Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Companies Flooding Into Cancer-Drug Market, Threatening Roche's Well-Established Throne
Many pharmaceutical companies expect cancer treatments to drive growth in the coming years. One notable exception: the world’s largest cancer-drug maker. Switzerland’s Roche Holding AG has enjoyed almost two decades as an unrivaled force in oncology. Now, with more companies piling into the space and its top-selling drugs losing sales to lower-cost copies, that is about to change. (Roland, 4/28)
The Japanese pharma company Eisai is  doubling down on its efforts to find new dementia drugs — and opening a new dementia-focused startup incubator. The company is creating the incubator as part of its plan to move its Massachusetts-based research staff from Andover, Mass., to Cambridge, Mass., on May 20. As in Andover, the staff at the Cambridge facility will focus on finding new drugs targeting inflammation in the brain; some studies have shown a link between inflammation and dementia. (Sheridan, 4/26)
The FBI has heard allegations about practices at UBiome, a startup which sells tests for the microbiome, involving improperly changing billing codes that are used in how its tests get reimbursed by insurers, a person familiar with the matter told STAT. The FBI has also been told allegations that physicians who order UBiome’s tests for customers via a telemedicine service have been compensated in a way that may run afoul of law dictating how physicians may make referrals and get paid, that person said. (Robbins, 4/26)
