Connect with us

International

Bridget Martell on taking Yale spinout ‘to adulthood’; Cullinan Oncology CEO announces resignation as Bristol Myers hematology exec is welcomed aboard

Bridget Martell
Bridget Martell’s first clinical trial was an unorthodox one.
Then a resident in internal medicine at Yale, she was given an award to explore a career in clinical research — which was how she wound up leading a Phase I study for a…

Published

on

Bridget Martell

Bridget Martell’s first clinical trial was an unorthodox one.

Then a resident in internal medicine at Yale, she was given an award to explore a career in clinical research — which was how she wound up leading a Phase I study for a therapeutic cocaine vaccine designed to help overcome addiction. She ended up overseeing the trial from Patient 1 to Patient 110 and, in the end, the early trial was positive.

“And so that’s when I realized that I needed to go to industry,” she said, “and understand how do you do this from start to finish? How do you string those pearls?”

Thus began a winding, 20-year journey that took her through every step on the proverbial bench to bedside journey — culminating in the CEO office at New Haven-based Artizan Biosciences.

Utilizing a platform technology developed by its Yale founders, the biotech has been scanning bacterial strains to pick out bad bacteria and cooking up small molecules to target them for both gastrointestinal and CNS disorders, an approach it dubs “precision microbiome medicine.” Artizan is now “on track” to name its lead candidates.

“I liken it to, you know, Jimmy took it out of infancy,” Martell said, referring to former CEO Jimmy Rosen. Now that Artizan has grown into a toddler, “I have to take it to adulthood.”

As a first-time CEO, she expects to leverage every aspect of her wide-ranging background for the new challenge: the scientist who studied microbiology and immunology; the internist exposed to a whole array of diseases thrown at her; the clinical trial strategist with experience at Pfizer, Kura Oncology and boutique CRO RRD International; the biotech mentor and advisor she played while consulting for companies and serving as entrepreneur-in-residence at Yale’s Office of Cooperative Research.

She will have help from a small team of 13 — an “amazing team” whom she cites as a big factor for the decision to get into the trenches — as Artizan looks to establish itself in a burgeoning field that’s grappled with its share of failures.

“So we’re not manipulating the microbiome, in terms of removing or adding bugs or feeding bugs. What we’re doing is we’re actually affecting the factors that are perturbing the ultimate balance in the GI tract and the inflammation,” she said. “Unfortunately, some of the failures are what I just spoke about, and that is, it’s complex, right? But, you know, if you start to chip away at what some of those mechanisms are, hopefully we will start to have a broader understanding.”

Amber Tong


Nadim Ahmed

→ Co-founded by Patrick Baeuerle — who was on our list of 20 influential R&D execs in late August — Cullinan Oncology ended up raising $287.4 million in an IPO that helped get the proverbial Nasdaq ball rolling in 2021. Now comes word that Owen Hughes has resigned as CEO and Cullinan has already lined up Bristol Myers Squibb’s Nadim Ahmed as his successor. Hughes, who slips into an advisory role during the transition, will no longer be on Cullinan’s board of directors.

Ahmed, who was with GlaxoSmithKline from 1992-2010, becomes a chief executive here after two years as EVP and president of hematology at Bristol Myers. After GSK, he moved to Celgene, starting out as senior director, global marketing in the multiple myeloma franchise and climbing up to president, global hematology & oncology before the buyout.

→ There’s some reshuffling taking place at Sio Gene Therapies, which was once Axovant until the company shed its vant-ness last November. On Nov. 12, chief R&D officer Gavin Corcoran is hitting the road for “an opportunity with a private healthcare technology company,” leaving president and CEO Pavan Cheruvu to handle Corcoran’s responsibilities henceforth. Along with this news, Sio — whose gangliosidosis program has shown promise in Phase I/II — is opening up searches for a CMO and SVP of early development and scientific affairs, both new positions.

Mace Rothenberg

→ The ubiquitous Mace Rothenberg has stacked up the appointments after his retirement from Pfizer, and the drug giant’s ex-CMO emerges once again as senior advisor to CEO Paul Peter Tak at Candel Therapeutics. In the last nine months, Rothenberg has collected board seats at Surrozen, Tango Therapeutics, and Aulos Bioscience, and he’s joined the mission advisory board at EQRx. “Candel is at the forefront of one of the most exciting approaches in cancer immunotherapy,” Rothenberg said in a statement. “I am excited by the opportunity to help Paul Peter advance the company’s promising oncology pipeline.”

