August 19, 2015

No Image

Business August 19, 2015

So Long, Big Mac: Cleveland Clinic Ousts McDonald's From Cafeteria

The McDonald's inside the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, in 2004.
2:41

Download

The McDonald’s inside the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, in 2004. Tony Dejak/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Tony Dejak/AP

One of the most prestigious names in health care is taking a stand on food.

This week, Cleveland Clinic announced it would sever ties with McDonald’s. As of Sept. 18, the McDonald’s branch located in the Cleveland Clinic cafeteria will turn off its fryers and close its doors for good. Its lease will not be renewed.

The move is part of a wider effort by Cleveland Clinic leaders to promote a culture of wellness. Employees are offered free gym access and Weight Watchers memberships. And nudging out McDonald’s is one of many steps the medical center has taken in the cafeteria to offer more healthful fare.

“Cleveland Clinic wants to help patients and visitors and our employees turn to healthier lifestyles and healthier choices,” clinic spokeswoman Eileen Sheil tells The Salt.

And, burgers and french fries, well, they don’t make the cut.

The move is not a huge surprise. As we’ve reported, Cleveland Clinic tried to terminate its lease contract with McDonald’s several years back, but failed.

In the meantime, other facilities have had better success — what advocates for more healthful fare say is part of a trend.

“Cleveland Clinic is the seventh hospital since 2009” to cut ties with McDonald’s, says Sriram Madhusoodanan of the advocacy group Corporate Accountability International.

He points to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis and Truman Medical Centers in Kansas City, Mo.

Now, McDonald’s does offer more fresh food than it used to — everything from Cuties California Clementines in Happy Meals to its recent experiments with kale salads. And the company is scrambling to remake itself into, in the words of its CEO, a “progressive burger company.”

But Madhusoodanan says many of its customers still go for the traditional menu.

“McDonald’s most profitable items remain burgers, fries and soda,” Madhusoodanan says. And that’s a lot of sugar, salt and fat.

Some of those loyal customers are unhappy with the decision to shutter the Golden Arches at Cleveland Clinic — or elsewhere.

In Cleveland, some commenters on a local news site have complained that the loss of Mickey D’s at the clinic amounts to the loss of the most affordable option. And another commenter wrote: “No one should be able to dictate lifestyle choices.”

Cleveland Clinic’s Sheil tells us that the medical center is aware of the need for good value. And, she says, as it considers replacements for McDonald’s, the idea is to find a vendor that offers more healthful food and affordable prices.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

No Image

Sports August 19, 2015

After Serving Suspension, Is Alex Rodriguez Making A Comeback?

4:03

Download

After going hitless in 18 at bats, Rodriguez hit a homerun Tuesday night. NPR’s Robert Siegel speaks to MLB Network Insider and New York Post sportswriter Joel Sherman about A-Rod’s comeback season.

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Last night at Yankee Stadium in the bottom of the seventh inning, New York was down by three to the Minnesota Twins. The bases were loaded, and Alex Rodriguez, hitless in his previous 18 at-bats, stepped up to the plate and smashed the ball over the right-center field fence. The Yankees won the game, and it was another chapter in the odd story of Alex Rodriguez’s comeback season. Joel Sherman writes the baseball column for the New York Post and joins us now.

Welcome to the program.

JOEL SHERMAN: Thank you Robert.

SIEGEL: And take us back to before the beginning of this season when Alex Rodriguez was pushing 40. He’d just served a season-long suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs, which he’d long denied. Is it fair to say that the Yankees’ management really just wanted him to go away?

SHERMAN: Well, I think in their preference on multiple layers were that he’d go away. I think they were, A) concerned that he couldn’t play baseball much anymore – he was 39, he had just had a second major hip surgery and he couldn’t catch up to a fastball the last time we saw them, then there was the question of, you know, them feeling duped by him and still having three years and about $60-odd million left, and they’d loved to have gotten out of that money that they owed him. And plus they were worried about him becoming some kind of distraction where people were just interested in the TMZ part of the Alex Rodriguez affair. And so I think there was huge concerns on all of those levels, and as it turned out, he’s actually been one of the big success stories for the Yankees.

SIEGEL: Yeah, talk about the season that he’s had this year. We should say the Yankees, to the surprise of many, are in first place in the American League East.

SHERMAN: Yeah, and one of the reasons they’re in first place in the American League East is, maybe Alex Rodriguez hasn’t played like prime Alex Rodriguez but he certainly played like a primetime player. There’s been a bunch of times where he’s had these little mini slumps, and you thought, aha – here’s the moment where he’s done, his body is breaking down, he turned 40 in July. And instead, he’s been a vital part of what’s a greatly improved offense from the last two seasons. And he’s also part of the fabric of leadership. I think even his greatest critics would agree that he’s actually a baseball gym rat. He loves the game. And one of the things he likes best about it is working with young players and incorporating them into both the clubhouse life, the major league life, and feeding them with information. And so he’s been an important part of the leadership fabric as well.

