Express Scripts to buy Medco for $29.1B in cash, stock
Express Scripts Inc. agreed to buy Medco Health Solutions Inc. for $29.1 billion to become the largest pharmacy-benefits manager in the United States. Both have central Indiana operations.
Health Care & Life Sciences
Articles
Lilly profit falls, but forecast rises after second quarter
Second-quarter profit fell at Eli Lilly and Co., but the Indianapolis drugmaker beat the estimates of Wall Street analysts by a penny per share and raised its full-year profit forecast by as much as 10 cents per share.
Tech district could boost Indianapolis’ convention business
The Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association plans to attract more life sciences conferences.
Primary care gets a new approach: prevention
A budding model for primary care that encourages the family doctor to act as a health coach who focuses as much on preventing illness as on treating it has shown promising results and saved insurers millions of dollars.
Birth control coverage required in U.S. health plan
Health insurers led by WellPoint Inc. would be required to cover birth control pills and devices at no cost to patients under the recommendation of a top U.S. scientific advisory board.
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Lilly: Alzheimer’s patients on failed drug didn’t improve
Eli Lilly and Co. said patients with Alzheimer’s disease whose conditions worsened upon taking the experimental drug semagacestat didn’t improve after dosing was halted.
Court gives preliminary OK to WellPoint settlement
A California court has granted preliminary approval to a lawsuit settlement over an online security breach of health insurer WellPoint Inc.'s records.
Not-for-profits vying with WellPoint may get $3.8B in loans
Not-for-profits that compete with insurers such as WellPoint Inc. are eligible for $3.8 billion in U.S. financing under the health law, and the government expects more than a third of the loans not to be repaid.
FDA says potential diabetes drug may cause cancer
Dapagliflozin would be the first in a new class of diabetes treatments called SGLT2-inhibitors that work by letting patients excrete excess blood sugar in their urine. Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. is among several companies pursuing similar drugs.
CBO: No great savings from health reform
Don’t expect the health reform law to tame health care costs. That’s the conclusion of the director of the Congressional Budget Office, who also suggested some of the simplest ways to moderate costs would be to roll back some of its key provisions.
Healthy Indiana Plan makes room for more childless adults
Indiana is opening the rolls of its Healthy Indiana Plan medical savings account to 8,000 childless adults on Aug. 1.
Exchange could snag 1.1M Hoosiers
An estimated 1.1 million Hoosiers will obtain health insurance through a yet-to-be-created online exchange, according to the latest estimates from the task force guiding Indiana’s response to the 2010 health reform law.
Wishard lands $2.2M in employee fundraising campaign
An employee-giving campaign for the new Wishard medical center brought in about $2.2 million, making the campaign one of the largest of its kind for a public hospital, according to Wishard Health Services officials.
More employers put faith in health savings accounts
Sizable Indianapolis companies like the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, consumer-ratings service Angie’s List, Marsh and Wilhelm Construction have switched to consumer-directed health plans. There’s some evidence nationally that the trend is set to accelerate.
Riverview scoops up doctors from American Health Network
Nine family-practice doctors are set to leave their large physician group and join Noblesville’s Riverview Hospital, more than tripling their revenue-generating potential.
Judge temporarily blocks Medicaid prescription fee cut
U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt issued a temporary restraining order Friday blocking the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration from cutting its Medicaid prescription dispensing fees to $3 from $4.90.
Lechleiter: German drug pricing creates ‘uncertainty’ for Lilly
Eli Lilly & Co. CEO John C. Lechleiter said Germany’s overhaul of drug pricing lacked transparency and the new policy creates “uncertainty” for the company’s business planning.
Study: Medicaid better than nothing
Health care reform will add roughly 500,000 Hoosiers to the Medicaid program and, in spite of great criticism of that expansion, a new study suggests Medicaid coverage does help consumers get more care, have fewer unpaid bills and feel better.
Lilly’s Cialis finally overtakes Viagra
Why do drugmakers still pursue so many me-too drugs? Because, if marketed well, they can be extremely lucrative. Just ask Eli Lilly and Co. about its drug Cialis.
J&J completes sale of animal-drug business to Lilly
Janssen Pharmaceutica said Thursday it has completed the sale of its animal health business to Eli Lilly and Co. Inc.