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Monday, December 2, 2019

GE holds Healthcare Investor Day

GE (NYSE:GE) investors can tune in to the latest news on the company’s health unit today, with many eyeing plans about how to increase sales, market share and profit margins.
Looking to pay down debt, CEO Larry Culp announced a $21.4B deal to sell the division’s BioPharma business shortly after he took up the reins of the conglomerate a little over a year ago.
While that leaves GE Healthcare without its fastest-growing businesses, Culp has deemed the unit central to the company’s turnaround efforts.
Listen to the webcast here starting at 9:30 a.m. ET
GE +0.5% premarket

Seattle Genetics, Astellas team up with Merck in first-line urothelial cancer

Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ:SGEN) and development partner Astellas Pharma (OTCPK:ALPMF) will collaborate with Merck (NYSE:MRK) on a Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the combination of antibody-drug conjugate enfortumab vedotin and Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in treatment-naïve patients with metastatic urothelial cancer.
The study, funded by the three companies and led by SGEN, should be initiated in H1 2020.
Enfortumab vedotin is currently under FDA review for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who have received a PD-1/L1 inhibitor and who have received platinum-containing chemo in the neoadjuvant/adjuvant, locally advanced or metastatic setting. The agency’s action date is March 15, 2020.

EMA accepts Amarin’s marketing application for icosapent ethyl

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has accepted for review Amarin’s (NASDAQ:AMRN) marketing application seeking approval for icosapent ethyl (brand name Vascepa in the U.S.) as a treatment to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in high-risk patients who have their cholesterol levels controlled with statin treatment but have elevated triglycerides.
The EMA expects to complete the review procedure before the end of 2020.
Shares are up 2% premarket.

Walgreens buyout stalls as expected

The private equity buyout of Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) is reportedly in trouble as financing issue arise for KKR (NYSE:KKR) just as many analysts anticipated.
Speed bumps with leveraged buyouts are nothing new this year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Buyout activity in the U.S. is down sharply, despite PE firms sitting on a record amount of cash.
WBA -0.35% premarket to $59.60.

CVS to acquire Centene’s Illinois Medicaid/Medicare Advantage business

In connection with its merger with WellCare Health Plans (NYSE:WCG), Centene (NYSE:CNC) has agreed to divest its Medicaid and Medicare Advantage businesses in the state of Illinois to CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) for an undisclosed sum.
Centene will retain its IlliniCare Medicare-Medicaid Alignment Initiative business and IlliniCare’s statewide YouthCare foster care contract that will commence in February 2020. Its Ambetter business in the state will also be unaffected.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Portable photoacoustic breast imaging system shows promise in initial lab tests

A new, portable breast imaging system under development in Buffalo has the potential to better identify breast cancer in women with dense breast tissue.
That is among the findings of a study published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering in August.
The study was led by University at Buffalo researchers in collaboration with Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and Windsong Radiology.
“We’re developing a new imaging system—it’s called a Dual Scan Mammoscope—that combines light and ultrasound technology. We believe it has the potential to help detect  earlier, thereby increasing ,” says UB researcher and the study’s lead author, Jun Xia.
Xia, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint program of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.
Regular mammograms are the best tests doctors have to find  cancer early, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, they are less effective for women with dense breast tissue.
There are alternatives methods in such cases, including MRI. But MRI tests are costly, they require intravenous contrast agents that can cause , and they’re not easily portable.
The Dual Scan Mammoscope, or DSM, is similar to a mammogram, in that patients stand upright to have their breast compressed for imaging. Unlike mammograms, however, the DSM requires only mild compression of the breast, likely reducing the severity of pain that women can experience pain during the procedure.
Unlike a mammogram, the DSM is a radiation free-test. It uses a laser to illuminate breast tissue. In turn, this generates acoustic waves that are measured by ultrasound technology. The combination of lasers and ultrasound is an  called photoacoustic tomography.
While MRI requires a contrast agent, the DSM test uses hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. The technology Xia and his colleagues are developing features two simultaneous scans, one working from the bottom of the breast while the other works from the top.
The design, Xia says, ensures optimal light delivery and acoustic detection, enabling imaging deep into breast tissue. It’s also portable; for example, it could easily fit into mobile mammogram units.
In initial laboratory tests, the research team imaged breast sizes B, D and DD. The study highlights the D breast test, which shows imaging through 7 centimeters—the first time a photoacoustic system produced imaging that deep, the research team believes.
Xia says the DSM method shows promise in detecting tumors in the sub-millimeter range, provided they exhibit sufficiently developed blood vessels.
The team plans additional studies, including the imaging of more patients with different breast sizes and tumor characteristics, to ensure the DSM machine’s effectiveness.

