About hospitals and healthcare systems
Tenet Healthcare agrees to $30M whistleblower settlement over alleged kickbacks at Detroit Medical Center The government alleged that the False Claims Act violations occurred between 2014 and 2017 and involved two DMC hospitals—Sinai Grace Hospital and Harper University Hospital—providing the services of mid-level, employed practitioners to 13 physicians “at no cost or below fair market value in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute,” DOJ wrote in a press release.
These physicians were allegedly selected due to the large number of patients they referred to the hospitals and for the purpose of increasing Medicare referrals to DMC’s facilities, DOJ said.”
About pharma
Coherus to price Humira biosimilar at 85% discount to AbbVie's product “Coherus BioSciences disclosed Thursday that it will price Yusimry, its biosimilar version of AbbVie's Humira (adalimumab), at an 85% discount when it launches in the US next month. According to the company, Yusimry will carry a list price of $995 per carton of two autoinjectors, versus $6922 for the originator product.”
Note: Eight Humira biosimilars are expected to be on the market by the end of the year.
About health technology
Startups’ Patch Technologies Could Extend Reach of Vaccines “In several countries the effort to eradicate measles runs into the logistical obstacle of insufficient cold storage for vaccines.
Patches from startups including Micron Biomedical and Vaxxas could overcome this difficulty and extend the reach of vaccines in nations where measles outbreaks occur because of relatively low vaccination rates. Measles vaccine doses are sensitive to heat and must be kept cold.
That isn’t a concern in the U.S., but is an obstacle to vaccinations in remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa and other locations where access to electricity and refrigeration is limited, researchers say.
Atlanta-based Micron says its patch significantly reduces or eliminates the need for cold storage of drugs and vaccines."
Labcorp launches liquid biopsy to detect cancer-related biomarkers “A new blood test from Labcorp could potentially help cancer patients begin the most efficient treatments as early as possible.
The Plasma Focus liquid biopsy requires only a standard blood draw to run. It looks through the sample for bits of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) that are released by tumor cells into the bloodstream and that may offer insights into the cancer treatments that’ll work most effectively for a specific patient…
The newly launched test analyzes the cfDNA in a blood sample to build a genomic profile of a patient’s tumor. It looks specifically for mutations in 33 genes—comprising biomarkers that indicate variations in non-small cell lung, colorectal, breast, esophageal, gastroesophageal junction and gastric cancers and melanoma.”
Note: The article did not provide cost information on the test.