New ICN Director Minces No Words on Silicon Valley
Alzheimer’s Seen Adding to Healthcare Costs; UCI Links Liver Enzyme to Heart Disease
HEALTHCARE by Vita Reed
Richard Koppes, an attorney and newly elected member of Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s board, calls corporate governance in Silicon Valley “an oxymoron.”
The former general counsel to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System offered his take on Silicon Valley in a July 8 New York Times story. The piece looked at Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial culture within the context of recent scandals, including Enron Corp., WorldCom Inc. and Global Crossing Ltd.
The valley’s mix of entrepreneurship and venture capital helped make for some blockbuster public offerings, the story said. But in other cases, the tight-knit network of Silicon Valley directors brought immature companies to market. Hence, the dot-com bust, the story contends.
The piece has its share of Silicon Valley supporters. Companies there always have been open about their risks, and investors ate them up just the same. And Enron, WorldCom and Global Crossing didn’t come from Silicon Valley.
But count Koppes among the critics.
“They really think they’re different,” he said. “They do not realize what’s going on in the rest of the country. It’s not going to change until someone in the valley is in jail, or wearing stripes.”
Koppes, Randy Thurman, and interim ICN Chief Executive Robert O’Leary were elected to the drug maker’s board in late May, after a bruising dissident shareholder campaign centered on corporate governance issues, among other things.
Another Healthcare Cost Factor
A new healthcare cost looms on the horizon,Alzheimer’s.
A new report done for the Chicago-based Alz-heimer’s Association finds that businesses across the country spend some $61 billion a year on Alzheimer’s disease,a twofold increase from the $33 billion reported in 1998.
That number includes $36.5 billion in absenteeism and lost productivity from workers who have to tend to relatives with the disease. It also includes $24.6 billion in healthcare costs, such as business tax contributions and research.
“These calculations are based on 4 million people,the number estimated to have Alzheimer’s disease now,” said Linda Scheck, chief operating officer of the Alzheimer’s Association’s OC chapter.
Those numbers could “explode,” Scheck said, citing figures showing that the number of Americans with the disease could jump to as many as 14 million by mid-century.
“In Orange County, our 50,000 individuals today will soar to over 140,000,” Scheck said. She said the costs of more cases could become “unsustainable.”
UCI: Liver Link to Heart Disease
A research team from the University of California, Irvine, has found that a small molecule in the liver plays a big role in starting cellular processes that lead to artery hardening and heart disease common in kidney failure.
The team says its findings, which appear in the online version of the American Journal of Physiology,Endocrinology and Metabolism, say that the molecule’s action may be happening in many cases of heart disease and stroke.
Dr. Nick Vaziri, a UCI professor of medicine and physiology, and colleagues found an enzyme called ACAT-2 in very high levels in laboratory rats with simulated kidney failure. They learned that ACAT-2, by fooling the liver into operating as if cholesterol levels were low, accelerated production of “bad cholesterol,” which leads to the buildup of atherosclerotic plaque and subsequently, heart disease.
Vaziri and the team found that the enzyme, which normally takes cholesterol and stores it in specialized liver cells, was much more active in cases of kidney failure. By contrast, rats that had normally functioning kidneys had normal ACAT-2 enzyme levels, as well as normal cholesterol and lipids.
Alliance Expands in Indiana
Alliance Imaging Inc., an Anaheim-based provider of diagnostic imaging services, bought three imaging centers and three mobile, shared-service systems from entities affiliated with Radiologic Associates of Northwest Indiana Inc. Terms weren’t disclosed. Alliance said the acquisitions are expected to contribute about $8 million in revenue and $3 million in operating earnings a year.
Alliance, which returned to the public markets nearly a year ago, has more than 430 diagnostic imaging and therapeutic systems and some 1,300 clients in 42 states.
Bits and Pieces:
Beckman Coulter Inc., Fullerton, released updated software for its DL2000 data manager, which works with a hospital’s laboratory data system to simplify and streamline information flow. New features include enhanced validation rules, allowing labs to implement reflex testing and rerun patient samples based on initial test results and decision rules set by the laboratory PacifiCare of Arizona, part of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., Santa Ana, said it signed a contract extension with Carondelet Health Networks, Tucson, Ariz. The deal will provide services to PacifiCare commercial and Secure Horizons Medicare patients at St. Joseph’s Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital, two of Carondelet’s Tucson properties Noblitt & Rueland, an Irvine-based consulting firm, is presenting a series of training courses on Food and Drug Administration and global issues relating to medical device makers. The courses run July 23 to 26 at the Disneyland Resort. Information: www.fdaconsulting.com.
