Shuttle to Hamilton County job sites is tweaked
A reverse-commute shuttle that helps Indianapolis residents get to jobs in Carmel and Fishers is being expanded.
A reverse-commute shuttle that helps Indianapolis residents get to jobs in Carmel and Fishers is being expanded.
Two new health clinics opened on the west side of Indianapolis last week. HealthNet Inc. opened a community health center on West 10th Street, providing primary, pediatric and OB/GYN care, as well as optomemtry, podiatry, behavioral health and social work services. Also, Community Health Network opened a medical office building in Speedway, which is part of its westward expansion after its acquisition of Westview Hospital on West 38th Street. The offices offer primary care, walk-in care, imaging, infusion therapy and occupational health services. Community also will work with the new Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine to conduct training for medical residents in Speedway.
WellPoint Inc. is still considering former Amerigroup Corp. CEO James Carlson among several finalists to become CEO, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The Indianapolis-based health insurer has delayed defining a role for Carlson, who joined WellPoint through its $4.9 billion acquisition of Amerigroup in December, because he is a contender for the top position, said the person, who asked for anonymity because the information is private. Retired Aetna Inc. CEO Ronald Williams also has been a leading candidate, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations. Carlson, 60, would replace Angela Braly, who was forced out in August amid investor complaints about the company's performance. Carlson built Amerigroup into one of the biggest insurers focused on the growing Medicaid sector. In an e-mail, Kristin Binns, a WellPoint spokeswoman, said the company wouldn’t comment on the CEO search. Maureen McDonnell, an Amerigroup spokeswoman, also declined to discuss the process or Carlson’s role. Katherine Mentus, a spokesman for Williams, declined to comment when reached by telephone. Analysts expect WellPoint to make a decision by the end of February.
Eli Lilly and Co. will have to conduct more studies of its experimental Alzheimer’s drug, but it is getting some outside help. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston chose Lilly’s drug solanezumab for a large federally funded study testing whether it's possible to prevent Alzheimer's disease in older people at high risk of developing it, according to the Associated Press. Lilly’s own studies of solanezumab found that it did not help people with moderate to severe Alzheimer's, but it showed some promise against milder disease. Researchers think it might work better if given before symptoms start. The new study will enroll 1,000 patients between age 70 and 85 who show a buildup of plaques in their brains but do not yet show signs of Alzheimer’s, including loss of memory and ability to do daily activities. Lilly’s solanezumab is also one of two drugs being studied in Alzheimer’s patients by researchers at Washington University. The other is made by the Genentech unit of Switzerland-based Roche Holding AG.
Indianapolis-based Defender Direct, a home security dealer, has opened an on-site health clinic, joining a number of other area employers that offer such services. Defender Direct’s 650 employees and their families now can receive primary care at the East 96th Street clinic, operated by Indianapolis-based OurHealth. Indianapolis-based MJ Insurance, which has helped such employers as Interactive Intelligence Inc. and others set up onsite clinics, brokered the deal.
Roche Diagnostics Corp. in Indianapolis ranks 89th on Fortune magazine’s latest annual list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” the magazine announced Thursday. In selecting Roche, the only Indiana company to appear on the list, Fortune cited its on-site medical clinic and fitness center, the company's $30,000 budget for intramural sports, and its health insurance plans tiered to income levels. The Indianapolis campus serves as the North American headquarters for the diagnostics business of Switzerland-based Roche Holding AG.
Roche Diagnostics Corp. in Indianapolis ranks 89th on the magazine’s latest “Best Companies to Work For” list and was the only Indiana-based company selected.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp.’s proposal to create a $30 million venture fund dedicated to life sciences startups is good news for a valuable sector of our state economy that has been losing out to the more investor-friendly high-tech sector.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. is looking to renew its commitment to life sciences by creating a $30 million venture fund. The amount dedicated to one sector would be equal to the state’s allocation for all high-tech startups over the past two years.
While Eli Lilly and Co.’s stock price is up 16 percent in the past four months, a new analyst covering the company thinks it has more room to grow. And that’s even without launching a new Alzheimer’s drug anytime soon.
Richard DiMarchi helped develop the sepsis-treating drug Xigris for Eli Lilly and Co. He also co-founded Marcadia Biotech, which Roche acquired in 2010 for an initial upfront payment of $287 million.
Early-stage venture capital has been harder and harder to come by for life sciences companies in recent years, but two Indianapolis investors are working to raise sizable funds to help fill the gap.
Are you tired of hearing about politics and the election? Then shake hands with a brother Elk, because I, too, am glad it’s over.
Indianapolis-based regulatory consulting firm Anson Group named Scott Thiel its director of connected health operations. In that role, he will help Anson’s customers commercialize wireless, mobile and networked technologies. Before joining Anson in 2011, Thiel served as a global regulatory affairs manager at Roche Diagnostics Corp. He holds degrees from Ball State University and Indiana Wesleyan University.
Anson Group named Scott Durlacher its director of compliance. Durlacher has worked with Anson since 2009, serving as the lead on several compliance projects. He holds degrees from Purdue University and Vanderbilt University.
Jeanelle Regal has been appointed director for Senior Promise, a Franciscan St. Francis Health-based program that provides insurance services to Hoosiers 50 and older. Regal received a bachelor’s in psychology from Andrews University in Michigan, and later earned a master’s in social work at Indiana University.
The departure of Keith Connors from WTHR-TV Channel 13 will leave three out of the four local network television stations without a news director.
If a biotech startup were akin to a rock band, Kristin Sherman might be the keyboardist. She’s not front-and-center on the stage, but the ballad wouldn’t be as dynamic without her pounding the chords.
Pete Kissinger hopes Phlebotics will follow in the footsteps of another of his creations, Bioanalytical Systems Inc.
Major airlines on Monday called off 38 flights departing Indianapolis to several airports in New York, Newark, Philadelphia and Washington. Airlines also canceled 36 flights scheduled to arrive in Indianapolis the same day.
Roche officials said last week that price competition and lower reimbursement rates are forcing it to make an unspecified number of cuts in its U.S. sales force and at its research and development hubs in Indianapolis and Germany.
Researchers are set to test drugs by Eli Lilly and other companies that may prevent Alzheimer’s disease after efforts to find a cure have been unsuccessful.
The real news is that the Midwest in general and Indiana in particular is bouncing back. In fact, the Midwest is not only resurgent—it is leading the national economic recovery.
Eli Lilly and Co. has apparently made major medical history by being the first to develop a drug that alters the course of Alzheimer’s disease. But whether Lilly can be the first to make major money from a disease-altering Alzheimer’s drug is still in doubt.
Eli Lilly & Co.’s solanezumab and Roche Holding AG’s gantenerumab were selected for a long-term Alzheimer’s trial run by Washington University at St. Louis scientists seeking to block the disease’s symptoms.