CEO Dan Starks told investors that he is not aware of any specific problems at St. Jude’s manufacturing plant in California, but said the company could receive a warning letter from regulators after the plant’s ongoing inspection is complete.
Health Care + Med Tech
The company announced its intent to purchase a 26.4 percent stake in LifeTech Scientific Corporation—a move that comes about two weeks after it agreed to buy another China-based medical device maker.
In response to strong third-quarter earnings, UnitedHealth Group raised its 2012 earnings forecast.
University of Minnesota Duluth alumnus Brian Kobilka and Robert Lefkowitz of Duke University will share the award for their research on protein receptors, which help the body sense and respond to outside signals.
Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group has agreed to acquire a majority stake in a Brazil-based health care company that operates roughly 70 hospitals and clinics and whose insurance covers more than 5 million people.
CNS focuses on delivering drugs to the central nervous system to treat neurological disorders and intractable chronic pain.
Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed; BridgePoint’s system allows doctors to navigate around a blockage of the coronary artery to restore blood flow to critical areas of the heart.
The University of Minnesota Medical Center reportedly risks termination from Medicare and Medicaid, but a state official says there’s still time for the hospital to correct its deficiencies—and Fairview claims to have made changes that address concerns.
Preventice’s BodyGuardian Remote Monitoring System allows doctors to monitor patients’ heart rates via wireless technology, and the company plans to make the product commercially available by the end of this year.
The nonprofit health insurer has been leasing 401 Carlson Parkway since 2004, and a spokesman said that buying the building will help the company meet its long-term needs and reduce operating costs.
The new Cherrywood Pointe community in Roseville offers assisted living to seniors; United Properties said it hopes to add more assisted-living developments but doesn’t yet have definitive plans.
If the deal is approved, the merged company will have 1,500 physicians and operate under a single board of directors.
St. Jude expects that the changes will reduce its pre-tax operating expenses by between $50 million and $60 million annually beginning in 2013.
After announcing plans to add more than 2,500 jobs in Colorado, Texas, and California, UnitedHealth Group is now boosting its presence in New York.
One Consumer Reports study found that more expensive care doesn’t equate to better care in the Twin Cities; a second study ranked Entira Family Clinic in White Bear Lake as the best provider of care for patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The Shanghai Innovation Center will work closely with Medtronic’s global research and development teams, as well as local universities and research institutes; it will also serve as an incubator in which Chinese physicians will be able to work on new clinical solutions.
Thomas Garrett helped take St. Jude public in 1977 and joined its board two years later; he has advised the company through the appointment of all six CEOs and helped it navigate legal matters.