickly to deep cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates for basic drug tests. In 2009, Evans sold the company to employees for $90 million, with payments to him staggered over a number of years.
Community Health Network and Johnson Memorial Health opened the doors to a new health pavilion that will house doctors from both Community Physician Network and Johnson Memorial Physician Network, including specialists in family medicine, pediatrics, orthopedics, women’s health and general surgery. The facility will also offer walk-in lab testing, an imaging center, and physical and occupational therapy. Indianapolis-based Community and Franklin-based Johnson Memorial formed a partnership two years ago.
Venture capitalist Neff replacing Evans as AIT chief
It’s the latest in a string of leadership changes at the testing lab. Neff is coming from CHV Capital, the venture capital arm of Indiana University Health, where he had been CEO.
Marian’s med school quest was leap of faith
Marian University, a small Catholic college started by Franciscan nuns, next month will launch just the second medical school in Indiana. Marian President Dan Elsener is credited with pulling off the audacious move with a mix of big dreaming, careful planning, deft networking and “don’t take no for an answer” fundraising.
People
AIT Laboratories recently named Scott LaNeve vice president of sales and marketing. LaNeve spent the past eight years doing sales and marketing for a series of small startups and mid-market companies. He previously worked for Boehringer Mannheim and Roche Diagnostics. LaNeve earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from West Virginia University. He also studied marketing management at Boston University’s overseas graduate program in Germany, finance and accounting at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business in New York and global business management at the Institute for Management Development in Switzerland.
Marian med school oversubscribed
Marian University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine—only the second medical school in Indiana—will enroll 162 students this fall, about 8 percent more than it planned.
Once-thriving drug lab in turnaround mode
Two years ago, executives at AIT Laboratories “took their eye off the ball,” and watched the company’s business plummet 29 percent in value. Now, after two years of turmoil, the drug-testing lab says it’s poised to return to the double-digit rates of growth that made it a local star.
Evans to lead AIT again as CEO leaves company
Ron Thieme, who took over as president and CEO of AIT Laboratories during a management shakeup earlier this year, is leaving the company, the Indianapolis-based firm announced Monday morning.
Company news
Eli Lilly and Co. shares rose nearly 5 percent Monday morning after the company said a study found that its experimental stomach cancer drug helped patients with advanced disease live longer, according to Bloomberg News. The drug, ramucirumab was tested in patients with gastric cancer that had spread to other organs. The most common side effect for the medicine was high blood pressure, diarrhea and headache, Lilly said in a prepared statement. Lilly did not disclose how much logner ramucirumab helped patients live, but said it would release those details at a future medical meeting. If approved, the drug might generate $600 million in annual sales, said Mark Schoenebaum, a New York-based analyst with ISI Group. Lilly shares rose 4.8 percent, to $52.86 each, late in the morning and were up 32 percent in the 12 months through Sunday. Ramucirumab is among the products obtained by Lilly from its $6.5 billion acquisition of ImClone Systems Inc. in 2008. Lilly has five other late-stage studies of ramucirumab ongoing in four tumor types, including breast and lung cancer. If approved for all indications in testing, the drug could have $1.6 billion in sales by 2020, according to a prediction by Leerink Swann analyst Seamus Fernandez.
Ron Thieme, who took over as president and CEO of AIT Laboratories during a management shakeup earlier this year, is leaving, the Indianapolis-based firm announced Monday morning. Chairman and company founder Michael Evans will return to the positions of president and CEO. Evans stepped down from those positions in March to make way for Thieme, who had been vice president and chief information officer of AIT since 2007. AIT said Monday in a prepared statement that Thieme was “leaving the company to pursue other challenges” and “would continue to work with AIT during a transition period.” AIT, a forensics and clinical testing company, has experienced a number of management moves this year amid challenging economic conditions in its industry. In January, Evans said AIT was looking to "restructure our business" and had eliminated an unspecified number of jobs. “AIT has seen reimbursement from government and private payers reduced throughout 2011, which has had a negative financial impact on the company,” he said at the time.
