New flu vaccines made from tobacco plants could soon be made in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Vaccine company Medicago has received a $3.8 million milestone payment for its progress toward completing its new vaccine facility.

The 0.4 percent Medicare reduction in inpatient hospital rates for fiscal 2011 will hit nonprofits harder than their for-profit counterparts, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Highlights of the important and the interesting from the world of healthcare:WHO are you? For its H1N1 flu pandemic preparation plan, the World Health Organization was advised by scientists who’d done work for drug companies that stood to benefit from the recommendations, a new report says. And a second report could also [...]

Highlights of the important and the interesting from the world of healthcare:Will health reform hammer corporate finances? A casual observer might see recent news that numerous companies will take financial hits from the health reform law and conclude that reform unnecessarily penalizes business. AT&T led the way, saying it’d take a $1 billion charge for [...]

Updated 4:34 p.m.Shares of Meridian Bioscience Inc. rebounded a bit Thursday–a day after the Cincinnati diagnostic test maker cut its sales and earnings outlook for the fiscal year ending in September, sending its shares down 15 percent.Meridian shares rose 50 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $20.58 Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. On Wednesday, the [...]

An information session about a campaign to get the $700 million Ohio Third Frontier bond issue passed by voters in May will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Feb. 23, at the Holiday Inn, Independence.

Union leaders, Congressional Democrats and the Obama administration reached a deal that would lessen and delay the impact of the Cadillac tax on workers and would reduce the amount of revenue collected. Where that “lost” revenue will be collected could be bad news for the health industry.

Upon closer examination, there are several problems with the so-called “Cadillac” tax of high-deductible health plans. Not the least of which is that it’s unlikely to control costs, many experts say.

After securing the vote of Nebraska’s Ben Nelson, health overhaul proponents are “right on the one-yard line” and appear to have the votes necessary to pass the Senate health bill, according to presidential advisor David Axelord.

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.