How to deal with a panic attack at work

Having a panic attack while at work can be a difficult and embarrassing situation. Trying to remain professional while you’re lightheaded, shaking and sweating is not an easy task. The good news is that panic attacks are usually short lived. Clinical psychologist Colleen D. Cira says the intensity of the panic attack fades after about 10 minutes, but those 10 minutes can seem like an eternity to someone suffering a panic attack. Thankfully, there are a few ways to help your panic attack subside, so you can continue with your workday.

UNDERSTAND WHAT A PANIC ATTACK IS

Understanding what is happening in your body when you’re having a panic attack can help you stop being afraid of them. Although panic attack triggers are not completely known, Christopher Cortman, author of Take Control of Your Anxiety , says a panic attack is an exaggeration of the body’s normal stress response. “The body is preparing a person to fight or to run,” says Cortman. Symptoms such as rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, dizziness and tightening of the chest are a result of the heart pumping blood at a rapid pace to major muscle groups to prepare the body to fight or flight. Cortisol and adrenaline are released into the body; chemicals that would help prepare your body for a threat.

Knowing what is happening in your body and telling yourself that there is no real physical threat can help you get through the panic attack. “To know that one is not having a heart attack, going crazy, or dying can be a tremendous relief and help the mind to shut the panic down, by normalizing instead of catastrophizing the body’s reaction,” says Cortman.

TELL YOURSELF IT WILL PASS

Once you’re aware that you’re having a panic attack, telling yourself that you understand what you’re feeling and that you can manage it can help you to get through the episode. Saying to yourself, “I know what this is,” “I need to accept this is happening and focus on my breath and this feeling will go away,” can help you to get through the uncomfortable situation.

GET UP

If you feel a panic attack coming on, the best thing you can do is try to change your scenery. Go for a walk, head to the bathroom, or find another room to be in. This is easy to say if you’re sitting at your desk. But if you’re in a boardroom full of people or conference or situation where people will recognize if you leave the room, leaving may not be an option. In this case, Cira advises to focus on your breathing and positive self-talk, but recognizing that you may just have to ride it out. “Just like a toddler who is kicking and screaming on the floor, there’s not a whole lot of effective strategies to calm that kid down in that moment, you just have to wait for the storm to pass,” says Cira.

SHIFT YOUR FOCUS

While it may not be possible to physically remove yourself from the panic-inducing situation, you can remove yourself mentally. By focusing on something other than that overwhelming feeling that comes with a panic attack, you can calm your panic down. “People have reported that prior to giving a speech where they were off the chart anxious/panicking, someone whispered a funny in their ear and helped them to shift their focus,” says Cortman.

FOCUS ON YOUR BREATH

The physical symptoms of a panic attack are a result of your sympathetic nervous system being activated. These symptoms can be reversed by activating your parasympathetic nervous system; the system responsible for bringing your body back to status quo. A few belly breaths can help to activate your parasympathetic nervous system. Take a slow breath through your nose with your mouth closed, hold it for a few seconds, then exhale out slowly through your nose. Free apps such as Calm or Breathe2Relax can be helpful for those who need some assistance with deep breathing exercises.

USE COLD WATER

Running your hands through cold water or splashing some water on your face can also activate the parasympathetic response by decreasing your body temperature and slowing down your heart rate. “When we are cold our heart rate slows because it’s trying to conserve energy,” says Cira. If it’s cold outside, try going for a walk or take an ice pack from your lunch bag and place it on the back of your neck.

DON’T HIDE YOUR PANIC ATTACK

Trying to hide your panic attacks can cause added stress and make the attack even worse. If you’re prone to having panic attacks, telling a trusted co-worker can help make you more comfortable. Telling people that you are experiencing an episode and requesting permission to leave will help you to stop feeling trapped if an attack comes on. Of course, seeking help from a medical professional is also important and key to overcoming a panic disorder long-term.

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What Is the Best Way to Discontinue Benzodiazepines?

The use of benzodiazepines is very common among patients with a variety of conditions, but clinician guidance on their use is lacking. What do you prescribe these medications for, and what is your approach to deprescribing them? Let us know in the comments section.

This is the Medscape Psychiatry Minute. I’m Dr Peter Yellowlees. Approximately 4% of the population use benzodiazepines, and prolonged treatment is common despite clinical recommendations for short-term use. Discontinuing benzodiazepines is difficult for many patients and it is unclear which pharmacologic interventions are best to facilitate tapering.