SIEGEL: Just one question about something. You mentioned Alex Rodriguez has many slumps and every time he goes into one, people think, aha – there it is, I knew he was finished. In 2006, you wrote, (reading) time to face facts – A-Rod simply doesn’t have it.

Next year, he hits 52 home runs and steals 24 bases. What is it about this guy – immensely talented – that he seems to be done for and he just comes back?

SHERMAN: Well, at that time, I would suspect that one of the things that helped bring him back was also what brought him to a suspension. He defied time, as a lot of players in that era defied time, by not playing legally.

SIEGEL: You’re saying performance-enhancing drugs?

SHERMAN: Yes. I mean, clearly, he was taking performance-enhancing drugs in 2010 and probably 2011 at the minimum, which probably helped him defy injury, recovery situations and age. But, you know, let’s start with who he is. Alex Rodriguez was the first pick in the first round of a draft. I think anybody who did amateur scouting would tell you that in the last 40 years – if you skipped to somebody who’s done amateur scouting in that period – there’s maybe two or three players, the Ken Griffey Jrs., the Alex Rodriguezs, the Bryce Harpers, who stand out, that they would be the first pick in the last 40 years of drafts if you put everyone together. So unique athletes tend to be able to last longer and be better than others. So he’s a very successful player now. I have two children. I wouldn’t bet their lives or my lives that he’s doing it clean, and, you know, let’s hope he is. It’s a greater story if he is. But he has kind of fooled us once already, and so the shame would be on me to believe him moving forward.

SIEGEL: Joel Sherman, of the New York Post and MLB Network Insider, thanks for talking with us.

SHERMAN: Thank you.

Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

No Image

Health August 19, 2015

Price Rises For Ticket To A Quicker Drug Review By FDA

A voucher gets a company's drug reviewed faster by the Food and Drug Administration.

Drew Kilb/Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business

A deal struck between drugmakers AbbVie and United Therapeutics Wednesday set a record price for a voucher that can be redeemed for a fast-track review of a new medicine by the Food and Drug Administration.

AbbVie, marketer of Humira and AndroGel, has agreed to pay $350 million to United Therapeutics, a company specializing in treatments for rare diseases, for a ticket to the regulatory fast lane.

The tickets, or priority review vouchers as they’re known, were created by Congress in 2007 to encourage the development of drugs for neglected tropical disease and rare illnesses affecting children.

Drugs like those aren’t usually lucrative for companies. The priority review voucher was conceived of as a prize that would be given to companies that brought medicines for certain overlooked diseases to market.

The voucher entitles its holder to move a drug through the review line faster. FDA has to make a decision about a voucher drug in about six months rather than the 10 or so for a drug submitted without one.

There’s no guarantee the FDA’s decision will be an approval; the agency could just reject a drug faster.

Oh, there’s one other important feature of the vouchers: They can be kept by the companies that won them or they can be sold to the highest bidder.

United Therapeutics got its voucher in March when the FDA approved a drug called Unituxin to treat pediatric neuroblastoma, a rare cancer in kids. Rather than keep the ticket, the company sold it. “We are very pleased to monetize our [voucher], and hope that this transaction will encourage others to join us in focusing development efforts on rare pediatric diseases,” Roger Jeffs, president and co-CEO of United Therapeutics, said in a statement.

AbbVie, for its part, confirmed the terms of the deal in an email to Shots but declined to say what the company’s plans are for the voucher.

Duke University’s David Ridley, whose academic work with two colleagues helped lay the foundation for the vouchers, told Shots in an email that the prices fetched by vouchers in 2015 “were in line with our expectations.” A 2006 paper co-authored by Ridley pegged the value of a voucher at more than $300 million for a drug with the potential for blockbuster sales.

In May, French drugmaker Sanofi paid $245 million for a voucher. Last November, Gilead Sciences paid $125 million to Knight Therapeutics for a voucher that was awarded for the approval of a drug to treat leishmaniasis. All told, four vouchers have been sold.

Ridley said that “while the value of some vouchers might be around $300 million, the price might be lower if there are many sellers.” He added, “United Therapeutics was lucky and/or smart that it was the only seller at a time when a buyer was eager to have a voucher.”

On a related note, the FDA is expanding the illnesses that can earn companies a voucher. Chagas’ disease and neurocysticercosis, a parasitic infection that can lead to epilepsy, have been added to the list of eligible conditions.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.