Humana Reveals Plans To Exit Employer-Based Insurance Market

Reuters: Humana To Exit Employer Insurance Business To Focus On Government Plans
Humana Inc (HUM.N) will exit the employer-based insurance business over the next 18 to 24 months, it said on Thursday, to focus primarily on government-backed programs such as Medicare for people aged 65 and older and its specialty businesses. (2/23)

AP: Insurer Humana Lays Out Employer-Sponsored Coverage Exit
The health insurer Humana will stop providing employer-sponsored commercial coverage as it focuses on bigger parts of its business, like Medicare Advantage. The insurer said Thursday it will leave the business over the next 18 to 24 months. It includes medical coverage provided through private companies and for federal government employees. (Murphy, 2/23)

Meanwhile, in other industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Amazon Evolved Its Healthcare Strategy. Here's How It Happened
Amazon has not been shy about its intentions to disrupt healthcare. The tech giant’s $3.9 billion acquisition of primary care company One Medical, which closed Wednesday, is the latest in a series of moves from a company determined to stake its claim in healthcare. (Turner and Hudson, 2/23)

Fierce Healthcare: SimpliFed Teams Up With National Breast Pump Provider Byram To Expand Access
SimpliFed, a virtual platform for baby feeding services, has teamed up with Byram Healthcare, a supplier of breast pumps, to expand access to breastfeeding support. Through the partnership, new and expecting parents will have access to virtual support to navigate breast pump selection and use as well as for breastfeeding. (Gliadkovskaya, 2/23)

Stat: DaVita Faces Another Probe Over Ties To Kidney Care Charity 
The Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia is investigating DaVita, one of the largest dialysis providers in the country, and its ties to the nonprofit American Kidney Fund. (Herman, 2/23)

Fierce Healthcare: Teladoc Sinks $13.7B Loss In 2022 Tied To Plummeting Value Of Livongo Acquisition
Teladoc Health reported a historic loss of $13.7 billion in 2022, mostly from a write-off related to the plummeting value of its Livongo acquisition. The telehealth company pulled in $2.4 billion in 2022 revenue, up 18% from $2 billion in revenue the prior year, executives reported during its fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday. By comparison, in 2021, Teladoc posted a net loss of $429 million. (Landi, 2/23)

Reuters: Biotech Firms Redx Pharma And Jounce Therapeutics To Merge In $425 Mln Deal
British biotech firm Redx Pharma plc and U.S.-based Jounce Therapeutics Inc will merge to create a $425 million entity specialised in treating cancer and fibrotic disease. (2/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Moderna’s Earnings, Revenue Fall On Fewer Covid Vaccine Sales
The pharmaceutical company, based in Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday said a decrease in volumes for its Covid-19 vaccine pushed sales 29% lower to $5.1 billion in the last three months of 2022, which still topped analyst expectations for $5.02 billion, according to FactSet. (Loftus and Seal, 2/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Waning Covid Fears Push Test Maker Lucira To File For Bankruptcy
Lucira Health Inc., a publicly traded maker of at-home Covid-19 testing kits, has filed for bankruptcy, saying an easing of pandemic restrictions has lowered demand for its products. Lucira, which lists $145.9 million in assets and $84.7 million in debt, said Wednesday it will look for a buyer while continuing to serve customers during chapter 11 proceedings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. (Yerak, 2/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Israel-Based Healthcare Investor AMoon Expands To Boston, Is Raising Growth Fund
AMoon Fund, an Israel-based venture investor that has backed high-profile U.S. healthcare companies such as Ultima Genomics Inc., has opened a Boston office and raised $340 million toward its second growth fund. (Gormley, 2/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Wall Street Backs New Class Of Psychedelic Drugs
Transcend Therapeutics Inc. raised $40 million from venture-capital investors in January to develop a post-traumatic stress disorder treatment that its 29-year-old CEO Blake Mandell says would require about half the amount of therapy as MDMA, or ecstasy, a popular hallucinogen. Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Lusaris Therapeutics Inc. have announced capital raises of about $100 million since November for similar products addressing depression.  (Wirz, 2/23)

St. Louis Public Radio: Wash U Medicine And Race Forum To Focus On Health Disparities
Doctors and scholars in the St. Louis region say medical professionals must acknowledge the area’s racist history to help eliminate health care inequities. St. Louis’ history of racism, health disparities and the use of activism and art in medicine are among the topics that researchers, doctors, scholars and community leaders will discuss Saturday at the Medicine, Race, and Ethnicity in St. Louis forum at Washington University in St. Louis. (Henderson, 2/24)

On new FDA approvals for treatments —

Reuters: U.S. FDA Approves Sanofi's Bleeding Disorder Therapy
U.S. health regulators have approved Sanofi SA's therapy to treat a type of inherited bleeding disorder known as hemophilia A, the French drugmaker said on Thursday, and expects to launch it in the United States in April. With the Food and Drug Administration's approval, Sanofi's replacement therapy – brand named Altuviiio – enters a market dominated by rivals like Shire, Bayer AG and Novo Nordisk which sell factor replacement therapies that have been the standard treatment for decades. (Roy and Mandowara, 2/23)

FiercePharma: Sanofi And Sobi's Altuviiio Scores FDA Nod For Hemophilia A
Sanofi and partner Sobi are coming back to the hemophilia A market with a vengeance after Roche’s Hemlibra ate up sales of their aging Eloctate. Thursday, the duo scored an FDA approval for hemophilia A treatment Altuviiio almost a week ahead of schedule. (Becker, 2/23)