Advertisement

Daily Rounds: Mass. Cost Control; NaviNet Sale; Leukemia Drug Patent; Adele's Throat Comeback

Health care in Massachusetts turns to cost control (NPR) - "When Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, he made universal health care law. But the 2006 law didn't do anything about controlling costs, which were already among the nation's highest. So now the conversation has turned to cost control, and some very interesting things are beginning to happen." (NPR)

Independence Blue Cross, others, to buy Massachusetts firm (Philadelphia Inquirer) - Independence Blue Cross is joining with two other Blue Cross health insurers and a St. Louis software company to buy a Massachusetts firm that has what the buyers called the nation's largest real-time communication network for physicians, hospitals, and health insurers. The price for NaviNet Inc. of Boston in the deal scheduled to be announced Tuesday was not disclosed." (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Ariad wins key patent for leukemia Drug (The Boston Globe) - "Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. is set to disclose today that it has won a key patent on its drug to treat a form of leukemia, giving the Cambridge biotechnology company patent protection through 2026 on what could become a major cancer-fighting therapy." (The Boston Globe)

After throat surgery, British singer Adele makes a comeback at the Grammys (Scientific American) - "You would never have known it from her performance at the Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday night, but the British singer Adele was not even allowed to speak for most of November and December. She had just undergone laser surgery to remove a polyp from her vocal folds, a small growth that forced her to cancel a U.S. tour and threatened to damage her sultry voice permanently. It was an extreme form of an injury that anyone can get simply by yelling too much." (Scientific American)

This program aired on February 15, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.

Advertisement

More from WBUR

Listen Live
Close