UPDATE: Lilly settles pollution suit for $337,500
A complaint filed Wednesday by the U.S. government says Lilly’s plant on South Harding Street is emitting high levels of acetonitrile and methanol, considered hazardous air pollutants by the EPA.
Health Care & Insurance
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Eli Lilly neuroscience chief resigns
David Bredt, vice president of neuroscience research, has resigned “to pursue other opportunities,” according to Lilly spokeswoman Judy Kay Moore. Bredt had overseen Lilly’s development of various drugs, including molecules in late-stage human testing to treat Alzheimer’s and depression.
WellPoint board declares 25-cent dividend
WellPoint Inc. became the latest health insurer to reward shareholders with a quarterly payout after piling up cash from a string of strong financial performances.
UPDATE: CNO shares soar after quarterly profit rises
The Carmel-based life and health insurer, in an after-markets announcement, said it earned $168.2 million in the final three months of last year, a big jump from the $18.2 million profit it posted in the same quarter the prior year.
Franciscan’s electronic records rollout shows industry growth
Franciscan Alliance will spend more than $100 million over the next two years to install a common electronic medical record system at its 13 hospitals and more than 165 physician practices. It’s a sign of the growth of the health information technology industry in Indiana, which a new BioCrossroads report says generates $200 million a year in sales and is growing at 8 percent annually.
Lilly looks to double pipeline size again
Indianapolis-based Lilly is developing what it calls “The Mirror Portfolio,” which it expects to grow to 45 to 60 drugs in five years. This month, Lilly announced it had secured venture-capital funding for the first two drugs in this alternative pipeline.
Emerging markets give Lilly hope in patent crunch
In a kind of alternate drug universe, sales of Eli Lilly and Co.’s ghosts of blockbusters past are soaring in China—prompting the drugmaker to pour money into emerging markets in an attempt to prop up revenue.
Thousands of IU Health patients getting hotel-stay discounts
A program to help Indiana University Health patients get discounted hotel rooms has ballooned in recent years to the size of a midsize convention.
Lilly’s master plan for downtown (real estate)
As Eli Lilly and Co. outsources work and sheds unnecessary properties, it is making moves with surplus real estate that could establish the strongest physical connection between Lilly and downtown since the company was founded at Pearl and Meridian streets 135 years ago.
Lawmaker wants state to stop funding Planned Parenthood
Rep. Matt Ubelor of Bloomfield said he wants to cut off about $1.6 million that Planned Parenthood of Indiana receives from the state because he believes abortion providers shouldn't receive taxpayer funding.
St. Vincent CEO takes on new duties in Wisconsin
St. Vincent Health CEO Vince Caponi will take charge of three hospitals in Wisconsin that are also owned by St. Vincent’s parent organization, Ascension Health. He’ll also keep his current job.
Q&A
Harlon Wilson, president of Indianapolis-based Medical Animatics, says the uncertainty created by the recession and now health care reform have dried up most opportunities for his 3-D animation firm to win new business with health care clients. So he’s looking at new markets—such as the recent online learning work for Harrison College that led Medical Animatics to sell some of its assets to the for-profit university. And Wilson is still banking on persistent needs to educate patients to cause health care to bounce back.
Fort Wayne firm to open health info to patients
With electronic medical record systems proliferating, there’s information galore about patients. But it’s not so easy for patients to get at it. Now Fort Wayne-based NoMoreClipboard has been charged to design ways to fix that problem.
Reform, revenue behind Franciscan expansion
Changes unleashed by health reform are pushing Franciscan St. Francis Health’s expansion into Hamilton County—in addition to the obvious pull of the area’s well-heeled population.
DeVry Inc. plans to open local nursing school
The for-profit school would lease 24,000 square feet at its Keystone Crossing campus and employ 55 people in its nursing program at an average wage of $28.85 an hour. DeVry is requesting property-tax abatement to offset investment costs.
Inspectors find Indiana tobacco sales to minors declining
A partnership called the Tobacco Retailer Inspection Program said Monday that sales of tobacco products to teen-agers occurred in less than 4 percent of more than 8,400 inspections.
St. Francis plans $23 million Carmel hospital
Franciscan St. Francis Health plans to open a short-stay medical center in Carmel, creating 76 jobs by 2015, the health system announced Monday morning.
Lilly names new head of cancer drug business
Eli Lilly and Co. on Friday named company insider Sue Mahony as president of its cancer drug business.
Lilly takeover provision to be voted on again
The effort to remove an 80-percent approval threshold for takeover bids against the wishes of Lilly’s board is on the agenda of the company’s April 18 annual meeting.
Diabetes boom sparks Roche expansion
Roche Diagnostics Corp. is expanding one of its Indianapolis manufacturing plants to keep up with growing sales of its leading brand of blood glucose monitors.