Michelle Chen

→ CBO Michelle Chen is the latest exec to join Alex Zhavoronkov’s squad at Al drug discovery startup Insilico following the appointment of CFO Nirav Jhaveri last month. Chen carries a business development background from such big names as Roche, Merck and BioMarin; fast forward to the present, and Chen makes her exit from WuXi Biologics, where she was SVP of corporate development and discovery business development.

Brittany Bradrick

→ A year ago, Peer Review told you about Brittany Bradrick’s arrival at ViaCyte as CFO (later becoming COO as well), but Bradrick has left ViaCyte to accept the CFO job at OrbiMed-backed Neurelis, whose lead drug Valtoco (diazepam nasal spray) was approved by the FDA last year to treat seizures. Neurelis’ CFO since 2011, George Stuart, will now jump to the COO post at Neurelis subsidiary Aegis Therapeutics. Additionally, ex-Five Prime EVP and CFO David Smith has claimed a seat on Neurelis’ board of directors.

Laura Genatossio

→ There’s a slate of promotions at Urovant after the FDA approval of Gemtesa in December 2020 and subsequent data in September that showed the overactive bladder drug didn’t have a statistically significant effect on blood pressure or heart rate. And CEO Jim Robinson is welcoming a new exec: Laura Genatossio (SVP and general manager, Europe) is the lone newbie who pivots to Urovant after being Sarepta’s VP and general manager in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. As for the promotions, Alana Darden Powell gets elevated to VP, corporate communications after her year as executive director of business unit operations, communications, and alliance management; Mark Niemaszek joined Urovant last year as VP of commercial operations and jumps to SVP, corporate planning; and after three years as VP, associate general counsel and head of intellectual property, Allergan vet Ted Chan scores the SVP title.

Ash Jayagopal

→ Raleigh, NC-based gene therapy player Opus Genetics, the brainchild of Spark co-founder Jean Bennett that launched a month ago with a $19 million round, has picked up Ash Jayagopal as CSO and Joe Schachle as COO. Jayagopal concludes his two years as executive director of discovery medicine at Kodiak Sciences, and before that he was head of molecular pharmacology and biomarkers in ophthalmology at Roche, which bought Spark in 2019. Schachle makes the transition to Opus from his second stint at Grifols, where he was VP of global commercial services & controlling and later the VP of customer experience enablement.

Gregg Nyberg

→ Formerly the Massachusetts Center for Advanced Biological Innovation and Manufacturing (CABIM), Landmark Bio has installed Gregg Nyberg as chief technology officer and Michael Covington as chief quality and regulatory officer. Nyberg spent almost 15 years at Amgen, then moved on to Merck in 2017 and was the associate VP and head of biologics process development at Merck Research Laboratories. Covington, who was with Amgen from 1993-2003, has held consecutive posts at Novartis Gene Therapies and Orchard Therapeutics as VP of regulatory CMC.

Jennifer Diamond

→ To the mountains we go, where University of Colorado oncology spinout OnKure Therapeutics has named faculty member Jennifer Diamond as CMO. Diamond is an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at CU’s Anschutz Medical Campus, the same institution where Rain TherapeuticsRobert Doebele has also taught. Led by Array BioPharma co-founder Tony Piscopio, OnKure raised a Series B that totaled $55 million in March.

August Allen

→ Staying in Boulder, Enveda Biosciences has poached August Allen from Recursion, recruiting him as chief platform officer. Allen, who began as a research associate at Recursion in 2016, rose to director of product management before Enveda came calling. Enveda, a biotech where machine learning and natural biology commingle and which teed up a $55 million Series A in June, is led by CEO Viswa Colluru, a Recursion alum in his own right.

Valerie Jansen

Valerie Jansen has been promoted to CMO at Elevation Oncology, the Shawn Leland-helmed startup that introduced itself in July 2020 and then pulled in a $65 million Series B the following November. Jansen, who took over as VP of clinical development at Elevation back in April, previously served as executive medical director at Mersana Therapeutics and senior medical advisor at Eli Lilly.

