Anthem Blue Cross, California’s biggest for-profit health insurance company, has been on the hot seat lately. Its plan to raise premiums on policies for individuals by as much as 39 percent landed the CEO of its parent company, Wellpoint, in front of a Congressional committee and reignighted efforts to pass healthcare reform legislation. Now the advocacy group ConsumerWatchdog has filed a class-action lawsuit against Anthem over the rate increases. We spoke to Jerry Flanagan, healthcare policy director for ConsumerWatchdog, about his group’s lawsuit, what Anthem’s actions mean for reform, and why proposed healthcare legislation wouldn’t have prevented Anthem from instituting the rate increases in the first place. Read More
Venture Capital
- Archimedes Does Some Math
Biopharma’s funding round is the largest private European financing in 15 years. Read More
Initial Public Offerings
- A Humble Start for Anthera
Anthera Pharmaceuticals IPO gets done, but at just more than half of its $70 million target. Read More
Dealmaking
- Astellas Turns Up the Heat
Suitor sues OSI, adding pressure to its hostile bid. Read More
Cardiovascular
- Keeping a Beat
Coffee associated with reduced risk of hospitalization for heart rhythm disturbances. Read More
Neurodegeneration
- Can’t Read You
Parkinson's disease makes it harder to figure out how other people feel. Deep brain stimulation seems to make it worse. Read More
Mergers and Acquisitions
- Merck KgaA Outbids Thermo
German pharmaceutical and chemical giant snaps up Millipore for $7.2 billion in a bid to diversify its revenue stream. Read More
Trials and Tribulations
- Surprise and Disappointment for Medivation and Pfizer over Alzheimer’s Drug Failure
The weekly round-up of failed trials, missed targets and other business mishaps. Read More
Deals
- March Roars in for Life Sciences
Something for everyone—a big acquisition, an attempt at a hostile takeover, and an anemic IPO. Read More
Business Strategy
- A Battle Brews for Control of Genzyme
Podcast: March 1, 2010 Read More
Personalized Medicine
- Divine Medicine
Study finds belief in a caring God improves response to medical treatment for depression. Read More
- The Burrill Report (March 8, 2010): Consumer Group Sues Over Health Insurance Increases
Listen to the latest edition from The Journal of Life Sciences. Browse all podcasts
ONLINE POLL
March 05, 2010
Anthera Pharmaceuticals completed it's IPO, but it raised only about half of what it had sought. Is the IPO market for biotechs
More than 3.3 billion people live in the tropics, most in developing countries. Many lack the most basic of essential goods and services such as food, clean water, medicine and housing.
Adam Feuerstein, senior columnist for TheStreet.com, discusses Carl Ichhan's efforts to wrest control of Genzyme from its CEO Henri Termeer, what it means for the company, and how other biotechs that have fallen in the investor's grasp have fared.
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After a quiet February, the month of March came roaring in like a lion for life sciences deals and financings. The disappointing IPO of Anthera Pharmaceuticals seemed to be a sign that there may be no easy route to go public for the queue of companies waiting behind it. After postponing its IPO last week, Anthera went public on March 1 pricing its shares at $7 – half the price it had originally expected.
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- House, Senate Leaders Agree on Most of Health Bill
Bloomberg - Infection Defense May Spur Alzheimer’s
The New York Times - Disease Cause Is Pinpointed With Genome
The New York Times - Democrats move closer to healthcare deal
Reuters - For Many House Democrats, Cost Is the Concern
The New York Times - End-of-Life Warning at $618,616 Makes Me Wonder Was It Worth It
Bloomberg - Obama’s Health-Care Path May Face ‘War’ in Congress
Bloomberg - In Final Push, Obama Urges ‘Up-or-Down’ Vote on Health
The New York Times - Consumer group sues California health insurer
Reuters - Industry crackdown on salt could save U.S. billions
Reuters