- Image by Infrogmation via Flickr
Highlights of the important and the interesting from the world of health care:
The end of VC tax breaks? Eliminating a tax break for venture capitalists would represent “one more nail in the coffin of technological innovation and job creation in this country,” writes Robert Kibble of the National Venture Capital Association. VCs, private equity managers and hedge fund managers may be sweating after the U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to stop treating profits by the afore-mentioned firms as capital gains. That’s significant to investors because it means their profits would be taxed at 35 percent, rather than the current 15 percent treatment reserved for capital gains. It’s a tough time for the VC industry: Venture capital investing has dropped to its lowest levels since 2003 and private-equity fund-raising in the first half of 2009 was down by more than two-thirds.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Kibble argues that early-stage venture investors should remain subject to the 15 percent rate as a reward for their high-risk investments. The good news for VCs is that this marks the third time the House has passed similar legislation, and both times it’s failed in the Senate. But will populist anger at what President Obama calls “fat-cat” bankers turn the tide against the generally well-compensated venture capital, private equity and hedge fund industries? With Obama’s economic advisers consisting chiefly of Wall Street insiders and free-market acolytes, don’t bet on it.
“Serious gaps” in U.S. ability to respond to health emergencies: If the H1N1 pandemic would’ve been “a little different” or coupled with another disaster, the U.S. would’ve been in “serious trouble,” according to the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness. The warning comes in the wake of a report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that revealed “serious gaps” in the nation’s ability to respond to public health emergencies.
The report (pdf) cited”a lack of real-time coordinated disease surveillance and laboratory testing, outdated vaccine production capabilities, limited hospital surge capacity, and a shrinking public health workforce,” HealthDay reported. The cause of the lack of preparedness is a familiar one: money, or lack thereof. Half of the states have seen their funding for public health cut, and federal funding for preparedness has dropped 27 percent since 2005.
Pfizer looks East for growth: The world’s largest drugmaker, Pfizer Inc., has reached an agreement with Takeda Pharmaceuticals to jointly promote and sell the latter’s diabetes drug, Actos, in China. The drug, sold in China since 2004, is a prescription medication used to improve blood-sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes. Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will receive an undisclosed percentage of Actos sales, Reuters reports.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
The deal illustrates New York-based Pfizer’s aggressive Chinese growth strategy. The company hopes to increase Chinese sales at a rate of more than 25 percent per year, the Wall Street Journal reports. As more Chinese embrace an unhealthy Western lifestyle, the country figures to be beset by diseases like diabetes and that should increase demand for Pfizer’s drugs like Lipitor for cholesterol and Norvasc for high blood pressure. In the years to come, it looks like China’s pain will be Pfizer’s (and its shareholders’) gain.
Top 5 biotech innovations of the 2000s: It’s not the first time you’ve seen one and it surely won’t be the last. With not only the year, but the decade, drawing to a close, get ready for lots and lots of “Top 5,” “Top 10” and “Best of” lists. Today’s comes from Seattle Genetics chief executive and Xconomy.com blogger Clay Siegall, who lists his choices for the biotech innovations that currently, or shortly, will make the biggest difference in the lives of patients suffering from various diseases. Tops on his list? Cancer and HIV therapies. Considering he leads a company that’s focused on cancer therapies, that’s not exactly a shocker.
Xconomy promises (or warns, depending on your perspective) of numerous Top 5 lists in the coming days, so stay tuned.
