HighTable Insights: Healthcare

New cervical cancer screening recommendations could impact several IVD companies

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:20:47 EST

New cervical cancer screening recommendations issued by the U.S. Services Preventative Task Force may have a positive impact on several IVD test manufacturers.

Everist Genomics launches colorectal cancer test portfolio

GLG Expert Contributor — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:30:08 EST

Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Everist Genomics plans to launch its unique portfolio of four colorectal cancer companion diagnostic tests at the end of this month.

Levomilnacipran from Forest shows promising results

GLG Expert Contributor — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:19:01 EST

Levomilnacipran is a serotonin – norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor that is currently being developed by Forest Pharmaceuticals and Pierre Fabre Medicament in France.

Does cutting spending budgets cut efficiency?

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:30:38 EST

In an auction undertaken for the U.K. Ministry of Defence for tissues, my company expended 20 days of research prior to assisting in the structure of the ITT. The resulting process created a saving of £750,000 on a £1.1 million spend, with an effective 80% betterment.

Do reverse e-auctions provide real value for money?

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:24:28 EST

When reviewing the performance after an e-auction, it is interesting to look at the extent of the variation of input in the auction process and the resulting achievement from the type of auction undertaken for the service or supply need.

Electronic medical records are coming faster than we thought

GLG Expert Contributor — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:26:53 EST

Last week I attended HIMSS12 the national conference of the Health Information Management Society (HIMSS) in Las Vegas. Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter led the conference with his keynote, which was HIMSS’s acknowledgement of the growing importance of social media in patient outreach, and in facilitating change in health care organizations. The pace of adoption of electronic medical records is increasing. Dr. Farzad Mostashari, Director of the HHS Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) announced that he expects more care to be delivered in 2013 by providers using an EMR than not. Wow – did he just suggest over 50% adoption of Electronic Health Records?

Be wary of received procurement wisdom

GLG Expert Contributor — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:54:30 EST

Premise: Everyone knows that:

1) The bigger the contract, the cheaper the unit prices (the economy of scale fallacy)

2) Large national or international suppliers are always able to offer the lowest prices (the market share fallacy)

3) The largest suppliers have the infrastructure to offer the most responsive service (the big is beautiful fallacy)

4) A single national contract is always better than regional contracts (the all-eggs-in-one-basket fallacy)

5) Manufacturers can always offer better prices than distributors (the controlled market fallacy)

ShoreTel and M5 Networks: Big bet, big payoff

GLG Expert Contributor — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:10:47 EST

ShoreTel’s acquisition of M5 Networks is a bold move that signals a shakeup in the VoIP business market, and could be a sign of things to come. With the deal, ShoreTel is placing a major bet on cloud communications; it could take a leading position as both an innovator and a disruptor. If ShoreTel bet correctly, its competitors will have to respond, which could spark an M&A rush in the cloud communications market.

Molecular diagnostics: Where we are and where we are going

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:13:19 EST

The molecular diagnostics market is the fastest growing segment of the $52 billion clinical diagnostics market. The overall segment is forecasted to grow at 15% annually over the next four years and some new business segments can expect to grow at 100% annually. The myriad players and technologies offer numerous opportunities for those who understand the value and applications of molecular diagnostics.

Why sequencing makes sense

GLG Expert Contributor — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:31:02 EST

Sequencing for a various disease states will see strong growth. The market is in its embryonic stages and there are a multitude of opportunities.

Clinical lab testing trends

GLG Expert Contributor — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:55:33 EST

Several emerging trends could impact commercial reference lab revenue. They include developments in pre-certification programs, molecular diagnostic and Laboratory Developed Test (LDT) registries, reimbursement programs and codes and test formularies.

Ketamine to treat severe depression

GLG Expert Contributor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:50:38 EST

Ketamine got its start as a veterinarian tranquilizer and later it appeared as a club drug called “Special K”. About 10 years ago a group of physicians in Connecticut noticed that Ketamine helped to improve depressive symptoms when it was given to children as a general anesthetic.

What do the cloud, collaboration and virtualization have in common?

Ken Kalinoski — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:32:24 EST

With so much talk and buzz about cloud (computing, storage, application sharing) and Virtualization (server & desktop), it can seem as if though these two IT consolidation trends are trumping the Collaboration movement. Service Providers across the map have readied themselves for cloud computing by partnering with infrastructure and networking providers. Carrier clouds are all the rage: If you’re not selling cloud your customers are likely looking at alternatives. Virtualization services have dramatically increased since the days of pervasive computing, the reawakening VMware anything (server appliances and server blades) and screen scraping data movers and mungers (aka Citrix).

New competitor enters ovarian cancer test market

GLG Expert Contributor — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:41:57 EST

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp ) announced the launch of its FDA-cleared risk stratification tool that aids in the diagnosis of ovarian masses prior to planned surgeries. This new test could be a competitor to Vermillion’s OVA1 which is marketed by partner Quest Diagnostics.

Trends in physician office practices

GLG Expert Contributor — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:11:12 EST

American Hospital Association statistics show that the number of physicians employed by hospitals has grown 32% since 2000. In-office lab testing continues to be strong revenue source for doctors faced with decreasing reimbursement rates. Mobile connectivity continues to thrive.

Clinical diagnostic acquisitions dominate 2011 top ten list

GLG Expert Contributor — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:49:58 EST

Four of the top ten medical device deals in 2011 involved clinical diagnostic companies. Diagnostic test results have been reported as responsible for over 70% of clinical decisions, so look for continued consolidation in this space in 2012.

Pfizer reports positive results on Lyrica for RLS symptoms: Two Phase 3 clinical trials, no NDA at this time

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:14:03 EST

After substantial investment in a number of clinical trials, including encouraging results from a Phase 2b clinical trial and two Phase 3 clinical trials, Pfizer announced that it will not seek FDA indication of Lyrica for the treatment of restless legs syndrome (RLS), recently renamed Willis-Ekbom Disease. Why?

Manufacturing can address the global disease crisis

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:33:04 EST

The spread of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, schistosomiasis, and tuberculosis is a cause of global concern. Pharmaceutical companies continue to develop and market drugs that treat them effectively. However, the drugs are often unaffordable (1) (references attached) to the very large patient populations of the developing world. Governments in these countries do not have the funding to educate and distribute the necessary medicines to cure and control their spread. How can the drugs for infectious diseases be made affordable without subsidies?

Thailand's "One tablet per child" project: Is Apple the right choice?

GLG Expert Contributor — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:43:30 EST

The “One tablet per child” project in Thailand is a huge endeavor involving more than 800,000 tablets, a nationwide network to provide online access and a cloud-based system for education content. The project is supposed to launch in mid-2012 and will provide Thailand with a much needed update in terms of IT penetration. Is Apple’s iPad the obvious choice?

Gene therapy success threatens drugs for hemophilia and rare diseases

GLG Expert Contributor — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:41:22 EST

The successful gene therapy trial to treat Hemophilia B is a significant step in providing longer term solutions for genetic diseases. This is a significant threat to hemophilia drug manufacturers such as Baxter, Pfizer, Bayer, Novo Nordisk, and Inspiration.