General Atlantic had top billing on a meaty $143 million Series B round for CinCor Pharma last week. The Cincinnati biotech has now pegged Mason Freeman as EVP, clinical development, and leading the pipeline is the aldosterone synthase inhibitor CIN-107 from Roche. A longtime Massachusetts General Hospital vet who founded the facility’s Translational Research Center, Freeman is a venture partner at 5AM Ventures who has Big Pharma experience at Novartis as head of the translational medicine program for cardiovascular & metabolic diseases.

Susan Schneider

→ Things are percolating on the leadership front at Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation with the appointments of CMO Susan Schneider and VP of clinical operations Sarah DiSalvatore. Schneider, the former SVP of clinical development, ophthalmology at Eloxx Pharmaceuticals and then Ji Xing Pharmaceuticals, is a Genentech and GSK vet who’s been VP and therapeutic area head of glaucoma and retina with Allergan. After working in clinical operations at Helsinn and Stemline Therapeutics, DiSalvatore was recently associate VP of clinical operations for Rocket Pharmaceuticals. Her first day is Nov. 1, while Schneider starts on Nov. 8.

William Hodder

→ Placing an emphasis on treating disorders known as RASopathies which are fueled by the activation of the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway, Pennsylvania-based NFlection Therapeutics has tapped William Hodder as CEO and is bulking up its leadership team with COO Gerd Kochendoerfer, VP of clinical operations Patrice Horwath and SVP of global regulatory affairs & quality assurance Libbie Mansell. Hodder captures the top spot here after two years as CBO of Escient Pharmaceuticals and he’s also been a corporate development exec at FibroGen and Protagonist Therapeutics. Kochendoerfer, a FibroGen vet as well in drug development, was SVP and head of operations at BridgeBio’s PellePharm. A Medtronic alum, Horwath has been a clinical operations director at Ralexar Therapeutics, while Mansell just wrapped up a brief tenure as AskBio’s SVP, regulatory affairs.

→ Bethesda, MD-based Gain Therapeutics, which released positive results from its induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) study on Gaucher and Parkinson’s disease last month, has appointed Matthias Alder as COO. Before joining Gain, Alder was CBO at Autolus Therapeutics. He has also served as an EVP at Sucampo Pharmaceuticals and Kuros Biosciences (formerly Cytos Biotechnology).

Philip Lambert

→ Backed by the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and taking aim at ALS and frontotemporal dementia with its lead asset, San Diego neurodegenerative disease biotech Libra Therapeutics has brought in Philip Lambert as CSO. Before joining Libra, which made its debut last September with a $29 million Series A haul, Lambert was the chief scientist at Centogene and has also been head of discovery at Charles River Laboratories.

→ German-based Curexsys has plucked up Christian Eckert as COO. Eckert makes his way to the exosome-focused company from Bristol Myers, where he was responsible for GMP manufacturing, amongst other duties. Before that, Eckert was with Medigene and Evotec.

Lori Gavrin has been appointed to the newly created position of chief business and strategy officer at NeuExcell Therapeutics. Gavrin served most recently as VP of corporate development at Tmunity, and she’s also worked in leadership positions at Wyeth/Pfizer and GSK. Last month, Pennsylvania-based NeuExcell struck a manufacturing deal with Fujifilm centering on its gene therapy NXL-001 for ischemic cortical stroke.

Haijun Sun

→ Barcelona oncology startup ONA Therapeutics has reached into the GSK talent jar to pluck Haijun Sun as CSO. After three years at F-star — where he was VP of biological products — Sun spent a year with Tizona Therapeutics as VP of antibody development. He joined GSK in 2017 and was the pharma giant’s head of antibody pharmacology before landing his first C-suite job here at ONA, which launched last summer with Bpifrance and Spanish VC Ysios Capital contributing to the €30 million round. Ona has also given its scientific advisory board a boost by naming the following: Pamela Klein, Cédric Blanpain, Sean Morrison, Josep Tabernero, Mark Throsby and ONA scientific co-founder Salvador Aznar Benitah.

Katharina Staufer has signed on to be CMO at Swiss rare liver disease biotech Versantis. Staufer comes to Versantis from Inselspital — also known as the University Hospital of Bern — where she was head of transplant medicine. CEO Vince Forster discussed the “undelivery mechanism” in Versantis’ platform with Endpoints News when the company nabbed Series B funding in September 2019.

