Riley promotes chief medical officer to CEO
Dr. Jeff Sperring takes the helm after a leadership void created by the departure of Riley’s CEO and COO in late spring.
Health Care & Insurance
Articles
Lilly files suit over flea medication sales from Australia
The Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical firm claims an Australian veterinary clinic is infringing on its Comfortis flea medication’s trademark by reselling it to U.S. consumers online.
Cancer-drug firm Endocyte to build commercial team in Indianapolis
Endocyte employs 12 people in Indianapolis and plans to add three or four more commercial executives there over the next year and a half as it anticipates approval of its ovarian cancer medication in Europe.
Study: IU med school, hospitals boost Indiana economy
A new study says biomedical research at the Indiana University School of Medicine and its partner hospitals pumped about $370 million into Indiana's economy in 2009.
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.
Lilly, Amylin agree to end diabetes partnership
Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Eli Lilly and Co. have agreed to end a decade-long diabetes partnership to resolve litigation. Amylin will make an upfront payment of $250 million to Lilly and future revenue-sharing payments of $1.2 billion plus interest.
Lilly, Bristol-Myers approved to market wider Erbitux use
Eli Lilly and Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. won U.S. approval to expand marketing of the cancer drug Erbitux for late-stage head and neck tumors.
Glucose monitor deal helps Roche catch up
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.
Drug shortages hit Lilly, Endocyte
The nation’s shortage of certain drugs is threatening to affect research trials being conducted by Eli Lilly and Co. and Endocyte Inc.
Carmel free clinic drawing jobless professionals
Trinity Free Clinic in Carmel began in 2000 to serve a growing Hispanic immigrant population. Since the latest recession, so many people—including unemployed professionals—have found their way to the clinic that the portion of white patients has grown from one-third in 2008 to 47 percent last year.
Catastrophes deliver more losses to Baldwin & Lyons
The auto and trucking fleet insurer lost $13 million, or 87 cents per share in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with profit of $9.2 million, or 62 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Lilly hid Zyprexa’s diabetes risks, family’s lawyer argues
Eli Lilly and Co. hid the diabetes risks of Zyprexa to protect sales, a lawyer for the family of a 20-year-old patient who died while taking the medicine told a jury in the first case to go to trial over the drug. The attorney asked jurors to award the family $40 million in compensatory damages.
Lilly loses British Supreme Court ruling over gene patent
The British Supreme Court ruled in favor of Human Genome Sciences Inc. in its dispute with Eli Lilly and Co. over the validity of a patent for a gene sequence that could be used to treat people with immune diseases.
Cardinal Fitness closing six area fitness centers
Health-club chain plans to keep six local locations open, but refer members of closed locations to LA Fitness.
IU med school gets $9M for Alzheimer’s center
The grant is the fifth consecutive five-year grant the Alzheimer Disease Center has received from NIH to support research to understand the causes and potential treatments for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
Indiana officials blast feds for ‘over-regulation’ on reform
Michael Gargano, secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, blasted the rules for both “glaring omissions” as well as creating new and unfunded “mandates” not included in the 2010 health reform law
Q&A
As an Eli Lilly and Co. lobbyist in Washington, D.C., Jay Bonitt is hoping the Congressional “super committee” charged with trimming the federal budget doesn’t turn to the Medicare prescription drug program, known as Part D, to do so. Bonitt, Lilly's vice president of federal affairs, said the program is under budget and helps spur drugmakers to further innovation.
Not following directions could bite local hospital
Indianapolis-based Westview Hospital might be on the hook for $160,000 because its advisers used a fax machine to tell Lehman Brothers it was canceling a financial agreement.
Insurer Humana’s quarterly profit climbs 13 percent
Humana Inc. raised its 2011 earnings forecast, following the lead set by other big insurers, including competitor WellPoint Inc.
Ortho firms pull back on doc payments
The number of payments in excess of $1 million didn’t change substantially from year to year, but orthopedic companies sharply cut their fees to surgeons who received the smallest amounts.