Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Foreign Medicine Sales Help Johnson & Johnson Blow By Wall Street Expectations For 2Q Profit
The Associated Press: Johnson & Johnson 2Q Profit Jumps 42% Despite Lower Sales
Johnson & Johnson posted slightly lower sales across much of its business in the second quarter, but a big one-time gain and lower spending on marketing and administration boosted its profit a whopping 42 percent. That blew past Wall Street expectations. The maker of baby shampoo and cancer and immune disorder drugs on Tuesday raised its full-year sales forecast, despite sharply lower sales from its medical device business, as well as lower U.S. prescription drug sales and consumer health sales overseas. (7/16)
The Wall Street Journal: Johnson & Johnson Bumps Up Sales Target
Excluding special items, J&J earned $2.58 a share, above the mean estimate of analysts polled by FactSet of $2.46 a share. Sales fell 1.3% to $20.56 billion, but were better than analysts’ expectations. J&J now expects reported sales for the year to be between $80.8 billion and $81.6 billion, up from the $80.4 billion to $81.2 billion previously forecast. (Loftus and Chin, 7/16)
Modern Healthcare: Global Telemedicine Market To Eclipse $130B By 2025
The global telemedicine market is expected to swell to $130.5 billion by 2025 as more clinicians across all ages embrace the technology, a new report found. The projection marks a steep increase from the estimated $38.3 billion valuation last year, with the number of doctors who self-reported telemedicine as a skill doubling from 2015 to 2018, according to Doximity, a professional network for physicians that features more than 70% of all U.S. doctors. While more than half of job-seeking doctors ages 31 to 50 were interested in telemedicine positions, 41% of those over 50 also showed interest. (Kacik, 7/16)
Modern Healthcare: Intermountain Launches Value-Based Care Spinoff
Intermountain Healthcare has spun off a new company that aims to help providers, payers and other stakeholders transition to value-based care, the integrated not-for-profit health system announced Tuesday. The company, known as Castell, is built on Intermountain's preventive primary-care model as well as other best practices. It will provide analytics software and other digital technology to address virtual care, patient experience and social determinants of health; manage affiliated networks; and offer access to Intermountain's latest initiatives. (Kacik, 7/16)
Reuters: Abbott To Hike Production Of Lower-Cost Glucose Monitors As Diabetes Soars
Abbott Laboratories plans to ramp up manufacturing capacity for its lower-cost continuous glucose monitor, the FreeStyle Libre, by three to five times in the next few years, aiming to reach millions more patients worldwide, the company told Reuters. Abbott executives said the increase in manufacturing capacity will begin in the second half of this year and make room for the expected U.S. launch of the FreeStyle Libre 2. This next-generation device has been approved in Europe and is now under U.S. regulatory review. (7/16)