Teresa Bair

Troy Wilson’s Kura Oncology has paved the way for Teresa Bair to be chief legal officer. Bair spent six years at Athenex and since June 2020 she had taken on the roles of EVP, general counsel and SVP, administration. Kura’s menin inhibitor KO-539 is now in Phase Ib for patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia.

→ South San Francisco-based Novome Biotechnologies has recruited Bill McLeod as CFO. McLeod most recently served as a corporate finance consultant to Surrozen. Prior to that, McLeod spent a decade at Stifel, where he served as co-head of equity capital markets. McLeod’s other roles include stints at JP Morgan and Bank of America, among others.

Thomas Thomas

Alopexx has reeled in Thomas Thomas as CFO. Thomas joins the Cambridge, MA-based company with experience from his roles at the Stupski Foundation (CEO from 2009-2010) and Genentech (corporate treasurer from 2001-2006). Additionally, Thomas serves as an independent director on the board of Opiant Pharmaceuticals.

→ Paris-based Pharnext has welcomed some fresh faces to its management team with the appointments of Raj Thota (chief manufacturing officer and head of CMC) and Abhijit Pangu (head of regulatory affairs). Additionally, the company has promoted Xavier Paoli to COO. Thota comes to Pharnext from Frontida BioPharm, where he served as VP, general manager. Meanwhile, Pangu joins with experience from his times at Orphazyme and Ferring among others. Last, but not least, Paoli joined Pharnext in 2014 as commercialization strategy director. Prior to this stint, Paoli was with GSK, UCB and Alexion.

Alan Fu

IASO Biotherapeutics has brought on Alan Fu as CFO. Fu most recently served as managing director of Haitong International and director of Citigroup Global Markets. Earlier in his career, Fu served at Rigel Pharmaceuticals.

→ Boston-based X4 Pharmaceuticals has methodically assembled its leadership in the last year, whether it’s with newcomers (CSO Art Taveras and CMO Diego Cadavid) or promotions (COO Mary DiBiase). This time around, X4 has selected Karolyn Park from Takeda as VP, US commercial. Park was senior director, US hematology portfolio strategy In her latest role at Takeda, and she has experience with Aduhelm before its controversial approval as Biogen’s associate director, global aducanumab commercial. In other X4 developments, Shire rare disease vet Françoise de Craecker has joined the board of directors.

Clay Siegall

Seagen CEO Clay Siegall has been named chairman of the board at fellow Seattle biotech Umoja Biopharma. The oncology-focused Umoja is flush with cash after successive financing rounds of $53 million and $210 million in November 2020 and June, respectively.

Rachelle Jacques

→ Chaired by new Mirati CEO David Meek, the board of directors at uniQure now includes Rachelle Jacques. The company Jacques leads, Enzyvant, just received FDA approval last Monday with the one-time regenerative therapy Rethymic for babies with congenital athymia.

→ Plunging down the Covid-19 leaderboard after the  rejected its lenzilumab EUA pitch, Humanigen is loading up on more board members. Former Novartis exec John Hohneker juggles other board seats at BioTheryX, Cygnal, Aravive, Evelo Biosciences and Trishula Therapeutics, and Fosun vet Kevin Xie has been Gracell’s CFO since July 2020.

→ Sarepta’s CMO and EVP of research and development Gilmore O’Neill is making his way onto the board of directors at Aptinyx. Prior to his current stint at Sarepta, O’Neill spent 15 years at Biogen, where he held roles in the development programs for Alzheimer’s disease, movement disorders, neurology, multiple sclerosis, pain, neuromuscular disease, gene and cell therapy, and rare diseases.

Myrtle Potter

→ Duking it out in the liquid biopsy space with companies like Caris and Thrive Earlier Detection, Redwood City, CA-based Guardant Health has elected Myrtle Potter to the board of directors. An ex-COO at Genentech, Potter joined Roivant in 2018 and is currently CEO of Sumitovant Biopharma.

Zai Lab has made Scott Morrison a member of the board of directors just a couple weeks after looking to file a BLA submission for the MacroGenics antibody margetuximab in China. Morrison, who retired from Ernst & Young, is on the boards of Audentes, Corvus Pharmaceuticals, Global Blood Therapeutics, Ideaya Biosciences and Vera Therapeutics.

Maria Fardis

Paul Wotten-led Obsidian Therapeutics is leaning on someone familiar with the TIL arena by appointing Maria Fardis to the board of directors. Back in May, Fardis resigned as CEO of Iovance almost immediately after the company said they’d have to delay the BLA filing of their gene therapy by at least another year.