Explore further

More information: Nikhila Nyayapathi et al. Dual Scan Mammoscope (DSM)—A New Portable Photoacoustic Breast Imaging System with Scanning in Craniocaudal Plane, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (2019). DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2019.2936088

Kid challenges Trump to go vegan for $1M donation to veterans

This 9-year-old wants to make a deal with Donald Trump: Go vegan for the month of January, and he’ll donate $1 million dollars to veterans.
The brazen fourth-grader from Melbourne, Fla., made the bold offer Sunday morning in a series of advertisements planted on billboards, television spots and print media.
“He’s the president of our country, and pretty much everyone wants a healthy president,” Evan, a self-proclaimed vegan and animal-rights activist, told The Post. (His last name is being withheld because of his age.)
And if President Trump doesn’t accept Evan’s offer? That’s a $1 million donation down the drain for veterans. Evan is confident Trump will be able to put his love for fast-food burgers aside for the cause.
“I think that Trump really cares about our veterans [because] they’re the ones who fought and continue to fight for our country,” he said.
The precocious grade-schooler says he chose Trump since he has the power to inspire others.
“If people saw him do this, then everyone would hear about it and say, ‘If President Trump did it, maybe I can do it?’ ” Evan said.
The cash, of course, won’t be put up by Evan himself, but by the nonprofit he’s representing called Million Dollar Vegan, which seeks to fight “climate change with diet change.”
The vegan advocacy group — which was behind a similar stunt earlier this year that challenged Pope Francis to try a plant-based diet for Lent — said they’ll be ready to cash out within one hour if the president agrees on Twitter.
“The donations for this cause are now in escrow,” a press release states. The organization has support from celebs such as Paul McCartney, Moby and Woody Harrelson, and the charitable arm of environmental investment firm Blue Horizon Corporation.
Evan’s ad features the defiant fourth-grader crossing his arms next to a letter he penned to the president.
“Now, I know what you’re thinking,” the letter reads. “Why would I do that? Well, we want to Make America Healthy Again, and a plant-based diet can prevent, treat and even reverse many serious diseases …”
The letter goes on to list illnesses, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity, which some studies have shown could be mitigated by a plant-based diet.
“It’s really good for your body,” Evan said of the eating lifestyle. “It helps you every day, and you can wake up and feel amazing.”
Despite not being able to eat ice cream, cake or pizza, Evan says he absolutely “loves everything about” being vegan.
“I like that you can eat a meal … and animals don’t have to be hurt and the planet doesn’t have to be hurt,” he said, adding that cashew-cheese quesadillas are his favorite food.
Evan went vegan when he was only 5 years old, and has since amassed more than 15,000 followers on his Instagram account, which is run by his mom. He also sells his own vegan-inspired merch, including “powered by plants” and “animal defender” baseball caps on his website.
Veterans, doctors and Olympic women’s track cycling silver medalist Dotsie Bausch all agreed to back Evan’s plea, according to a statement released by Million Dollar Vegan.
“The president is under significant daily stress and would benefit from this diet change,” cardiologist Joel Kahn says in the release.
And if giving up well-done steaks is any worry for Trump, he should rest assured, Evan says.
“As a token of our gratitude, we would be delighted to provide delicious plant-based versions of all your favorite foods for you personally at the White House,” he says.