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Associated Press | Walgreens is joining the YMCA in an effort to prevent and control diabetes, in a partnership with insurer United Health Group.
Walgreens’ role will involve having pharmacists offer in-store counseling for diabetes patients. The YMCA will offer exercise and fitness classes to help reduce risks for diabetes and keep symptoms under control in patients already diagnosed.
By Bruce Japsen |
ISMIE Mutual Insurance Company said this afternoon it will distribute
nearly $17 million in new dividends to eligible policyholders in what
it called “continuing improvements” in the state’s medical litigation
climate as well as “positive underwriting results” from 2005 through
2008 policy years.
Just how long such payments will continue, however, is unclear, says the
doctor-owned insurer. The reason: The Illinois Supreme Court’s February
decision to strike down the state’s medical malpractice law, saying
limits on damages awarded to victims of medical negligence are
unconstitutional.
Associated Press | General Mills Inc. says it will cut the amount of sodium by 20 percent in a number of its cereals, soups, snacks and other products by 2015.
General Mills, which makes foods such as Cheerios cereal and Progresso soup, is the latest of several major food makers to reduce the salt in its foods as regulators and consumers push for healthier products. Other food makers that have recently announced changes to their products
to meet regulatory pressure and consumer desire for healthier products
include Kraft Foods Inc., ConAgra Foods Inc. and Campbell Soup Co.
By Bruce Japsen
| An immune system drug produced by Baxter International Inc. helped
preserve “thinking” abilities and reduced the rate of brain “shrinkage”
in a small group of patients with Alzheimer’s disease who have been
studied for 18 months, new research released Tuesday shows.
As the pharmaceutical industry continues its search for drugs that could
mitigate the effects of Alzheimer’s, Baxter’s Gammagard showed in a
study of 24 patients that it is among those treatments working well
enough to warrant continued testing. The Deerfield-based company now
will expand its research to more than 350 patients in a final-stage U.S.
clinical trial. If the final-stage trial is successful, Baxter could
submit the product to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration within two
to three years, analysts have said.
Associated Press | Brunswick Corp. said Tuesday that John
Stransky has resigned as president of its Life Fitness gym equipment
business effective immediately.Brunswick said Chief Financial Officer
Peter Hamilton will serve as
interim president of Life Fitness. Hamilton was in charge of that
business from 2005 to 2006. Brunswick also makes boats, marine engines,
and bowling and billiards gear. Its shares rose 7 cents to close at
$16.45 Tuesday.
By Kathy Bergen
| U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin will join a roster of heavy-hitters expected to speak at a biotechnology convention next month at the McCormick Place complex.
Dr. Benjamin will focus on increasing diversity, both within the biotechnology work force and within the pools of participants in clinical trials. Her speech will be May 3, the first day of the four-day 2010 Bio International Convention, the show’s organizers announced today.
Dow Jones Newswires | Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced
plans to junk its $81 million takeover deal with rival drug developer
Myriad Pharmaceuticals Inc. after getting a $141 million offer from
Hospira Inc., which Javelin’s board has deemed as superior.
Javelin shares soared 63.4 percent, at $2.19 in recent trading, while
Hospira was down 3 cents at $56.22 and Myriad was inactive after closing
Friday at $4.53.
Associated Press | A Chicago hospital is ending a salary freeze
with a big thaw. Swedish Covenant Hospital froze salaries to save jobs
last year. At the same time, the hospital promised employees to give
their money back if they helped the institution meet its financial
goals.
Dow Jones Newswires | Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions
Inc.’s fiscal third-quarter earnings jumped 39 percent, beating
analysts’ average view by a penny a share, helped by record sales and
improved margins.
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Indiana-based Hospital bed-maker Hill-Rom said it plans to open an office in Chicago and hired three Chicago-area executives who previously worked at Abbott, Baxter and Hospira.
Get the full story: chicagobusiness.com
Associated Press | The U.S. service sector grew in March at its fastest pace in more than two years, suggesting the economic recovery is expanding from the nation’s factories to its shops, restaurants, hospitals and other big sources of jobs.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group, said Monday its service index rose to 55.4 in March from 53 in February. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected a reading of 54. Any reading above 50 signals expansion.
Dow Jones Newswires | Verizon Communications Inc. said Thursday it expects to record a
one-time noncash charge of $970 million in the first quarter, to account
for the anticipated impact of the recently enacted U.S. health-care
overhaul.
The telecommunication company, which disclosed the charge in a
Securities and Exchange Commission filing, is the latest company to take
a charge to account for increased costs related to changes that will
come from the health-care law. Specifically, the overhaul prevents
companies from deducting tax-free subsidies it receives from the federal
government for providing retirees with prescription-drug benefits.
By Bruce Japsen | Horizon Therapeutics Inc. said it will acquire Switzerland-based Nitec Pharma AG in a merger of two privately held pharmaceutical companies just beginning to sell pain management and arthritis treatments around the world.
Financial terms of the deal, finalized today, were not disclosed by the companies. The combined company, which will be named Horizon Pharma, Inc., will be led by Horizon chief executive Timothy Walbert and have its headquarters in the northwest Chicago suburb of Northbrook.
By Julie Wernau | Boeing Wednesday joined a list of companies that have taken accounting charges because of recent health care legislation.
The Chicago-based company said it will recognize an income tax charge of about $150 million and that beginning in 2013, it will no longer be able to claim an income tax deduction for prescription drug benefits for retirees reimbursed under Medicare Part D’s drug subsidy program. The charge is expected to reduce Boeing’s net earnings by 20 cents per share in the first quarter of 2010.
By Bruce Japsen | It will cost up to $52 million in capital upgrades at Provident Hospital before the money-losing county-owned hospital would be ready for a partnership with the University of Chicago Medical Center, a consultant’s report says.
The Cook County Health & Hospitals System and the University of Chicago Medical Center are studying whether to form a partnership on the city’s South Side that would bring the academic hospital’s physicians to Provident to treat patients and train aspiring doctors. Provident, in turn, would benefit by receiving patient referrals and a marketing boost by adding the U of C’s name and patient care expertise to the 119-bed facility.