Looking to fight off cytotoxic T and NK cells, autoimmune disease and cancer biotech Abcuro has added Darlene Deptula-Hicks to the board of directors. Since 2019, Deptula-Hicks has been CFO at F-star and is the former CFO at Pieris.

→ CDMO Biovectra has added two new faces to its board of directors with the appointments of Gordon McCauley (president and CEO of adMare BioInnovations) and Steven Klosk (former CEO of Cambrex Corporation).

Derek Graf also contributed to this edition.

Read More

Continue Reading

International

Copper Soars, Iron Ore Tumbles As Goldman Says “Copper’s Time Is Now”

Copper Soars, Iron Ore Tumbles As Goldman Says "Copper’s Time Is Now"

After languishing for the past two years in a tight range despite recurring…

Published

on

Copper Soars, Iron Ore Tumbles As Goldman Says "Copper's Time Is Now"

After languishing for the past two years in a tight range despite recurring speculation about declining global supply, copper has finally broken out, surging to the highest price in the past year, just shy of $9,000 a ton as supply cuts hit the market; At the same time the price of the world's "other" most important mined commodity has diverged, as iron ore has tumbled amid growing demand headwinds out of China's comatose housing sector where not even ghost cities are being built any more.

Copper surged almost 5% this week, ending a months-long spell of inertia, as investors focused on risks to supply at various global mines and smelters. As Bloomberg adds, traders also warmed to the idea that the worst of a global downturn is in the past, particularly for metals like copper that are increasingly used in electric vehicles and renewables.

Yet the commodity crash of recent years is hardly over, as signs of the headwinds in traditional industrial sectors are still all too obvious in the iron ore market, where futures fell below $100 a ton for the first time in seven months on Friday as investors bet that China’s years-long property crisis will run through 2024, keeping a lid on demand.

Indeed, while the mood surrounding copper has turned almost euphoric, sentiment on iron ore has soured since the conclusion of the latest National People’s Congress in Beijing, where the CCP set a 5% goal for economic growth, but offered few new measures that would boost infrastructure or other construction-intensive sectors.

As a result, the main steelmaking ingredient has shed more than 30% since early January as hopes of a meaningful revival in construction activity faded. Loss-making steel mills are buying less ore, and stockpiles are piling up at Chinese ports. The latest drop will embolden those who believe that the effects of President Xi Jinping’s property crackdown still have significant room to run, and that last year’s rally in iron ore may have been a false dawn.

Meanwhile, as Bloomberg notes, on Friday there were fresh signs that weakness in China’s industrial economy is hitting the copper market too, with stockpiles tracked by the Shanghai Futures Exchange surging to the highest level since the early days of the pandemic. The hope is that headwinds in traditional industrial areas will be offset by an ongoing surge in usage in electric vehicles and renewables.

And while industrial conditions in Europe and the US also look soft, there’s growing optimism about copper usage in India, where rising investment has helped fuel blowout growth rates of more than 8% — making it the fastest-growing major economy.

In any case, with the demand side of the equation still questionable, the main catalyst behind copper’s powerful rally is an unexpected tightening in global mine supplies, driven mainly by last year’s closure of a giant mine in Panama (discussed here), but there are also growing worries about output in Zambia, which is facing an El Niño-induced power crisis.

On Wednesday, copper prices jumped on huge volumes after smelters in China held a crisis meeting on how to cope with a sharp drop in processing fees following disruptions to supplies of mined ore. The group stopped short of coordinated production cuts, but pledged to re-arrange maintenance work, reduce runs and delay the startup of new projects. In the coming weeks investors will be watching Shanghai exchange inventories closely to gauge both the strength of demand and the extent of any capacity curtailments.

“The increase in SHFE stockpiles has been bigger than we’d anticipated, but we expect to see them coming down over the next few weeks,” Colin Hamilton, managing director for commodities research at BMO Capital Markets, said by phone. “If the pace of the inventory builds doesn’t start to slow, investors will start to question whether smelters are actually cutting and whether the impact of weak construction activity is starting to weigh more heavily on the market.”

* * *

Few have been as happy with the recent surge in copper prices as Goldman's commodity team, where copper has long been a preferred trade (even if it may have cost the former team head Jeff Currie his job due to his unbridled enthusiasm for copper in the past two years which saw many hedge fund clients suffer major losses).