To examine this question, a team of investigators from Glostrup, Denmark, conducted a systematic review using standard Cochrane methods.^[1] Data from 2295 patients were extracted from 35 trials. Of 18 comparison interventions, no single intervention was assessed in more than four trials. Furthermore, the authors found that, partly because of the very low quality of evidence for the reported outcomes, it was not possible to draw firm conclusions regarding pharmacologic interventions for facilitating benzodiazepine discontinuation in chronic benzodiazepine users.

So where does this leave us? In short, we have a huge clinical problem. All we know is that weaning patients from benzodiazepines is best done very slowly and is often painful for our patients. In my own practice, I often manage very slow tapers that last between 6 months and a year. It seems that most patients can manage this, but I have no evidence beyond my clinical impression to back up my opinion.

Given the millions of people worldwide who take benzodiazepines long-term, we are desperately short of data and high-quality randomized trials aimed at developing evidence-based withdrawal protocols. These need to occur.

Comments:

Elizabeth Metzgar-Ruggiero|  Other Healthcare Provider

As someone who was prescribed clonazepam for sleep problems on a long-term basis (more than 5 years) I can say it is hell getting off, and almost four years after I tapered and quit, I still have problems associated with the use of the drug.

Mary Offutt|  Registered Nurse (RN)

Curious if the author is familiar with Dr. Heather Ashton and her withdrawal manual. https://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/

I’m a nurse who got physically dependent on 0.25 xanax at bed time for a few months. When I realized I was hooked, I couldn’t wait to get unhooked. But I found I was largely on my own.

So I know from experience how important this research would be.

R C|  Health Business/Administration

@Mary Offutt Ashton’s method makes some key assumptions. Convert short acting benzos such as Xanax to longer acting acting ones such as diazepam (the conversion is included in the tapering schedule). The patient must WANT to taper. Taper SLOWLY on a schedule tailored to each individual. Do not punish failure, if a patient misses a scheduled taper target, revise the schedule or just pick up where they left off. She notes in her comments that doctors in the US inexplicitly seem to want to taper more aggressively.

https://wb.md/2Lrjnh7

7 Best Nursing Schools for Nontraditional Students

In many people’s minds, the “typical” nursing student is an 18- to 22-year-old enrolled in a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree program at a college or university. However, there are many degree options available for aspiring nurses at all stages of life — even if you’re a nontraditional student — and you’ll be graduated and putting on your scrubs before you know it.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, a nontraditional student meets one of seven criteria: delayed enrollment into postsecondary education, attending college part-time, working full time, being financially independent for financial aid purposes, having dependents other than a spouse, being a single parent, or not having a high school diploma. If any of these describe you and you’d like to go back to school to get your nursing degree, here are seven online programs that anyone from around the country can take.

1. St. Xavier University

St. Xavier University in Chicago has numerous online options for those looking to earn nursing degrees. It offers an RN-to-BSN program for currently licensed registered nurses who have completed an associate degree in nursing (ADN) from an accredited school of nursing and are looking to take the next step in their education. St. Xavier was also named the best online master’s nursing program by U.S. News and World Report, and it offers three master of science in nursing (MSN) tracks online: clinical leadership, executive leadership, and nurse educator. If you’re not looking for the full degree, St. Xavier also offers certificates in clinical leadership and nurse educators.

2. Medical University of South Carolina

The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) offers an online RN-to-BSN program, which is a 12-month program that covers three consecutive semesters, allowing registered nurses to earn their bachelor’s degrees in just a year. The online program is designed specifically for working adults. MUSC also offers several online advanced degrees in nursing, including a doctor of nursing practice (DNP) and a PhD in nursing science, although some of the courses may require a visit to campus.

3. Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins in Baltimore is an incredibly well-respected name in the medical community — and you can earn a graduate nursing degree from the university online. Johns Hopkins provides an MSN in health systems management, both by itself and in combination with an MBA. It also offers a DNP in three specialties: adult-gerontological health clinical nurse specialist, adult-gerontological critical care clinical nurse specialist, and pediatric critical care clinical nurse specialist. You can also earn a DNP Executive Track, either on its own or in combination with an MBA. Finally, Johns Hopkins offers a couple of post-master’s certificates for nurses looking for even more education.

