Health Headlines for Wednesday, February 3

Martin Shkreli All but Gloated Over Huge Drug Price Increases, Memos Show

New York Times

Martin Shkreli anticipated huge profits from raising the price of a decades-old drug for an infectious disease, belying any notion that helping patients was foremost in his mind, according to information released by congressional investigators on Tuesday.

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First U.S. Zika virus transmission reported, attributed to sex

Reuters

The first known case of Zika virus transmission in the United States was reported in Texas on Tuesday by local health officials, who said it likely was contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite, a day after the World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency.

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City’s health care nonprofits buffeted by turbulent times

Crain’s New York Business

It’s been a challenging few years for New York’s health care nonprofits.

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Inside Syracuse’s new pot shop: Medical marijuana that sounds like cappuccino (video)

Syracuse Post Standard

The products in Syracuse’s newest medical pot dispensary at 2140 Erie Boulevard East sound like cappuccino flavors.

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Sanofi, Merck Said to Consider Exiting Vaccine Joint Venture

Bloomberg Business

Sanofi and Merck & Co. are considering ending a two-decade-long joint venture to sell vaccines in Europe, as revenue from the products declines and Sanofi Chief Executive Officer Olivier Brandicourt reorganizes the French drugmaker’s operations, according to people familiar with the situation.

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Why you should be skeptical about an ‘Uber for healthcare’

Los Angeles Times

The worst aspect of the “Uberization” of our economy may not be the transformation of workers who could once earn a living wage into “independent contractors” who can barely make ends meet (though that’s bad enough); it may be the spreading myth that any economic function can be shoehorned into the Uber format of service-on-demand at a rock-bottom price.

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