New York orders WellPoint to make refunds for overcharges
WellPoint is among 11 insurers ordered to refund money to almost 600,000 New Yorkers who were charged too much for health insurance.
WellPoint is among 11 insurers ordered to refund money to almost 600,000 New Yorkers who were charged too much for health insurance.
Roche Diagnostics will partner with a San Diego firm to incorporate its continuous glucose monitoring sensor with a wireless handheld device Roche is developing to help diabetics test their blood sugar and track their glucose levels throughout the day.
Anderson-based Bright Automotive said production of its Idea work van could start in 2013 or 2014 at AM General's Mishawaka factory. Up to 300 workers ultimately could be hired.
The northern Indiana factory where AM General once made H2 Hummers could be building plug-in, hybrid cargo vans under a deal with Anderson-based Bright Automotive announced Friday.
RND Group fills development gaps for companies.
Owner Chris Wirthwein insists the Carmel firm with growing billings serves Indiana companies within a two-hour drive.
Sherry Keramidas, who earned her doctorate in neuroscience and physiological psychology from Purdue University, is executive director of the Maryland-based Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society, which is holding its annual conference Oct. 22-26 at the Indiana Convention Center.
Looks like Roche Diagnostics Corp. is finally getting clear of its troubles at the FDA. On Thursday, Switzerland-based Roche announced it won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a new test strip that works with its Accu-Chek Aviva blood glucose monitors. Roche developed the new strip because its previous version of test strips used an enzyme that, in rare cases, could give a falsely high blood sugar reading. A falsely high reading, if acted upon with a correspondingly high dose of insulin, could be harmful or even fatal to some patients. The concerns of the FDA have kept Roche Diagnostics, which maintains its U.S. headquarters in Indianapolis, from getting new blood glucose monitor products approved in the United States, costing Roche market share here. For example, its Aviva Nano meter, which has sold well in Europe, has never hit the market in the United States. “This clearance is a significant milestone for our organization—one that will position us well for the clearance of other products in our pipeline," said Daniel O’Day, chief operating officer of Roche Diagnostics.
After trudging through nearly three years of soft demand, the Warsaw-based makers of orthopedic hip and knee implants—Zimmer, Biomet and DePuy—are unlikely to see a worldwide recovery before the end of 2012, according to a new report from Leerink Swann & Co. Analysts Rick Wise and Richard Newitter think the debt issues in Europe, the uncertain economy in the United States, and global economic pressures will lead many patients to continue to defer their hip or knee surgeries. “Looking out over the next 12-18 months, we are inclined to take a more cautious view regarding a possible growth rebound in large joint procedure volumes,” the analysts wrote. They predict a shrinkage in those surgeries in the third quarter of 0.2 percent and then modest fourth-quarter growth of 1.2 percent.
If this was meant to boost the stock price, it isn’t working. Since launching a $100 million share repurchase program in May, Carmel-based CNO Financial Group Inc. has purchased nearly 8.8 million common shares for a total of $55.7 million, the company announced last week. Also, for every dollar CNO spends buying its own stock, it also has to spend a dollar paying down its bank loans. But since the life and health insurer launched the repurchase program on May 16, CNO’s share price has fallen 29 percent, closing Friday at $5.41. Over the same time period, the broad Russell 3000 index has fallen 17 percent.
Eastman Kodak Co. reportedly looked at relocating a 500-person research-and-development center to Indiana, but will instead stay put in Ohio, according to a company official.
Reform-induced changes dominate health care panel of health care experts convened by Indianapolis Business Journal.
The Audubon Society has documented hundreds of birds killed downtown in the past two years as birds are attracted to the city lights and then fly into windows.
Executives at Roche Diagnostics expect the wave of austerity measures being taken by western governments—including the United States—to as much as double its sales of fluid- and DNA-based tests in the next three years.
Every business sector has influential players, whether they are in the public eye or wield their influence behind the scenes. This month, IBJ zeroes in on Health Care and Benefits.
A high-living Manhattan businesswoman accused of an audacious fraud that cost some of central Indiana’s marquee companies millions of dollars has cut a deal with prosecutors that would ensure she spends no more than 31 months in prison.
New drug for metastatic melanoma packaged with genetic test should help Roche sell more of its cobas 4800 laboratory testing systems.
Roche Diagnostics Corp., which runs its U.S. headquarters out of Indianapolis, got a boost Wednesday when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new genetic test to go along with a new Roche melanoma drug.
Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine plan to launch a large clinical trial of an experimental two-drug combination for treating late-stage ovarian cancer. The drug combo produced a positive effect in 70 percent of patients in a Phase 2 trial and the IU researchers said they may have discovered biomarkers that could help identify women who would respond best to the therapy. The therapy combines two chemotherapy agents, decitabine with carboplatin. The IU researchers, led by Dr. Daniela Matei, are using it for women who have become resistant to carboplatin after multiple rounds of chemotherapy. IU is now seeking grant funding for a Phase 3 trial, in which the combo therapy will be compared against other approved therapies for ovarian cancer. Their research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Walther Cancer Foundation in Indianapolis and the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.
DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. plans to spend $27 million on manufacturing and research equipment to grow its orthopedic implant operation in Warsaw, Ind. The expansion will add no jobs to DePuy’s 1,100-person work force, but the Warsaw City Council has approved a 10-year property tax abatement on the equipment. DePuy spokeswoman Jessica Masuga told The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne that the equipment will improve efficiency. DePuy is a subsidiary of New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson.
West Lafayette-based Endocyte Inc. raised about $66.8 million in a secondary public offering of nearly 6.7 million shares of company stock. Shares for the offering, which began in mid-July, were priced at $12.26 each. Endocyte, which also has offices in Indianapolis, said it intends to seek permission to sell its ovarian cancer drug in Europe on a limited basis. The decision to proceed came after consultation with the European Medicines Agency and written advice from the regulators, Endocyte said in April. Endocyte shares had more than doubled in price after its initial public offering in February, before sliding in the recent market-wide decline in stocks.
Rochester Medical Implants will move its 28 employees from Rochester to Noblesville. Fulton Economic Development Corp. director Terry Lee said company officials attributed the decision to an inability to recruit needed employees to Rochester and better proximity to customers in the Indianapolis area. The Rochester Sentinel reported that a company co-owner had previously discussed plans for expanding on its eight-acre site in that city. Lee said some of the company's workers plan on transferring to the new location, with the move expected to happen by October. Rochester is about 75 miles north of Noblesville.
Rochester Medical Implants plans to move operations from Rochester to Noblesville in October. The company has 28 employees.
Former Eli Lilly and Co. vice president Richard Dimarchi, BioCrossroads President David Johnson, angel investor Oscar Moralez and Purdue University Senior Vice President Alan Rebar discuss issues ranging from the depth of the life sciences industry in Indiana to venture capital and Purdue’s Discovery Park.