As Goldman's Nicholas Snowdon writes in a note titled "Copper's time is now" (available to pro subscribers in the usual place)...

... there has been a "turn in the industrial cycle." Specifically according to the Goldman analyst, after a prolonged downturn, "incremental evidence now points to a bottoming out in the industrial cycle, with the global manufacturing PMI in expansion for the first time since September 2022." As a result, Goldman now expects copper to rise to $10,000/t by year-end and then $12,000/t by end of Q1-25.’

Here are the details:

Previous inflexions in global manufacturing cycles have been associated with subsequent sustained industrial metals upside, with copper and aluminium rising on average 25% and 9% over the next 12 months. Whilst seasonal surpluses have so far limited a tightening alignment at a micro level, we expect deficit inflexions to play out from quarter end, particularly for metals with severe supply binds. Supplemented by the influence of anticipated Fed easing ahead in a non-recessionary growth setting, another historically positive performance factor for metals, this should support further upside ahead with copper the headline act in this regard.

Goldman then turns to what it calls China's "green policy put":

Much of the recent focus on the “Two Sessions” event centred on the lack of significant broad stimulus, and in particular the limited property support. In our view it would be wrong – just as in 2022 and 2023 – to assume that this will result in weak onshore metals demand. Beijing’s emphasis on rapid growth in the metals intensive green economy, as an offset to property declines, continues to act as a policy put for green metals demand. After last year’s strong trends, evidence year-to-date is again supportive with aluminium and copper apparent demand rising 17% and 12% y/y respectively. Moreover, the potential for a ‘cash for clunkers’ initiative could provide meaningful right tail risk to that healthy demand base case. Yet there are also clear metal losers in this divergent policy setting, with ongoing pressure on property related steel demand generating recent sharp iron ore downside.

Meanwhile, Snowdon believes that the driver behind Goldman's long-running bullish view on copper - a global supply shock - continues:

Copper’s supply shock progresses. The metal with most significant upside potential is copper, in our view. The supply shock which began with aggressive concentrate destocking and then sharp mine supply downgrades last year, has now advanced to an increasing bind on metal production, as reflected in this week's China smelter supply rationing signal. With continued positive momentum in China's copper demand, a healthy refined import trend should generate a substantial ex-China refined deficit this year. With LME stocks having halved from Q4 peak, China’s imminent seasonal demand inflection should accelerate a path into extreme tightness by H2. Structural supply underinvestment, best reflected in peak mine supply we expect next year, implies that demand destruction will need to be the persistent solver on scarcity, an effect requiring substantially higher pricing than current, in our view. In this context, we maintain our view that the copper price will surge into next year (GSe 2025 $15,000/t average), expecting copper to rise to $10,000/t by year-end and then $12,000/t by end of Q1-25’

Another reason why Goldman is doubling down on its bullish copper outlook: gold.

The sharp rally in gold price since the beginning of March has ended the period of consolidation that had been present since late December. Whilst the initial catalyst for the break higher came from a (gold) supportive turn in US data and real rates, the move has been significantly amplified by short term systematic buying, which suggests less sticky upside. In this context, we expect gold to consolidate for now, with our economists near term view on rates and the dollar suggesting limited near-term catalysts for further upside momentum. Yet, a substantive retracement lower will also likely be limited by resilience in physical buying channels. Nonetheless, in the midterm we continue to hold a constructive view on gold underpinned by persistent strength in EM demand as well as eventual Fed easing, which should crucially reactivate the largely for now dormant ETF buying channel. In this context, we increase our average gold price forecast for 2024 from $2,090/toz to $2,180/toz, targeting a move to $2,300/toz by year-end.

Much more in the full Goldman note available to pro subs.

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/15/2024 - 14:25

Read More

Continue Reading

International

The millions of people not looking for work in the UK may be prioritising education, health and freedom

Economic inactivity is not always the worst option.

Published

on

By

Taking time out. pathdoc/Shutterstock

Around one in five British people of working age (16-64) are now outside the labour market. Neither in work nor looking for work, they are officially labelled as “economically inactive”.

Some of those 9.2 million people are in education, with many students not active in the labour market because they are studying full-time. Others are older workers who have chosen to take early retirement.

