Top Story

Express Scripts wants cancer drug pricing based on outcomes, U.S. Supreme Court decision could lead to more fraud suits (Morning Read)

Express Scripts, a prescription drug benefit manager, is seeking payment deals with pharma companies that would set drug prices based on how well their cancer treatments work.

TOP STORIES

The U.S. Supreme Court partly reversed and partly affirmed a lower court’s decision not to extend the statute of limitations in fraudulent healthcare lawsuits, sending the case, Kellogg, Brown & Root Services Inc. v. United States ex. rel. Carter, back to the lower court. But the decision could ultimately lead to more fraud suits.

Express Scripts, a prescription drug benefit manager, is seeking payment deals with pharma companies that would set drug prices based on how well their cancer treatments work. Drug companies are responding with drug pricing of their own.

LIFE SCIENCE

Although patent volume slowed to its lowest level in six years, the number of patents filed in the life sciences industries is on the rise. Last year, patents for pharmaceuticals rose 12 percent and increased 7 percent in biotechnology, according to the 2015 State of Innovation report.

ClarVista raised a $14 million Series B round for development of its adjustable post-cataract surgery intraocular lens replacement.

QR Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, raised $5.7 million in a private stock sale.

Strides Arcolab of India has agreed to buy Aspen Pharmacare‘s generic pharmaceutical business and related assets in Australia for $287 million.

PAYERS-PROVIDERS

GE Capital’s Healthcare Financial Services announced that it has provided a $25 million credit to Nobilis Healthcare Corp., a healthcare facility owner and operator headquartered in Houston.

Fewer U.S. hospitals are giving away free infant formula, a new study finds, a shift that may help encourage more new mothers to breastfeed.

Advancements in the field of robotics come as California robot, Brett, learns things on his own.

Meet the four new recipients of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship award.

TECH

Flatiron Health has teamed up with Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR) in a strategic alliance to develop health IT tools, including cloud-based, electronic health records, data analytics and decision support software for cancer care providers around the world.

A new app, Disease Morph, will allow users to upload a selfie and instantly get virtual versions of diseases in an attempt to encourage vaccinations.

Here’s a some insight on how the cloud can help prevent medical errors.

Health marketers get a few search engine optimization tips.

POLITICS

The federal government unveiled new national standards for managed are under Medicaid, marking the biggest set of changes to the program in more than a decade. Among the proposed regulations by the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services, the medical-loss ratio is a focus of criticism.

GOP Senators are pushing for over-the-counter birth control options.

Try to understand Cybersecurity with this step by step process.

A LITTLE EXTRA

The Dr. Suess-esque saiga antelopes are dying in massive numbers. More than 85,000 have died in the past few weeks, and no one knows why.

The Morning Read provides a 24-hour wrap up of everything else healthcare’s innovators need to know about the business of medicine (and beyond). The author of The Read published it but all full-time MedCity News journalists contribute to its content.