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California Inc.: Brace yourself, Hogwarts is opening at Universal Studios
Apr 4, 2016 | Los Angeles Times
By David Lazarus
...Smooth, soft, unsafe?: Think Johnson & Johnson and you probably think baby powder. But that’s a problem for the company. -
AAMC's worried about subpoenas for fetal tissue researchers
Apr 1, 2016 | Politico - Politico Pulse
By Dan Diamond
...THE STORY OF THE WEEK is Bloomberg's deep dive into whether Johnson & Johnson hid evidence that using its baby powder is a cancer risk: http://bloom.bg/1UXsqZt -
Pharmalot, Pharmalittle: Drug makers threaten to cut R&D spending in Japan
Apr 1, 2016 | STAT News
By Ed Silverman
...Johnson & Johnson faces more than 1,000 lawsuits charging it knew of an association between talcum powder and ovarian cancer for years and failed to warn the public, Bloomberg News writes in an in-depth look at the issues.
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California Inc.: Brace yourself, Hogwarts is opening at Universal Studios
Apr 4, 2016 | Los Angeles Times
By David Lazarus
Welcome to California Inc., the weekly newsletter of the L.A. Times Business section.
I'm Business columnist David Lazarus, and here's a rundown of upcoming stories this week and the highlights of last week.
Last week ended on a high note after the government reported Friday that job growthkept up a solid pace in March and workers' wages rose. The unemployment rate edged higher, to 5%, from 4.9% in the prior two months, but it was for a good reason: With job and pay prospects improving, more people are rejoining the labor force.
LOOKING AHEAD
Delta review: The state Water Resources Control Board, which oversees how much water goes to farms and cities in much of the state, will meet Tuesday in Sacramento. The board will hear the latest on the health of smelt, salmon and other aquatic life in the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta, the choke point for transporting water to Southern California. Two surveys this year have netted only seven smelt, increasing speculation that the species is moving closer toward extinction.
Trade gap: The latest look at the U.S. trade deficit will come Tuesday as the Commerce Department releases the numbers for February. The gap in the value of foreign-made goods we purchase here compared with American-made stuff sold overseas widened more than expected in January. A strong dollar and weak global demand helped push exports to a more-than-5½-year low. This suggests trade will continue to weigh on economic growth in the first quarter.
Fed watch: The U.S. Federal Reserve releases the minutes from its March 15-16 Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday. Investors will be looking for clues about which way the economic winds might be blowing — and what that could mean for interest rates. On Thursday, Fed Chief Janet Yellen joins a discussion with former Fed heads Ben S. Bernanke, Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker in New York. It will be the first time the four living Fed chairs have appeared together onstage in conversation.
Harry Potter: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens Thursday at Universal Studios Hollywood, part of a $500-million expansion of the theme park. In anticipation of sky-high popularity for the attraction, Universal already has boosted the prices of daily tickets to $115 from $95. It also has adopted a "demand pricing" policy that offers a discount for visitors who buy tickets online for off-peak days. But even the discount price has been increased, to $90 from $75.
Mission to space: SpaceX is scheduled to launch its Dragon spacecraft on Friday for a cargo-delivery mission to the International Space Station. Last month, SpaceX successfully blasted a commercial communications satellite into orbit, but its rocket experienced a "hard landing" on a drone ship in the ocean. The satellite is providing services such as broadcasting and video capabilities, maritime connectivity and high-speed broadband to more than 20 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. It's owned by Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES.
THE AGENDA
Monday's Business section checks out the so-called gig economy, in which more and more U.S. workers are acting as independent contractors rather than full-time employees. Nearly 3 million Americans became freelancers from 2005 to 2015. But even as the gig economy draws an ever-growing share of American workers, it remains largely unregulated. People who work independently do not enjoy a raft of worker protections that apply to almost everyone else.
STORY LINES
Here are some of the other stories that ran in the Times Business section in recent days that we’re continuing to follow.
Minimum wage: A law proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown would gradually lift California's statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour from its current $10 by 2023. About 800,000 workers were already promised raises to $15 in several cities that passed their own minimum wage hikes, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Monica. More than a third of the state's workers will benefit from the wage hikes, according to an analysis by UC Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education. The people who stand to benefit the most are low-income adults, most of them household breadwinners, the study concludes.