But that still leaves a large number who are not part of the labour market because they are unable to work. And one key driver of economic inactivity in recent years has been illness.

This increase in economic inactivity – which has grown since before the pandemic – is not just harming the economy, but also indicative of a deeper health crisis.

For those suffering ill health, there are real constraints on access to work. People with health-limiting conditions cannot just slot into jobs that are available. They need help to address the illnesses they have, and to re-engage with work through organisations offering supportive and healthy work environments.

And for other groups, such as stay-at-home parents, businesses need to offer flexible work arrangements and subsidised childcare to support the transition from economic inactivity into work.

The government has a role to play too. Most obviously, it could increase investment in the NHS. Rising levels of poor health are linked to years of under-investment in the health sector and economic inactivity will not be tackled without more funding.

Carrots and sticks

For the time being though, the UK government appears to prefer an approach which mixes carrots and sticks. In the March 2024 budget, for example, the chancellor cut national insurance by 2p as a way of “making work pay”.

But it is unclear whether small tax changes like this will have any effect on attracting the economically inactive back into work.

Jeremy Hunt also extended free childcare. But again, questions remain over whether this is sufficient to remove barriers to work for those with parental responsibilities. The high cost and lack of availability of childcare remain key weaknesses in the UK economy.

The benefit system meanwhile has been designed to push people into work. Benefits in the UK remain relatively ungenerous and hard to access compared with other rich countries. But labour shortages won’t be solved by simply forcing the economically inactive into work, because not all of them are ready or able to comply.

It is also worth noting that work itself may be a cause of bad health. The notion of “bad work” – work that does not pay enough and is unrewarding in other ways – can lead to economic inactivity.

There is also evidence that as work has become more intensive over recent decades, for some people, work itself has become a health risk.

The pandemic showed us how certain groups of workers (including so-called “essential workers”) suffered more ill health due to their greater exposure to COVID. But there are broader trends towards lower quality work that predate the pandemic, and these trends suggest improving job quality is an important step towards tackling the underlying causes of economic inactivity.

Freedom

Another big section of the economically active population who cannot be ignored are those who have retired early and deliberately left the labour market behind. These are people who want and value – and crucially, can afford – a life without work.

Here, the effects of the pandemic can be seen again. During those years of lockdowns, furlough and remote working, many of us reassessed our relationship with our jobs. Changed attitudes towards work among some (mostly older) workers can explain why they are no longer in the labour market and why they may be unresponsive to job offers of any kind.

Sign on railings supporting NHS staff during pandemic.
COVID made many people reassess their priorities. Alex Yeung/Shutterstock

And maybe it is from this viewpoint that we should ultimately be looking at economic inactivity – that it is actually a sign of progress. That it represents a move towards freedom from the drudgery of work and the ability of some people to live as they wish.

There are utopian visions of the future, for example, which suggest that individual and collective freedom could be dramatically increased by paying people a universal basic income.

In the meantime, for plenty of working age people, economic inactivity is a direct result of ill health and sickness. So it may be that the levels of economic inactivity right now merely show how far we are from being a society which actually supports its citizens’ wellbeing.

David Spencer has received funding from the ESRC.

Read More

Continue Reading

International

Illegal Immigrants Leave US Hospitals With Billions In Unpaid Bills

Illegal Immigrants Leave US Hospitals With Billions In Unpaid Bills

By Autumn Spredemann of The Epoch Times

Tens of thousands of illegal…

Published

on

Illegal Immigrants Leave US Hospitals With Billions In Unpaid Bills

By Autumn Spredemann of The Epoch Times

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are flooding into U.S. hospitals for treatment and leaving billions in uncompensated health care costs in their wake.

The House Committee on Homeland Security recently released a report illustrating that from the estimated $451 billion in annual costs stemming from the U.S. border crisis, a significant portion is going to health care for illegal immigrants.

With the majority of the illegal immigrant population lacking any kind of medical insurance, hospitals and government welfare programs such as Medicaid are feeling the weight of these unanticipated costs.

Apprehensions of illegal immigrants at the U.S. border have jumped 48 percent since the record in fiscal year 2021 and nearly tripled since fiscal year 2019, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

Last year broke a new record high for illegal border crossings, surpassing more than 3.2 million apprehensions.

And with that sea of humanity comes the need for health care and, in most cases, the inability to pay for it.