4. George Washington University

George Washington University in Washington, D.C., offers a wide range of online programs for nurses of all experience levels. It has both RN-to-BSN and RN-to-MSN programs, as well as four other master’s programs for adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioners, family nurse practitioners, nurse-midwifery, and nursing leadership and management. Other options include three post-MSN certificate opportunities, two post-BSN doctoral degrees, and two post-MSN doctoral degrees, including a DNP degree.

5. The University of Texas at Tyler

The great state of Texas has equally great online programs for nursing students through the University of Texas at Tyler. Its RN-to-BSN track has a flexible schedule and graduation date, so you can proceed through the coursework at your own pace as your current job allows. The graduate options include four MSN programs (administration, dual MSN administration/MBA, education, and family nurse practitioner); four certificate programs (post-master’s administration, post-master’s education, post-master’s family nurse practitioner, and post-baccalaureate health care informatics); two PhD programs (MS-to-PhD and BSN-to-PhD); and one doctor of nursing practice (DNP). As an added bonus, the University of Texas at Tyler was named the most affordable online master’s in nursing program.

6. Duke University

Duke’s School of Nursing in Durham, N.C. has been using distance-learning education strategies for more than 2 decades, and the school has honed its creative approach to distance teaching and learning over the years. Some programs do include a few short on-campus intensive sessions, usually 2 to 3 days in length, but the commitments are minimal. Duke offers a doctor of nursing practice as well as eight different nurse practitioner tracks for their master of science in nursing: adult-gerontology (primary and acute), family, neonatal, pediatric (primary and acute), psychiatric mental health, and women’s health. It also offers three systems MSN degrees in nursing and healthcare leadership, nursing education, and nursing informatics.

7. University of Cincinnati

The University of Cincinnati’s reputation as a great online nursing school has spread: The school’s number of distance learners has been increasing, and the website boasts that more than 62% of the student body is now enrolled in online classes. Most of its graduate nursing degrees are offered completely online, though a few courses do have minimal on-campus requirements for clinical or lab work hours, so don’t forget to pack your nursing bag. The school offers four MSN specialty programs (adult-gerontological primary care nurse practitioner, family nurse practitioner, nurse midwifery, and women’s health nurse practitioner) as well as two post-master’s certificates (psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner and family nurse practitioner).

If online classes don’t appeal to you, see if any schools in your area offer a nursing degree for working adults who usually rely on night and weekend classes in order to accommodate work schedules. And no matter how you get your degree, you’ll have to study for and pass the National Council Licensure Examination for RNs (NCLEX-RN) exam if you haven’t already and perhaps pass additional licensure requirements depending on your state.

Whether you’re a working nurse looking to take the next step or a young professional looking to switch careers, there’s a nontraditional degree program out there for you. Thanks to the recent breakthroughs in education technology, students can now attend nursing degree programs online anywhere, anytime, and these seven well-respected programs are a great place to start.

https://bit.ly/2wcEHCs

Beyond Soda: How and Why Your Beverage Options Are Exploding

When Colorado-based Lucky’s Market first started carrying kombucha and cold brew coffee in its stores about two years ago, the grocer wasn’t sure where the drinks belonged, so it stocked them in small coolers next to the checkout aisle.

Consumers bought them up so quickly that employees across the chain’s 31 stores had to constantly replenish the coolers. Eventually, the stores carved out space for the popular new drinks in the juice section by eliminating gallon jugs of juice and other slow-selling sizes, according to Andrew Vialpando, the chain’s vice president of center-store merchandise.

A proliferation of beverages that don’t fit within traditional drink categories is creating a headache for retailers, confusion for shoppers and a challenge for manufacturers that are trying to keep pace with changing consumer tastes.

No longer do soda companies, coffee companies and alcohol companies stay in their lanes. Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. have expanded into dairy, tea, coffee, juice, soy milk, bottled water and coconut water. PepsiCo last week announced a deal to buy seltzer-machine maker SodaStream International Ltd. Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. is now more of a coffee company, recently renamed Keurig Dr Pepper. Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest beer brewer, is selling ready-to-drink ice tea and organic caffeinated sparkling water.

As they expand onto others’ turf in search of growth, the lines between the companies and their products are blurring. The pressure is greatest on the big makers of soft drinks and beer, which are jockeying for market share in new categories mostly dominated by upstarts as Americans’ thirst for lager and sugary soda continues to wane.

Shifts in the beverage aisle are being driven by people like Lisa Fink, who used to drink black coffee in the morning and again in the afternoon. Now, the 46-year-old personal trainer in Thousand Oaks, Calif., drinks chai tea with bone broth, protein powder and coconut creamer — a drink that serves as breakfast — and switches to tea and sparkling water for the rest of the day. Sometimes, as a treat, she has a can of Zevia cola made with stevia, a zero-calorie, plant-based sweetener.