New Tesla: Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk pronounced the Model 3 a success upon its birth last week in Hawthorne. And by the reaction in person and online, Tesla fans overwhelmingly agreed. Pulling the covers off the fourth vehicle in the company's short history, Musk declared that more than 115,000 Model 3's had been preordered in the first 24 hours. The next day that number had climbed to 180,000. Analysts said the number of preorders for the Model 3 exceeded their expectations.
Dodgers channel: Time Warner Cable has surrendered the ball. The New York company conceded that it has failed in its efforts to win broad distribution for SportsNet LA, the TV channel owned by the Dodgers. Time Warner made several pitches this month to other pay-TV providers — including AT&T's DirecTV and Cox Communications — hoping to entice them to sign up for the Dodgers channel in time for the baseball season, which begins today. The company proposed cutting the carriage fee for the channel, entering into binding arbitration or signing a six-year deal — but struck out with cable companies attempting to keep costs low amid growth in cord-cutting.
Airbnb taxes: If property owners who rent out homes and apartments on the popular home-sharing site Airbnb were to pay taxes as hotels do, the city of Los Angeles wouldcollect an extra $41 million each year. That is one of the conclusions of a study commissioned by the American Hotel and Lodging Assn., the trade group for the country’s hotel industry. In Los Angeles, the latest study said, about 22% of Airbnb operators rent their properties for at least 180 days a year, while 4% offer their homes for at least 360 days. The areas with the highest number of Airbnb operators were Venice, West Hollywood, Hollywood and neighborhoods around Silver Lake and Echo Park. Airbnb called the study "inaccurate."
Woeful waffles: Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles is an L.A. culinary institution, dishing up its soul food to the likes of Snoop Dogg and Magic Johnson. But now the chain is in trouble — its parent company, East Coast Foods Inc., filed for Chapter 11 protection. The bankruptcy filing came mere months after the company was ordered to pay $3.2 million to a former employee who won a wrongful termination and discrimination lawsuit, claiming the chain gave preferential treatment to Latino employees over black workers. In Bankruptcy Court filings, East Coast Foods estimated that it has debts between $10 million and $50 million, while assets totaled less than $50,000.
WHAT WE’RE READING
And some recent stories from other publications that caught our eye:
Hidden cash: The Wall Street Journal looks at an unintended effect of U.S. terror rules — the way they can drive money underground, beyond the scope of regulators and law enforcement. As banks close questionable accounts, officials lose sight of transactions they most want to keep an eye on.
Fallen king: The New York Times Magazine takes a close look at Xu Xiang, China’s hedge-fund king. He was a towering figure in the country’s booming stock market, “until the bubble he helped to create took him down with it.”
Smooth, soft, unsafe?: Think Johnson & Johnson and you probably think baby powder. But that’s a problem for the company. As Bloomberg tells it, more than 1,000 women are suing J&J for allegedly covering up a cancer risk.
Super-sized: The Atlantic delves into what it calls the commodification of higher education. “Colleges and universities have become a marketplace that treats student applicants like consumers,” it notes. “Why?”
Dubious costs: The management consulting firm Robert Half blogs about a study on expense reports filed by U.S. workers. That flat-screen TV? OK, maybe there’s a business case to be made. That doggie day spa? Probably not so much.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-newsletter-california-inc-20160404-story.html
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AAMC's worried about subpoenas for fetal tissue researchers
Apr 1, 2016 | Politico - Politico Pulse
By Dan Diamond
ACADEMIC MEDICAL COLLEGES "DEEPLY TROUBLED" BY HOUSE FETAL TISSUE PROBE — The Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives wants more information about researchers involved in studies of human fetal-tissue. And its leader says she's not getting enough help from the health care industry.
“Unfortunately, some of these organizations have so redacted documents — even after being subpoenaed — that it is impossible for us to get the complete picture of what is actually going on,” Chair Marsha Blackburn said after the panel issued eight more subpoenas this week.
