Hospital openings, new products, clinical trials and regime change in Washington are poised to dominate healthcare in 2009.
The first patients are expected next year at UCI Medical Center’s $427 million New University Hospital in Orange and at St. Jude Medical Center of Fullerton’s $122 million patient care tower.
The hospital towers are part of a wave of building meant to abide by California’s earthquake safety law as well as meet the demands of population growth.
Later in the year, Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo,owned by Orange-based St. Joseph Health System, St. Jude’s parent,is set to open a four-story patient tower at an estimated $165 million.
2009’s hospital construction includes a big project in Anaheim. Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente is working on 750,000 square feet of hospital and office space, with the first building in the $750 million project set to open next year. The hospital, planned to open in 2011, will replace Kaiser’s aging facility nearby in Anaheim.
The Kaiser project stands to be the biggest construction project in the county next year with a downturn in the commercial real estate market. The next biggest project is the expansion of John Wayne Airport, which is adding a $650 million, 250,000-square-foot terminal.
|
UCI Hospital in earlier stage of construction: $427 million cost |
Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach is turning its attention from expanding the south part of its campus to reworking what’s now Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center (see story, page 3).
Hoag is taking over Irvine Regional in February from Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., which didn’t renew its lease for the facility as part of a settlement with landlord HCP Inc. of Long Beach. Tenet still has three Orange County hospitals.
Some medical products companies are looking to see if the economy will bounce back from a recession that started at the end of 2007.
While healthcare typically holds steady during downturns, an increased reliance on consumers for some device and drug makers has brought trouble as people put off treatments they pay for themselves.
Irvine drug maker Allergan Inc. gets about half of its $4.5 billion in yearly sales from drugs and products that aren’t covered by health insurance, including wrinkle remover Botox, lower face wrinkle filler Juv & #233;derm, breast implants and an obesity treatment.
Allergan also goes into 2009 with some big, looming competition.
Up to now, Allergan largely has dominated the market for wrinkle removers and fillers. Now Johnson & Johnson is acquiring Mentor Corp., a Santa Barbara-based Allergan rival.
The move also has sparked takeover chatter about Allergan, with some pegging Pfizer Inc. as a potential suitor.
Allergan is awaiting final Food and Drug Administration approval to market an active ingredient in its Lumigan glaucoma drug for eyelash growth.
The company estimates the drug, set to be marketed as Latisse, could bring in $500 million in yearly sales.
Advanced Medical Optics Inc., a Santa Ana-based eye device and contact lens solutions maker, also is looking for any signs of economic recovery in 2009 as it gets about 40% of its $1.2 billion in yearly revenue from devices and products for laser vision correction surgery.
A decline in the business has brought a 75% drop this year in Advanced Medical’s shares, which had a market value of $350 million last week.
The incoming presidential administration of Barack Obama stands to impact healthcare, particularly in diagnosis and technology.
Beckman Coulter Inc., a maker of diagnostic testing gear and supplies that is moving to Brea in early 2009 from Fullerton, could benefit from Obama’s emphasis on preventative medicine, according to Ryan Barnes, editor of EpiphanyInvesting.com.
Barnes predicted that long-term trends toward genetic-led treatments should bring more sales of Beckman’s machines and testing supplies.
Irvine-based healthcare software maker Quality Systems Inc. has called a proposed federal project to implement electronic medical records for the industry “nirvana.”
Quality, which historically is one of the county’s stronger health stocks, makes software that helps doctors and dentists manage their practices.
Edwards Lifesciences Corp., an Irvine heart valve maker, will continue its major clinical trial for the Sapien replacement heart valve, which doesn’t require major surgery for implantation. Sapien has small sales in Europe and could go before the FDA in 2010.
Some analysts consider Sapien approval to be a potentially transformational event for Edwards, which is among the leading replacement heart valve makers along with a pair of Minnesota companies, Medtronic Inc., which has a plant in Santa Ana, and St. Jude Medical Inc.
PERSON TO WATCH: DAVID BAILEY
David Bailey, vice chancellor for health affairs at the University of California, Irvine, has big items on his plate.
Bailey, who oversees UCI Medical Center and the UC Irvine School of Medicine, is opening the county’s biggest hospital expansion in 2009.
New University Hospital on the UCI Medical Center campus in Orange has 482,428 square feet of space, 236 beds and 15 operating rooms. Inside is $80 million worth of equipment.
Bailey’s other task: finding someone to run it.
Maureen Zehntner, who was appointed UCI Medical Center’s permanent chief executive less than a year ago, is retiring in March to spend more time with her family. Zehntner has been with UCI Medical Center since 1996 and was the hospital’s longtime chief operating officer.
Bailey, who joined UCI in 2007 from the University of California, San Diego, also runs UCI’s College of Health Sciences and University Physicians and Surgeons, a medical group.
,
Vita Reed
COMPANY TO WATCH: THEROXINC
Irvine medical device maker TherOx Inc. has a lot riding on it.
In 2009, it could be the first local company to go public in more than a year. TherOx filed plans to go public in September with hopes of raising up to $100 million.
The company hasn’t set a date for an offering. It was the only local company to file for an offering in 2008.
The other option for TherOx could be an acquisition. Oth-er local medical device makers have filed for offerings only to end up being bought. That was the case with 2008’s healthcare company to watch, Aliso Viejo-based Eye-onics Inc., now part of Bausch & Lomb Inc.
TherOx still can be considered to be in the development stage. Its lead product, the SuperSaturated Oxygen Therapy system, is a ways off from being sold in the U.S.
The device enriches blood with oxygen to treat heart attack patients.
TherOx isn’t profitable and has “nominal revenue” from licensing and global sales.
,
Vita Reed