Figuring out what people want to drink is tricky. The answer, for many companies, has been to mix their traditional beverages with popular new ingredients to create hybrids. PepsiCo’s Tropicana offers “Coco Blends,” fruit juices mixed with coconut water, and “Tropicana Essentials Probiotics,” a line of juice made with the type of active cultures normally found in yogurt.

All the new varieties have created confusion for retailers and the shoppers who traverse the supermarket trying to find their favorite drinks.

Linda Disney was shopping at a Vons store in Thousand Oaks on a recent day, looking for four-packs of bottled Starbucks Frappuccino, which were no longer in the same spot. “They’re always moving things around,” said Ms. Disney, 77. “I’m sure there’s some logic to it, but as a consumer it’s confusing.”

That store has seven different sections devoted to cold drinks, in addition to coolers at every checkout lane stocked with bottles of soda, iced coffee and energy drinks. There is even a display of bottled sparkling water near the gourmet cheese case.

Mr. Vialpando, of Lucky’s, which operates supermarkets in 11 states, recently was trying to decide where to put new alcoholic varieties of kombucha, a fermented tea drink. He came up with the idea of creating a divider between the alcoholic and nonalcoholic varieties when the grocery director pointed out that an underage customer could easily confuse the two and accidentally buy one containing alcohol. Mr. Vialpando decided to stock the alcoholic kombucha next to the beer.

The introduction of so many new drinks isn’t smooth for the manufacturers, either.

PepsiCo’s outgoing Chief Executive Indra Nooyi more than a decade ago staked her career — and the company’s future — on a plan to expand the company’s portfolio into healthier, more nutritious products. Then sales of its core brands tumbled, and Ms. Nooyi had to fend off an attempt by an activist investor to break up the company.

More recently, the soda-and-snacks giant has been under pressure to restructure its U.S. beverage business after it shifted too much marketing money and shelf space to newly launched brands in hybrid categories such as Izze Fusions, a combination of fruit juice and soda. Market share fell for Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew and Gatorade.

“The consumer is moving to this triangle of taste, nutrition and convenience where I think we are in a very sweet spot,” PepsiCo’s incoming CEO Ramon Laguarta said in a recent video to staff. “Yes, there are some headwinds coming our way, but also a lot of tailwinds.”

Rival Coca-Cola Co., by contrast, was criticized for taking too long to acknowledge public-health concerns about the links between sugary sodas, obesity and diabetes. Last year, the new CEO, James Quincey, set a goal for Coca-Cola to meet consumers’ needs every time they want something to drink.

“We’re trying things; we’re testing things,” Mr. Quincey said in an interview. Consumers are looking for a greater diversity of beverages, he said.

That has forced beverage makers to revise their approach to marketing and merchandising. And it has prompted them to branch out into different product categories.

“We’ve stopped thinking in terms of category and more in terms of need states,” such as hydration and fuel, said Meghann Seidner, vice president of marketing for Coca-Cola’s Zico coconut water brand.

Zico in March launched a new line of “Coco-Lixirs” made from coconut water, cold-pressed juice and ingredients like ginger and turmeric.

This year the maker of Keurig coffee machines took over Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. for $26 billion, the biggest nonalcoholic drinks deal on record, according to Dealogic. The rationale behind the deal, executives said, was to be able to sell a wider variety of beverages in multiple retailers.

Coffee makers are adding sparkling water to cold brews and, separately, experimenting with ingredients foreign to coffee, such as honeysuckle, sour cherries and bitters.

La Colombe’s latest drink, “The Shandy,” is a canned nitro cold brew made with lemonade. The coffee company is calling the drink a “hybrid” of coffee and juice, and when it makes its way to retailers, CEO Todd Carmichael said he’s not sure where in stores it will be displayed.

Beer companies, too, are trying to reinvent themselves. Anheuser-Busch last year bought Hiball Inc., a San Francisco-based startup making organic caffeinated sparkling water and fruit-juice soda blends.

Sometimes, though, companies go too far in trying to create new beverage categories.

Coca-Cola’s Honest Tea in 2011 launched a line of tea brewed with cacao called CocoaNova and didn’t properly explain whether retailers should stock it with teas or coffees, Honest Tea founder Seth Goldman said. But the real problem was the taste.