Story Continued Below
— Critics say the panel is intimidating, not investigating. The Association of Academic Medical Colleges says it's worried — especially because the House's latest subpoenas may involve names of graduate students, administrative and support staff and other people who may not have much or anything to do with the work.
"[The] panel has provided neither compelling reasons for the need to collect this information, nor any assurances that it would be adequately safeguarded," the association writes in a letter to Blackburn and the panel's ranking member, Rep. Jan Schakowsky. "AAMC-member medical schools and teaching hospitals remain very concerned for the safety of their scientists, physicians, staff, students, and patients, particularly in light of the heated debate surrounding the issue of fetal tissue research."
See the letter: http://bit.ly/1UXhzi8
— Why researchers are so concerned. Being publicly linked to fetal tissue studies puts people at risk of personal attacks, such as being compared to Nazis — or worse.
"This really isn’t about science,” Edward Halperin, chancellor and CEO of New York Medical College, told POLITICO's Brett Norman last year. “This is really people making a point about abortion and it's outrageous.” Read the story: http://politi.co/235T9oi
MEDICARE BUNDLED PAYMENT PROGRAM STARTS TODAY — It’s unclear how many providers are ready for the move, as Pro Health Care’s Erin Mershon points out, but there’s little doubt it will test the abilities of hospitals, doctors and rehab centers to share patient information and coordinate care. Medicare’s Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement program hopes to save about $153 million, or 1.2 percent of the $12.3 billion the agency is expected to spend on knee and hip replacements over the next five years. More from Erin: http://politico.pro/1RML4mH
WHITE HOUSE PLANNING A MEASLES 'MISSION TO MARS' — Inspired by Vice President Joe Biden's cancer "moon shot" initiative, rumor has it that officials are planning an even bigger initiative to tackle America's resurgent measles problem, to be led by senior adviser April Fools.
THANK GOODNESS IT'S FRIDAY PULSE — And just to be extra-clear, that last section was a joke. A prank. There's no "Mission to Mars" initiative … and thankfully the editors let me have this measly pun. Send groans and tips to ddiamond@politico.com or @ddiamond on Twitter.
WHAT CMS FOUND OUT ABOUT THERANOS — The agency's inspection report — which the Wall Street Journal obtained in full — found that quality-control checks on Theranos' blood-testing devices routinely failed the company's own standards. For instance, 29 percent of quality-control checks failed in October 2014, and 24 percent failed in February 2015.
More bad news: Theranos also employed unqualified personnel and failed to follow proper quality-control procedures, CMS concluded. And many patient test results were inaccurate.
"This is the first time that we’ve actually seen data from the Theranos instrument, and it’s as bad as one would have worried it would be,” Weill Cornell Medical College pathologist Stephen Master told the Journal. “Based on this data, it’s hard for me to believe that they went live with this instrument and tested patient specimens on it." http://on.wsj.com/1UXFj5Z
ICYMI: ONLY ONE-THIRD OF HEALTHCARE.GOV ENROLLEES KEPT THEIR PLAN — That's according to a new analysis of 2016 enrollment from Avalere Health, which notes that it's the second straight year in which only one-third of exchange customers kept their plan.
There are different ways to think about this: Two-thirds of exchange customers every year are likely to shop around. That puts pressure on insurers to offer competitively priced premiums, but also complicates efforts for ongoing chronic care management.
WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT OPIOIDS YESTERDAY — POLITICO Pro's Health Care Briefing on the U.S. opioid epidemic focused on the culture of prescribing — specifically how doctors approach pain treatment — and moderator Joanne Kenen summarized some of the key takeaways from the panel of experts:
· The opioid conversation is focused on chronic misuse — but the problem really begins with the first prescription
· Physicians don't want strict limits on what they can and can't prescribe
· Payers are willing to partner with physicians to help change how they practice
· Prescription drug monitoring databases can play a key role in helping disseminate information, but the databases need improvement
· The national interest in opioids has changed rapidly — much faster than the experts expectedWatch an archived video of the briefing: http://politi.co/1UvYLGR
See the working group report: http://politi.co/1VTlBaWwCDC SAYS PEDIATRIC AUTISM LEVEL IS HIGH — BUT IT ISN'T GETTING HIGHER — That's according to a CDC report published yesterday in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Surveillance Summary. The report shows that about 1 in 68 school-aged children have been identified with autism spectrum disorder, which is essentially no change in ASD prevalence from the previous report released in 2014. See the report: http://1.usa.gov/1ZOIBI4
ALMOST NINE PERCENT OF JOBS ARE IN HEALTH CARE — That's according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report on employment and wage data released this week, which found that 12 million people worked in health care as of May 2015. (That number has gone up by about 400,000 jobs in the past 11 months.) Registered nurses alone accounted for more than 2.7 million jobs last year. http://1.usa.gov/1UG4w58
Mean hourly wages
· Surgeon: $119.00
· Family and general practitioners: $92.36
· Registered nurse: $34.14
· Home health aide: $11.00NEW HAMPSHIRE LOOKS LIKELY TO KEEP MEDICAID EXPANSION — The state Senate yesterday voted to continue Medicaid expansion through 2018, easily overcoming opposition from Republicans in the upper chamber, Pro's Rachana Pradhan reports. The bill, which passed on a 16-8 vote, now goes to Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, who made reauthorization a major priority this year.
— But what happens after that? New Hampshire is seeking a waiver to continue the program beyond this year, and part of the state's request is for a work requirement - something the Obama administration has never approved - and copays if enrollees visit the emergency room for non-emergency purposes. However, the legislation includes a clause to ensure that the program won't end if CMS rejects a work requirement, a provision that some Republicans criticized heavily.
MEDICAL MILESTONE: JOHNS HOPKINS SUCCESSFULLY TRANSPLANTS ORGANS BETWEEN HIV-POSITIVE PATIENTS — Surgeons at the Baltimore health system yesterday performed the nation's first liver and kidney transplants between an HIV-positive donor and recipients. The groundbreaking surgery is expected to help expand the pool of potential organ donors and speed transplants to HIV-positive patients. http://bsun.md/1pOTtck
THE STORY OF THE WEEK … is Bloomberg's deep dive into whether Johnson & Johnson hid evidence that using its baby powder is a cancer risk: http://bloom.bg/1UXsqZt
THE PODCAST OF THE WEEK … is Slate's Amicus podcast on Zubik v. Burwell, where host Dahlia Lithwick spends 30 minutes breaking down the case with special guest Paul Clement — who was fresh off arguing on behalf of the plaintiff — and Walter Dellinger, acting solicitor general in the Clinton administration. It's very much worth a listen: http://slate.me/1VcMyG0
— Dellinger was unimpressed with the Supreme Court's performance. "What came clear to me at the argument is that they did not understand women’s reproductive health," Dellinger said. "They did not understand Obamacare. They did not understand how health insurance works. And I’m not sure which of those was worse."
ON TAP TODAY — CDC hosts its one-day Zika Action Plan Summit to discuss how local, state, federal, and non-government officials can coordinate a response to Zika. … The Center for Medicare Advocacy hosts the 2016 National Voices of Medicare Summit and Senator Jay Rockefeller Lecture at the Kaiser Family Foundation Building. … Universities Allied for Essential Medicines will hold a rally outside of PhRMA's office
ON TAP NEXT WEEK — The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget on Monday morning holds its 2016 Mortimer Caplin Conference on fiscal issues facing the next president. The Senate HELP Committee on Tuesday will convene to mark up five pieces of legislation related to research and medicine.
