Prescription Solutions, an Irvine-based unit of Minnesota’s UnitedHealth Group Inc., is just what the doctor ordered for Overland Park, Kan.
Prescription Solutions manages drug benefits for UnitedHealth and other customers, and operates a large mail-order pharmacy in the Kansas City, Mo., suburb.
A recent article in the Kansas City Business Journal noted that job growth there has exceeded expectations. The company has 1,600 workers in its Overland Park operation, up from a previous projection of 1,300 jobs.
Prescription Solutions opened its Overland Park plant five years ago with 850 workers.
The company expects to see the same type of growth throughout its business.
UnitedHealth got Prescription Solutions as part of its $8 billion buy of Cypress-based PacifiCare Health Systems in 2005.
After the buy, the company looked to expand its drug distribution to handle rising demand for prescription drugs following a 2006 Medicare provision that expanded coverage to senior citizens.
Overland Park beat out other cities, including Houston, for Prescription Solutions’ distribution center because of an economic development incentive package from city officials. The package included property and equipment tax abatements worth about $3.2 million, according to the Kansas City Business Journal.
“I think any time we can encourage the growth of companies that have a stake in the future of healthcare, we are going to see job growth,” Bob Marcusse, president of the Kansas City Area Development Council, told the newspaper.
Overall, Prescription Solutions is expected to have $16.5 billion in revenue this year, or about 18% of UnitedHealth’s projected $92 billion in revenue.
Jacqueline Kosecoff, Prescription Solutions’ chief executive, said that the unit’s growth in the Kansas City area has mirrored the company’s overall growth.
UnitedHealth is looking for more growth from Prescription Solutions. Both Kosecoff and Ed Feaver, Prescription Solutions’ president, said they expect it to double in size within three to five years.
Startup Moves to Irvine
CardiAQ Valve Technologies Inc., a company that is developing a minimally invasive heart valve implantation system, moved its corporate headquarters to Irvine from the Boston area.
CardiAQ, which was founded a year and a half ago, transferred operations to an 8,500-square-foot warehouse that formerly housed CoreValve Inc., which also is developing a less-invasive heart valve.
Medtronic Inc., a Minnesota-based device maker with a heart valve plant in Santa Ana, bought CoreValve for $700 million last year.
There are connections between CoreValve and CardiAQ. CoreValve’s former chief operating officer Rob Michiels, angel investors and Broadview Ventures Inc. of Boston teamed up to provide a $6.5 million first round of funding for CardiAQ in January.
CardiAQ said it is working on a combination of an anchoring device and a delivery catheter to securely implant a valve within a beating heart. It’s in the early stages of development and does not have a set date for clinical trials.
UCI Creates Retina
University of California, Irvine, researchers created an early stage retina from human embryonic stem cells.
The university said that the three-dimensional tissue structure marks the first step toward the development of transplant-ready replacement retinas. These retinas could treat disorders such as peripheral and night vision loss, and degeneration of the center of the eye, which usually affects older people.
Hans Keirstead, a UC Irvine professor who led the study, and his colleagues used a method by which human embryonic stem cells were made into specific cell types to create the replacement retina.
Researchers are testing the early stage retinas in animal models. Positive results would lead to human clinical trials.
Study results appear online in the Journal of Neuroscience Methods. The Lincy Foundation and private donations to the Keirstead Research Group supported the study.
Bits and Pieces
Tustin-based Radient Pharmaceuticals Corp. said it signed a contract with Perceptive Imagineering LLC of Boca Raton, Fla., to expand sales of its Onko-Sure cancer diagnostic test in Latin America. Perceptive will conduct product registration, marketing, sales and support for the licensing and distribution of Onko-Sure in Central America, South America, Mexico and the Caribbean … Auxilio Inc., a Mission Viejo company that helps healthcare providers reduce their dependence on paper documents, said it signed a five-year contract extension with St. Joseph Hospital-Orange. Auxilio said services it provides through the contract are part of Design for Perfect Care, an electronic medical records project of St. Joseph … Veterinary Medical and Surgical Group-Orange County opened a facility in San Juan Capistrano.