Mr. Goldman recalls how, when his son was serving samples of the product at a grocery store, a shopper came up to him and said, “Do you honestly like the taste of this?” Mr. Goldman’s son said, “Not really.”

Honest Tea discontinued the product the same year.

https://bit.ly/2Ltbp7d

Exactly how much alcohol you can drink and still be healthy

So much for that healthy glass of wine a day.

Any amount of alcohol is dangerous to consume, a study published Friday in the international medical journal The Lancet shows. The comprehensive report examined 694 data sources and 592 prospective and retrospective studies and found alcohol is one of the major causes of death in the world today.

“The health risks associated with alcohol are massive,” Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou, director of education at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and the senior author of the study said. “Zero alcohol consumption minimizes the overall risk of health loss.”

Even moderate alcohol consumption is associated with more than 23 negative health outcomes, including cardiovascular diseases, cancers, cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes, epilepsy, injuries stemming from interpersonal violence and self-harm, unintentional injuries stemming from poisonings, drowning , and other accidents, and transportation-related injuries.

Just one drink a day increases the likelihood of developing these health problems by 0.5%, and the risks rise rapidly with each additional daily alcoholic beverage. Those who drink two drinks each day see that likelihood increase to 7%, and those who drink five drinks every day are 37% more likely to develop one of these health outcomes.

A standard alcoholic beverage, as measured by the study, is a small glass of red wine (100 ml or 3.4 fluid ounces) at 13% alcohol by volume; a can or bottle of beer (375 ml or 12 fluid ounces) at 3.5% alcohol by volume; or a shot of whiskey or other spirits (30 ml or 1.0 fluid ounces) at 40% alcohol by volume.

“The myth that one or two drinks a day are good for you is just that — a myth,” Gakidou said. “This study shatters that myth.”

The Distilled Spirits Council, a trade association representing producers of distilled spirits, said the study released Friday went too far, noting that past research has shown consuming alcohol in moderation could have positive health benefits. It also claims that increasing taxes on alcohol could increase illicit alcohol production.

“The researchers make clear that they are advocating for worldwide abstention from alcohol,” the organization said in a statement. “A more reasonable and effective approach is to address issues surrounding alcohol abuse country by country, taking into account the culture, individual alcohol consumption patterns and the marketplace.”

Alcoholism has been on the rise in the U.S. in recent years, with 1 in 8 Americans now meeting the criteria for an alcohol disorder — a 49% increase from the early 2000s. Previous studies have shown that alcohol like wine in small amounts can have anti-inflammatory effects, but this research shows that the risks far outweigh those relatively miniscule benefits.

A January study from the American Society of Clinical Oncology cited between 5% and 6% of new cancers and cancer deaths globally as directly linked to alcohol, affecting even moderate drinkers.

With these results in mind, health officials should implement more comprehensive programs to get citizens to cut down on or abstain completely from alcohol consumption, Gakidou said. That includes cutting back on hours that alcohol is sold and limiting advertising for alcoholic beverages.

Last year, the American Medical Association lobbied against NBCCMCSA, +3.37%  adding hard liquor ads to its programming. A recent tax plan in the Senate would cut taxes on alcohol, which critics say could lead to 1,550 more deaths a year due to increased access to alcohol.

https://on.mktw.net/2oa3X7H

Boston Scientific, Medtronic fill venture funding gap for med-tech startups

Boston Scientific Corp. is betting more than $100 million on a small Californiacompany with a product that’s not yet legal to sell in the United States.

But its decision to acquire the company, announced last week, is not a blind bet.

Two years ago, Boston Scientific made a venture investment in Veniti and its Vici venous stent, and started distributing the device in Europe, where it has been approved for sale. Based on what Boston Scientific’s peripheral interventions team in Maple Grovelearned from that experience, Boston is opting to snap up Veniti sooner rather than later.

“We’re betting with Veniti that it’ll be FDA approved,” Boston Scientific CEO Mike Mahoney said in an interview, referring to the Vici stent. “It’s not a 100 percent guarantee, but we are betting that it will, based on what we know about the company.”

In the past five years Boston Scientific has quietly ramped up its venture-fund activity and today holds about $400 million in investments in a portfolio of 35 small med-tech companies that it hopes to acquire outright one day. Boston has been on an acquisition spree in the past year, and among the planned or completed deals were five involving venture investments, including Veniti.