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. will reorganize into four business units as a way to smooth the integration of Amerigroup Corp., the insurer WellPoint agreed to buy in July for $4.9 billion, according to a company memo obtained by Bloomberg News. Unlike WellPoint’s old structure, Medicare and Medicaid plans will be handled in separate divisions. In addition, there will be a commercial division overseeing sales of health insurance to employers and individuals, and a specialty division that sells dental, vision and disability coverage. Jim Carlson, CEO of Virginia-based Amerigroup, will run the Medicare division. Leeba Lessin, who was the top medical officer at California-based CareMore Group when WellPoint acquired it last year, will run the Medicare unit. Ken Goulet will continue to oversee WellPoint’s commercial business. And WellPoint veteran Lori Beer will oversee the specialty businesses. Chief Financial Officer Wayne DeVeydt will remain in his job. The changes were instituted by John Cannon, who has been serving as WellPoint’s interim CEO since the forced resignation of Angela Braly on Aug. 28. Cannon will serve in that role until a permanent replacement is found.
Three health care organizations broke ground on new facilities last week. The Community Health Network hospital system will construct a $24 million cancer center on the campus of its Community South Hospital. The 65,000-square-foot facility is expected to open next fall. Wishard Health Services, which is in the process of changing its name to Eskenazi Health, is building a $25 million primary care center in a former Circuit City store near Lafayette Square Mall. The 70,000-square-foot center will open next fall to provide care, senior care, health and wellness programs, physical therapy, radiology and other diagnostic testing. In addition, HealthNet Inc. is spending $312,000 to convert a former Blockbuster video store on West 10th Street into a primary care health center. The center will also offer pediatric, OB/GYN, podiatry, optometry, social work and behavioral health services, as well as access to discounted prescriptions. The health center, which will open in December, is expected to serve 3,000 patients.
Biomet Inc. saw its operating income fall and its sales growth decelerate in the three months ended Aug. 31. The Warsaw-based maker of orthopedic implants is often a bellwether for the rest of the industry. Biomet’s overall sales rose 6 percent in the quarter, to $707.4 million, compared with the same three months a year ago. But excluding Biomet’s recent acquisition of a trauma implant maker, its sales would have grown just 1 percent, to $668.6 million, over the same quarter last year. During the three months ended May 31, Biomet’s overall sales grew 3 percent. “We did experience some deceleration in growth for our hip and knee business, but until others report their results, we won't know whether market growth has slowed or our growth has come back to market,” Biomet CEO Jeffrey Binder said in a prepared statement. Operating income at Biomet totaled $69 million during the most recent quarter, down from nearly $73 million during the same quarter last year. Excluding special costs related to Biomet’s 2007 buyout by private equity firms and its acquisition of the trauma company, Biomet would have generated operating income of $191.7 million, a 5-percent increase over the same quarter last year.
People
Joyce Irwin has been named CEO of Community Health Network Foundation, the charitable arm of the Indianapolis-based Community Health Network hospital system. On Oct. 22, Irwin will replace Dr. Jeffrey Boester, who has served as interim CEO since June, following the departure of Michele Dole. Irwin was most recently national director of state government affairs, regulatory and public policy at Roche Diagnostics Corp. in Indianapolis. Before Roche, Irwin worked as a consultant on corporate public policy for Eli Lilly and Co. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees in education from Indiana University.
AIT Laboratories has named Paula Conroy its chief financial officer. Conroy most recently operated her own consulting business specializing in CFO services for privately held companies. Conroy previously worked at the U.S. Securites & Exchange Commission and Ernst & Young LLP. She holds both a bachelor’s in management and an MBA from Purdue University and is a certified public accountant.
Dr. Sarah Ali, an oncologist and hematologist, has joined Franciscan Physician Network Oncology & Hematology Specialists on the south side. Ali earned her medical degree at St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies, and completed a hematology-oncology fellowship at Michigan State University.
Sean Fallon has been named chief technology officer for CNO Financial Group Inc. He most recently worked at Lincoln Financial Group, where he served as vice president for application development in its group protection division. Fallon holds a bachelor’s degree in business and finance from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a master’s in finance from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
The Fishers-based Behavior Analysis Center for Autism hired psychologist Genae Hall as its new research director and consultant. She currently serves as the co-director of Behavior Analysis and Intervention Services. A native of California, Hall holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara, a master’s in psychology from Western Michigan University, and a doctorate in psychology from West Virginia University.
People
WellPoint Inc. on Monday named Venkata Rajamannar Madabhushi as the new head of its Medicare business unit, replacing Brian Sassi, whom the company dismissed last month. Rajamannar also will oversee WellPoint’s international, marketing and product innovation divisions, as well as its corporate development functions. He will not direct WellPoint’s Medicaid and individual insurance plans, as Sassi did. Instead, those divisions are now headed up by Ken Goulet, who is CEO of WellPoint's commercial business unit. Before joining WellPoint, Rajamannar, who goes by the nickname "Raja," served as chief innovation and marketing officer at Humana Inc., a WellPoint competitor based in Louisville. He also spent 15 years in senior-level business management and marketing roles at Citigroup.
