January 2018 - Recon Strategy

Will the coming wave of gene therapies have a Sovaldi-like impact?

Jason Brauner January 31, 2018

The first approval of a gene therapy for congenital disease in the US (Luxturna) inaugurates a new – though long anticipated – era for therapeutics. Along with questions around durability of response and long-term safety, pricing and reimbursement is a particular challenge. At $850,000, the price of Luxturna is nominally higher than other high-cost specialty medicines. However, as a one-time cost with a multi-year benefit, the cost per year of efficacy is far lower. This is not a new challenge for the industry: Hepatitis C antiviral therapies such as Sovaldi

How can Optum be in only 35 out of 75 target markets while also being available to 70%+ of the US population? An analytical speculation

Tory Wolff January 30, 2018

During the UnitedHealth quarterly earnings call earlier this month, Larry Renfro, CEO of Optum, offered some additional color on the growth of OptumCare: “Combined with [Davita], OptumCare will be in 35 local care delivery markets, nearly one-half of the 75 markets targeted for engagement or development. And these market operations are still in the early stages of growth and development” (per transcript on SeekingAlpha). Yet, based on our data, we think OptumCare (including Davita Medical Group and its MedExpress and Surgical Care Affiliates components) is already present in Hospital Referral

Two steps forward, one step back: an opinionated take on NEJM highlights for January 2018

Marc Herant January 29, 2018

Playing chess against cancer Tumors are not intelligent, but, because they have escaped mutational control, they constantly probe for mutations that will allow them to escape chemotherapeutic suppression. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a frequent driver of malignancy in the lung and as such, a target for EGFR inhibitors such as erlotinib (Tarceva, Roche) or gefitinib (Iressa, Astra Zeneca); unfortunately, tumors initially responsive to these agents quickly develop mutations which make them resistant. Osimertinib (Tagrisso, Astra Zeneca) was designed to overcome the most common resistance mutations and has

The UPMC-Highmark Brawl Spills Into Philadelphia’s Backyard

Miriam Alandydy January 22, 2018

The UPMC/Highmark brawl spills into Philadelphia’s backyard – what happens next?

Tory Wolff January 18, 2018

(For background on Pennsylvania market, please take a look at previous note here) Summary The UPMC/Highmark rivalry continues to open new fronts in Pennsylvania Highmark’s response to UPMC is differentiated in two ways: first, Highmark is using a coalition building strategy and, second, it is controlling its exposure to big in-patient assets; in contrast, UPMC is building an integrated, single-brand system and happily taking over hospitals (and building more) along the way When UPMC and Highmark make major investments in a region, local systems will be caught in the capex

Ochsner signs LOI to enter northern Louisiana and secure a medical school affiliation

Tory Wolff January 4, 2018

(For Louisiana market context, please take a look at previous notes on Ochsner here and here) Before the holidays, Ochsner signed an LOI to take over the management of ailing University Health located in Shreveport and Monroe and affiliated with LSU Health Sciences Shreveport. The details have yet to be finalized and public disclosure of discussions do not necessarily mean a deal will be made. But Ochsner has been looking at the system for a while and must know its warts and the state appears to have precluded other partnership

A golden age for gene therapy: an opinionated take on NEJM highlights for December 2017

Marc Herant January 1, 2018

Successes in gene therapy for hemophilia B and A Hemophilia A and B are X-linked genetic diseases which prevents the formation of functional coagulant factors VII and IX respectively and cause a propensity to bleeding in about 20,000 people in just the US. The standard of care of intravenous administration of recombinant factors is effective but also burdensome, expensive, and does not fully prevent the disabling sequellae of the disease caused by repeated bleeding in the joints. A possible cure is to deliver a functional copy of the defective gene

Month: January 2018

Recon takes an analytical look behind select developments in healthcare

Will the coming wave of gene therapies have a Sovaldi-like impact?

How can Optum be in only 35 out of 75 target markets while also being available to 70%+ of the US population? An analytical speculation

Two steps forward, one step back: an opinionated take on NEJM highlights for January 2018

The UPMC-Highmark Brawl Spills Into Philadelphia’s Backyard

The UPMC/Highmark brawl spills into Philadelphia’s backyard – what happens next?

Ochsner signs LOI to enter northern Louisiana and secure a medical school affiliation

A golden age for gene therapy: an opinionated take on NEJM highlights for December 2017

SUBSCRIBE

Categories

Authors

Archives