Eyeworld.org EW Week Vol.15 No.5

RiskMetrics Group questions legality of Novartis merger proposal to Alcon

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:20:04 -0500

RiskMetrics Group, Inc. (Ann Arbor, Mich.), a risk management and corporate governance firm, has voiced concerns about the adequacy and legality of the merger proposal by Novartis (Basel, Switzerland) to minority shareholders of Alcon (Fort Worth, Texas), Alcon said in a press release.
The questions of legality pertain to any attempt by Novartis to “unilaterally impose a full takeover on Alcon,” Alcon said in the release. RiskMetrics also found that the proposal is in breach of best practices for mergers and acquisitions.
The findings of RiskMetrics group largely echoed those of the Alcon Independent Director Committee, which previously concluded that the Novartis proposal is “grossly inadequate,” Alcon said in the release.
On January 4, 2010, Novartis announced it would buy Alcon for about $180 a share from majority stockholder Nestle. Novartis already owned 25% of Alcon; with Nestle’s share, Novartis would then own about 77% and planned to buy the remaining 23% for about $147 a share, the companies reported.
RiskMetrics determined that premiums paid on standard squeeze-out transactions were on average 18.0% and 23.8% above the one-day and four-week target price, respectively, as compared to the Novartis proposal, which offered a discount of 7.0% and 5.0%, respectively. RiskMetrics disputed Novartis’ claims that Alcon’s stock was trading with takeover speculation. The risk management firm also noted that the price Nestle negotiated for its stake two years ago is “to a large extent irrelevant to minority shareholders,” who are now faced with a different price.

Federal government awards nearly $1 billion in funds for health care IT, job training

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:20:04 -0500

Government agencies have awarded a total of nearly $1 billion in Recovery Act funds to train health care providers to better use information technology (IT), as well as to train future health care workers, said U.S. Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius and labor secretary Hilda Solis in a press release.
These awards will make health IT available to over 100,000 hospitals and primary care physicians by 2014 and will train thousands of people for careers in health care and IT. The Recovery Act investment is aimed at strengthening the burgeoning health IT industry, which is expected to support tens of thousands of jobs ranging from nurses and pharmacy techs to IT technicians and trainers.
Over $750 million in HHS grant awards are part of a federal initiative to foster widespread, meaningful use of health care IT, Sebelius said in the release. The assistance at the state and regional level will support health care providers’ efforts to utilize electronic health records in an efficient and meaningful manner. Of the over $750 million designated, $386 will go to 40 states and qualified state-designated entities to implement health information exchange at a state level, while $375 million will go to an initial 32 non-profit organizations to facilitate the development of regional extension centers. Additional awards for health information exchange and regional extension centers are expected to be announced in the near future, Sebelius and Solis said in the release

VEGF Trap-Eye yields positive DME Phase II data

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:20:04 -0500

VEGF Trap-Eye demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in visual acuity over 24 weeks compared to macular laser therapy in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME), said co-developers Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Tarrytown, N.Y.) and Bayer Healthcare (Leuverkusen, Germany) in a joint press release.
In this study, visual acuity improvement was assessed by the mean number of letters gained over the initial 24 weeks of the study, the companies said. The double-masked, prospective, randomized, multi-center Phase II trial evaluated 219 patients with clinically significant DME with central macular involvement. The patients were randomized to five groups.
The control group was given macular laser therapy at week one, and these patients were eligible for repeat laser treatments, but these were available in limited frequency of no more than at 16-week intervals. A total of two groups received monthly doses of 0.5 or 2.0 mg VEGF Trap-Eye throughout the six-month dosing period, and two groups received three initial monthly doses of 2.0 mg of VEGF Trap-Eye (at baseline and weeks four and eight) followed through week 24 by either every eight-week dosing or “as needed” dosing with specific repeat dosing parameters. At week 24, the macular laser therapy group (N=44;1.7 treatments) had gained +2.5 letters; the VEGF Trap-Eye 0.5 mg monthly group (n=44; 5.6 injections) had gained +8.6 letters; the VEGF Trap-Eye 2 mg monthly group (N=44; 5.5 injections) had gained +11.4 letters; the group receiving VEGF Trap-Eye 2 mg every other month, following three monthly injections (N=42; 3.8 injections) gained +8.5 letters, and the group receiving VEGF Trap-Eye as needed following three monthly injections (N=45; 4.4 injections) gained +10.3 letters.
Regeneron said additional results will be available later this year.

Opko Health acquires Mexican pharmaceutical company

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:20:04 -0500

Opko Health (Miami) has completed the acquisition of Pharmacos Exakta (Guadalajara, Mexico), a privately held company involved in the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of ophthalmic and other types of pharmaceutical products, the company said in a press release. Pharmacos Exakta’s products are marketed to government and private entities, the company said in the release.