Indianapolis-based AIT Laboratories named Ron Thieme to succeed company founder Michael Evans as president and CEO. Thieme had been serving as vice president and chief information officer of AIT since 2007. Thieme holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Purdue University.
Indiana University Health promoted Ryan Kitchell to be its chief financial officer. Kitchell, 38, replaces Marvin Pember, who left in July to take an executive position with Philadelphia-based hospital system Universal Health Services Inc. In November, Kitchell was named president of IU Health Plans after his predecessor Alex Slabosky retired. Kitchell first joined IU Health in September 2010 as treasurer, overseeing investments, cash management and corporate real estate. Before that, he worked more than five years for Gov. Mitch Daniels, first as public finance director and then as director of the Office of Management and Budget. Kitchell holds an economics degree from Indiana University and an MBA degree from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
AIT Labs exec succeeding founder Evans as CEO
The promotions of several executives follow the Indianapolis-based clinical testing company’s announcement in January that it was cutting jobs and restructuring its business.
Company news
Roche Diagnostics Corp. is ramping up cargo shipments between the U.S. and Europe, securing a third weekly Cargolux flight at Indianapolis International Airport to ship its medical products overseas. The flight, which began Jan. 15, is the first scheduled Cargolux flight to depart Indianapolis and fly nonstop to Europe–opening up new export capabilities from central Indiana. Currently, Cargolux Airlines International operates two inbound flights from Luxembourg to Indianapolis, each Wednesday and Friday. Boeing 747 freighters typically take on Roche’s chemical reagents and medical devices and then stop in Chicago or other cities before heading back to Europe. The outbound Boeing 747 will have room for additional cargo, which Roche hopes to grow into, but it also could be used by other companies shipping products to Europe. Roche, based in Switzerland, operates its North American headquarters out of Indianapolis.
AIT Laboratories, one of the area’s fastest-growing companies in recent years, is now eliminating jobs. The Indianapolis-based forensics and clinical testing company won’t say how many, but officials admit its business got pinched in 2011 and now it is trying to restructure. “AIT has seen reimbursement from government and private payers reduced throughout 2011, which has had a negative financial impact on the company,” CEO Michael Evans said in a prepared statement. The job cuts are a turnabout from 2010, when AIT said it planned to create as many as 160 positions by 2014 and invest $74 million to equip a 90,000-square-foot building at Woodland Corporate Park as a new headquarters and lab. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered AIT up to $1.8 million in performance-based tax credits to help with the expansion. AIT had boasted as many as 500 employees recently. Some pharmacy industry websites have been buzzing with talk about “massive” job cuts at AIT, with claims of as many as 100 furloughs. AIT officials would not confirm or deny those numbers.
A California-based pharmaceutical company says it expects to hire 234 people by 2016 at a new operation on the site of a former Pfizer Inc. drug plant on the south side of Terre Haute. NantWorks LLC plans to invest $85.5 million to redevelop the facility. The manufacturing plant, which is expected to be operational in 2015, will produce cancer drugs and injectable medicines for use in critical care settings. Pfizer employed more than 800 workers at the site before closing in 2008. NantWorks officials say scientists, chemists and engineers employed by the plant will earn an average annual salary of about $51,000.
Warsaw-based Zimmer Holdings Inc. acquired Synvasive Technology Inc., which makes Stablecut surgical saw blades and a soft tissue balancing system for knees. Zimmer did not disclose the price it paid for Synvasive, a privately held company based in Reno, Nev. Zimmer has annual sales of more than $4 billion and sells its orthopedic implants in more than 25 countries.
Once-rising star AIT Laboratories now cutting jobs
AIT Laboratories, one of the area’s fastest-growing companies in recent years, confirmed Tuesday that it is eliminating jobs, but would not say how many. The company said it is restructuring.
AIT’s Evans gave $48M to start Marian med school
Marian disclosed Evans’ 2010 donation Wednesday as it held a groundbreaking ceremony for its medical and nursing school building, which will be called the Michael A. Evans Center for Health Sciences.
AIT Labs moving headquarters, adding 160 jobs
The Indianapolis-based forensics, clinical and pharmaceutical testing firm, led by CEO Michael Evans, plans to invest $74
million to acquire and equip
an existing 90,000-square-foot building in Woodland Corporate Park near West 79th Street and Interstate 465.