About Covid-19
Pfizer seeks authorization of coronavirus shot for children under 5 “Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, on Wednesday finished submitting an application for regulatory authorization of a coronavirus vaccine for children younger than 5.”
DOJ asks federal appeals court to reverse order lifting travel mask mandate “The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to overturn last month's court decision by a federal judge that declared the mandate requiring masks on airplanes and other public transportation unlawful.
In a 48-page document filed in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Justice Department argues that the order issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in early 2021 "falls easily within the CDC's statutory authority."
About health insurance
Data Note: 2022 Medical Loss Ratio Rebates “Expected rebate amounts vary by market segment, with the majority going to individual market enrollees, including ACA Marketplace enrollees. Insurers in the individual market estimate they will issue $603 million in rebates, small group market insurers will issue $275 million in rebates, and large group market insurers will issue $168 million in rebates later this year.”
Optum's buying streak continues with acquisition of Healthcare Associates of Texas: report “Optum is still on an acquisition hot streak, scooping up Healthcare Associates of Texas, Axios reported Wednesday.
Sources told the news outlet that the purchase from Webster Equity Partners would earn HCAT a $300 million enterprise value and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the high teens. UnitedHealth Group, Optum's parent company, has made overtures to purchase HCAT in the past, according to the report.”
Humana rebrands Kindred at Home as CenterWell in 14 more states “Humana is transitioning Kindred at Home to its CenterWell brand in 14 additional states, the insurer announced Wednesday.
The second phase of the transition brings the number of states where Kindred has made or begun the switch to 21, Humana said. Updating the branding is a key step in integrating Kindred at Home into Humana's broader healthcare services enterprise.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
8 health systems opening hospitals FYI. Despite financial stresses, building continues.
Texas hospital will pay employees $10K to get healthcare degree “University Medical Center of El Paso (Texas) has launched two programs focused on retaining current employees.
Under the CARES Pursuing Upward Learning and Legacy program, the hospital will pay up to $5,000 per year for two years for an employee to get their degree in a hard-to-fill career field, such as nursing, respiratory or imaging…
Employees do not have to currently work in clinical areas to be considered for the program. However, they must be a full-time employee with at least one year of employment, according to a flier from the hospital. They also must apply for admission via an approved educational program and agree to stay at UMC four years after graduating from the program.”
Butler Health, Excela Health will merge to scale operations in western PA “Butler Health System and Excela Health, two health systems based in western Pennsylvania, are planning to merge into a new health system serving the region, the organizations announced Wednesday.
The systems hope to leverage the merger to scale and be more relevant in the region’s competitive marketplace. The new health system will support five hospitals including Butler, Clarion, Frick, Latrobe and Westmoreland. It is expected to generate more than $1 billion in revenue and employ about 7,300 people, including more than 1,000 clinicians. The total population served will be 750,000.”
About pharma
Biogen, Samsung Bioepis launch first US biosimilar, a copycat of Roche's Lucentis, at 40% discount “Byooviz’s FDA approval covers Lucentis’ indications of wet age-related macular degeneration, macular edema following retinal vein occlusion and myopic choroidal neovascularization. The biosimilar currently isn’t allowed for diabetic macular edema or diabetic retinopathy because the dosing formulation is different…
Byooviz [has] list price of $1,130 per single-use vial, a 40% discount from Roche’s originator, according to the companies.”
However, even at that price, it is still more expensive than Avastin, which many ophthalmologists have been successfully using.
Regeneron pays Sanofi $900M for full rights to cancer drug Libtayo as it looks to become a force in oncology “In addition to that up-front payment, Sanofi will receive an 11% royalty on worldwide sales of Libtayo as well as $100 million in regulatory milestone payments and up to $100 million of sales-related milestone payments over the next two years. Regeneron expects the deal to be complete in the third quarter of this year.”
Astellas Subsidiary Xyphos and GO Therapeutics Ink Deal Worth More Than $763 Million “Under the agreement, the companies will select two novel antibodies using GO Therapeutics’ platform-based approach for targeting cancer-specific glycoproteins.
Xyphos will bring its CAR T-cell know-how to the collaboration. The company’s proprietary convertibleCAR technology creates cell therapies that can mobilize immune cells to find and destroy target tumor cells.”
Bristol Myers triples-down on Immatics, bringing deal to $4.2B total biobucks. Why not just buy it? “Bristol Myers Squibb is once again revising a massive research collaboration with immunotherapy drug discovery biotech Immatics. BMS is adding new deal with $60 million upfront and $700 million down the line for at least two new programs, plus expanding its prior arrangement.
That brings the total value of the collaborations to $4.2 billion in biobucks. The deal was originally signed in 2019 by Celgene before it was absorbed into BMS, and BMS again inked an agreement with Immatics in 2021…
The new agreement will involve Immatics’ gamma delta T cell-derived, allogeneic adoptive cell therapy platform, called ACTallo. The companies will develop multiple allogeneic, or so-called off-the-shelf, TCR-T and CAR-T programs.
Besides the initial two programs, BMS also has an option for up to four additional programs each. BMS will pay the upfront fee plus milestones and royalties.”
About healthcare IT
Oracle secures regulatory approvals for $28B Cerner takeover. Deal set to close next week “Software maker Oracle cleared the final regulatory hurdle for its pending $28.3 billion acquisition of Cerner, the companies announced Wednesday. The deal is set to close next week.
Oracle said it obtained the required antitrust approvals for the deal, including European Commission clearance. The company expects to complete the tender offer following the expiration of that offer at midnight Eastern time on June 6, the company said in a press release.”
About healthcare quality
Aetna and HCSC join NCQA’s Digital Solutions Program for Quality Assurance “The National Committee for Quality Assurance has launched a Digital Quality Assurance Solutions Pilot Program in which health care plans, delivery systems, and health information technology companies can test and analyze to align quality measurements across the health care industry.
Aetna, Health Care Service Corporation, 1UpHealth, ApolloMed, Change Healthcare, and Centauri Health Solutions will participate in a six-month pilot project that will include workshops, product feature testing, and feedback sessions…
Participants will evaluate quality improvement and care management efforts and comment on the NCQA health performance dataset and information reports, in which health care systems align themselves to a standardized set of quality and safety metrics.”