HOW TWO HEDGE FUND 'QUANTS' WERE ABLE TO DIAGNOSE HEART DISEASE — They built an algorithm that's proved as effective as a cardiologist when analyzing MRI images of the heart. http://on.ft.com/1Y2QOqO
WHAT WE'RE READING
Jonathan Cohn details how big pharma is making big dollars off the business of sleep: http://huff.to/1M4WVKsOnly one country offers health care to migrants, regardless of their immigration status: Thailand. http://n.pr/1RBb4Mo
The Blue Cross Blue Shield report that got a lot of ink this week wasn't especially shocking, Margot Sanger-Katz writes: Of course enrollees under the ACA exchanges were sicker and more expensive than their counterparts: http://nyti.ms/1ZPmEIZ
The Advisory Board's Rob Lazerow explains how hospitals have prepared for today's launch of mandatory bundled payments: http://bit.ly/1RB9OZw
More on the shocking allegations that the CEO of a for-profit hospice company was telling nurses to kill patients: http://thebea.st/1M51Lra
http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/politico-pulse/2016/04/aamcs-worried-about-subpoenas-for-fetal-tissue-researchers-what-we-learned-about-opioids-yesterday-213536#ixzz44qqxu8i2 -
Pharmalot, Pharmalittle: Drug makers threaten to cut R&D spending in Japan
Apr 1, 2016 | STAT News
By Ed Silverman
And so, another working week will soon draw to a close. Not a moment too soon, yes? This is, you may recall, our treasured signal to daydream about weekend plans. Once again, our agenda is rather modest. We plan to spend time with our short person, catch up on sundry tasks, and check in on the Pharmalot ancestors. And what about you? You could file those tax returns, visit garage sales in search of bargains now that spring is here, or simply plan the rest of your life. Whatever you do, have a grand time. But be safe. See you soon …
Global drug makers are warning they will reduce research spending in Japan due to new rules requiring them to slash prices on some big-selling medicines, Reuters says. For example, prices will be cut by as much as 50 percent for drugs with annual Japan sales exceeding the equivalent of $1.34 billion and that are 30 percent over estimates that manufacturers file with the government.
Braeburn Pharmaceuticals is reconsidering plans to expand in North Carolina after the state passed a law it considers discriminatory against transgender people, North Carolina News reports. Just two weeks ago, the drug maker announced plans to invest $20 million to open a manufacturing facility and create 52 jobs over the next five years. Now, though, the company says its “reevaluating our options based on the recent unjust legislation.”
April Fools’ came a day early for Pfizer. The drug maker said a press release about pricing that was issued Thursday was fake and falsely attributed to the company. Pfizer said the release, which linked to a fake website, was issued anonymously and “erroneously” attributed to the company. An investigation is underway, and Pfizer may pursue legal action against those involved. The Washington Post briefly ran a story based on the release, which claimed Pfizer vowed not to raise list prices on its drugs, but later pulled it.
An initial investigation into the Turkish unit of Novartis over allegations it benefited from bribery did not reveal any problems, a senior official for the health ministry told Reuters. The results of the investigation are expected to be released next week. The probe came shortly after the drug agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges that it violated the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in China and South Korean authoritiesraided Novartis offices.
Johnson & Johnson faces more than 1,000 lawsuits charging it knew of an association between talcum powder and ovarian cancer for years and failed to warn the public, Bloomberg News writes in an in-depth look at the issues. “Whether or not the science indicates that Baby Powder is a cause of ovarian cancer, Johnson & Johnson has a very significant breach of trust,” Julie Hennessy, a marketing professor at Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, tells the news service. “In trying to protect this one business, they’ve put the whole J&J brand at risk.”
Valeant Pharmaceuticals executives and board members received cease trade orders from the Canadian securities regulator due to missed deadlines for filing its annual report and other documents, the Wall Street Journal tells us. Meanwhile, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Valeant’s debt rating and sent them deeper into speculative-grade, or “junk,” status, MarketWatchnotes.
Indian regulators fixed or revised the ceiling price of 103 drugs, including the Sovaldi hepatitis C treatment made by Gilead Sciences, The Economic Timestells us.
Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said an experimental drug for treating atopic dermatitis met all of its major targets in two late-stage studies,the Wall Street Journal writes.
Sun Pharmaceutical plans to close a Ranbaxy Laboratories plant in Ireland and eliminate about 100 jobs, according to the Irish Times.
French regulators found that an Anuh Pharma active ingredients processing plant in India breached good manufacturing practices, InPharma Technologist says.
An Indian patent office rejected an application by Vertex Pharmaceuticals for its Orkambi cystic fibrosis treatment because it lacked novelty, according to TwoFour Insight.
https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/04/01/drug-makers-japan-pfizer/
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