{"id":354601,"date":"2010-02-23T17:07:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-23T22:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/health\/2010\/02\/23\/medcos-snow-more-original-research-to-aid-care-cut-costs\/"},"modified":"2010-02-23T17:07:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-23T22:07:00","slug":"medco%e2%80%99s-snow-more-original-research-to-aid-care-cut-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/354601","title":{"rendered":"Medco\u2019s Snow: More Original Research to Aid Care, Cut Costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"davePharmacy-benefit manager Medco Health Solutions reported earnings<\/a> today, and the results didn\u0092t seem to surprise Wall Street too much even though its shares declined. But the company took some time on its call with analysts to highlight its growing push into original research. <\/p>\n

Medco made a bit of a splash in 2008 when company researchers co-authored a study<\/a> that suggested that heartburn drugs known as proton-pump inhibitors could interfere with the effectiveness of the anti-clotting medicine Plavix, which is co-marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis,<\/p>\n

In today\u0092s call, CEO David B. Snow Jr. talked up Medco’s research efforts, noting that it had sponsored 12 studies published or presented last year and had pulled together its efforts in a new research institute. He argued that the company \u0093can improve outcomes and reduce costs\u0094 with its work, according to a transcript of the call from Thomson Reuters. Among its research focuses are pharmacogenomics \u0096- efforts to use genetics to guide drug therapy \u0096- and comparative-effectiveness work. <\/p>\n

The Health Blog caught up with Snow after the call, and found out he also has a personal case for backing Medco’s studies. He said he took an asthma drug, Merck’s Singulair, for two years before learning through a genetic test that he couldn\u0092t metabolize it. \u0093I was getting sicker, and I was laying out the money for a drug that wouldn\u0092t work for me,\u0094 he said. <\/p>\n

Medco is also looking at research on genetic tests beyond just those tied closely to pharmaceuticals, with a particular interest in cancer, he said. Last year, Medco bought DNA Direct, a company that focuses on guiding insurers, doctors and patients about the use of genetic tests. <\/p>\n

Flashback<\/strong>: In what seems like ages ago, here’s what Snow had to say on his outlook for overhauling health care<\/a> early last year just as the Obama administration was taking office. <\/p>\n

Photo: Medco<\/em><\/p>\n

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Pharmacy-benefit manager Medco Health Solutions reported earnings today, and the results didn\u0092t seem to surprise Wall Street too much even though its shares declined. But the company took some time on its call with analysts to highlight its growing push into original research. Medco made a bit of a splash in 2008 when company researchers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5482,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-354601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}