Entities from big med-tech companies to insurers to health care providers have waded into the venture investing game in recent years. It’s partly a reaction to a pullback by traditional venture funds on early-stage med-tech investing, industry insiders say, that has forced startups to tap nontraditional sources of funding.

But larger med-tech manufacturers have long used early-stage investments in young companies to get to know the capabilities of new technologies and the management teams that hope to roll them out.

“It is not a new phenomenon for companies, in our sector in particular, to make investments in companies and down the road acquire them,” said Karen Parkhill, chief financial officer for Minnesota-run Medtronic, in an interview. “We make minority investments and we have a small team that does that. Sometimes they turn into acquisitions, and sometimes they don’t.”

Medtronic has about $500 million worth of minority stake investments in roughly 40 companies today. Several years ago Medtronic announced two acquisitions that totaled more than half a billion dollars on the same day, acquiring Peak Surgical and Salient Surgical Technologies and their advanced energy surgical technologies. Medtronic had made minority investments in both companies previously.

Washington-based med-tech trade group AdvaMed released a report last year that listed several reasons why larger med-tech companies may be more willing to make early seed investments.

A big factor is the declining investment in med-tech by traditional venture-capital (VC) firms. The cost of bringing a new device to market has gone up in the past decade, but the profit margin on the eventual payout for early VC investors has declined, the report says.

The Series A initial round of funding in particular has become difficult to fill with traditional venture capital. Just 10 percent of the traditional VC investments in med-tech went to Series A rounds in 2016, down from 19 percent a decade earlier, according to the report, written jointly by AdvaMed and Deloitte Consulting.

Changes in the underlying med-tech market are driving the decline. VC firms need returns of 20 to 30 percent to keep attracting new investors, but investments in early-stage med-tech companies like those that dot Minnesota have become more expensive and less profitable for VCs in the past decade.

In contrast, large corporate acquirers like Boston Scientific or Medtronic have a lower cost of capital — often in the high single digits — and can afford to be patient, the report says.

“It also speaks to how large companies are balancing internal and external R&D priorities and activities,” said Patrick Brennan, associate vice president with AdvaMed’s Accel division for smaller companies. “Doing more of these earlier-stage, smaller bets helps them keep a finger on the pulse of new technologies in their space and look for the real winners.”

Other entities with a stake in new medical technology that makes it to market are also stepping in where VCs are leaving off.

Minnesota health care providers like Mayo Clinic and Fairview Health Services have been doing venture funding or co-development projects with health care tech companies serving their particular interests. Optum Ventures, owned by Minnetonka’sUnitedHealth Group, and BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, run from Chicago, make similar investments.

“Drug companies are doing more of this, even payers and providers are,” said Shaye Mandle, CEO of Minnesota health tech trade group the Medical Alley Association. “Most of the traditional health care sectors are either making corporate-development investments or they have venture arms that are making investments in earlier-stage companies.”

The smaller companies accepting the investments have to manage the risk of alienating future acquirers by aligning with their competitors. But the deals offer resources they wouldn’t have otherwise, like a large company’s expertise in clinical trials and reimbursement strategies, and a solid understanding of what milestones they need to hit to be successful.

“It creates an access point for really good feedback for what the market looks like,” Mandle said. “If Boston Scientific is an investor in your company and they’re on your board, you’re getting lots of feedback.”

The feedback travels both ways. Potential acquirers can get a sense of when to do the deal, which can be an important consideration if the deal is timed around FDA approval, because the price to acquire a company tends to rise once the FDA greenlights a product.

Boston Scientific’s Mahoney said the company usually gets a seat on the board of companies it invests in, which offers an inside view of how a new technology could complement Boston’s internal R&D — or not.

“Sometimes we back out, and sometimes the companies don’t work out. But hopefully, if they do, we will continue to invest,” Mahoney said. While Boston Scientific doesn’t publicize its win rate on venture investments, “We clearly have a good hit rate and track record. Otherwise we would stop it.”

https://bit.ly/2PERGVj

GlaxoSmithKline recovery to continue, Barron’s says

GlaxoSmithKline shares are on the mend after years of poor performance as investors feel better about the company’s prospects of replacing one blockbuster asthma drug with another, Jack Hough writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. Best known for Advair that has been off-patent since 2016 and in decline for longer than that, GlaxoSmithKline has a new drug in Trelegy for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the report noted, adding that the company’s overall respiratory-drug sales are expected to return to growth after next year.

https://bit.ly/2wsS3tz