In January, CEO of Denver Health Donna Lynne told reporters that 8,000 illegal immigrants made roughly 20,000 visits to the city’s health system in 2023.

The total bill for uncompensated care costs last year to the system totaled $140 million, said Dane Roper, public information officer for Denver Health. More than $10 million of it was attributed to “care for new immigrants,” he told The Epoch Times.

Though the amount of debt assigned to illegal immigrants is a fraction of the total, uncompensated care costs in the Denver Health system have risen dramatically over the past few years.

The total uncompensated costs in 2020 came to $60 million, Mr. Roper said. In 2022, the number doubled, hitting $120 million.

He also said their city hospitals are treating issues such as “respiratory illnesses, GI [gastro-intenstinal] illnesses, dental disease, and some common chronic illnesses such as asthma and diabetes.”

“The perspective we’ve been trying to emphasize all along is that providing healthcare services for an influx of new immigrants who are unable to pay for their care is adding additional strain to an already significant uncompensated care burden,” Mr. Roper said.

He added this is why a local, state, and federal response to the needs of the new illegal immigrant population is “so important.”

Colorado is far from the only state struggling with a trail of unpaid hospital bills.

EMS medics with the Houston Fire Department transport a Mexican woman the hospital in Houston on Aug. 12, 2020. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Dr. Robert Trenschel, CEO of the Yuma Regional Medical Center situated on the Arizona–Mexico border, said on average, illegal immigrants cost up to three times more in human resources to resolve their cases and provide a safe discharge.

“Some [illegal] migrants come with minor ailments, but many of them come in with significant disease,” Dr. Trenschel said during a congressional hearing last year.

“We’ve had migrant patients on dialysis, cardiac catheterization, and in need of heart surgery. Many are very sick.”

He said many illegal immigrants who enter the country and need medical assistance end up staying in the ICU ward for 60 days or more.

A large portion of the patients are pregnant women who’ve had little to no prenatal treatment. This has resulted in an increase in babies being born that require neonatal care for 30 days or longer.

Dr. Trenschel told The Epoch Times last year that illegal immigrants were overrunning healthcare services in his town, leaving the hospital with $26 million in unpaid medical bills in just 12 months.

ER Duty to Care

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act of 1986 requires that public hospitals participating in Medicare “must medically screen all persons seeking emergency care … regardless of payment method or insurance status.”

The numbers are difficult to gauge as the policy position of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is that it “will not require hospital staff to ask patients directly about their citizenship or immigration status.”

In southern California, again close to the border with Mexico, some hospitals are struggling with an influx of illegal immigrants.

American patients are enduring longer wait times for doctor appointments due to a nursing shortage in the state, two health care professionals told The Epoch Times in January.

A health care worker at a hospital in Southern California, who asked not to be named for fear of losing her job, told The Epoch Times that “the entire health care system is just being bombarded” by a steady stream of illegal immigrants.

“Our healthcare system is so overwhelmed, and then add on top of that tuberculosis, COVID-19, and other diseases from all over the world,” she said.

A Salvadorian man is aided by medical workers after cutting his leg while trying to jump on a truck in Matias Romero, Mexico, on Nov. 2, 2018. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A newly-enacted law in California provides free healthcare for all illegal immigrants residing in the state. The law could cost taxpayers between $3 billion and $6 billion per year, according to recent estimates by state and federal lawmakers.

In New York, where the illegal immigration crisis has manifested most notably beyond the southern border, city and state officials have long been accommodating of illegal immigrants’ healthcare costs.

Since June 2014, when then-mayor Bill de Blasio set up The Task Force on Immigrant Health Care Access, New York City has worked to expand avenues for illegal immigrants to get free health care.

“New York City has a moral duty to ensure that all its residents have meaningful access to needed health care, regardless of their immigration status or ability to pay,” Mr. de Blasio stated in a 2015 report.

The report notes that in 2013, nearly 64 percent of illegal immigrants were uninsured. Since then, tens of thousands of illegal immigrants have settled in the city.

“The uninsured rate for undocumented immigrants is more than three times that of other noncitizens in New York City (20 percent) and more than six times greater than the uninsured rate for the rest of the city (10 percent),” the report states.

The report states that because healthcare providers don’t ask patients about documentation status, the task force lacks “data specific to undocumented patients.”

Some health care providers say a big part of the issue is that without a clear path to insurance or payment for non-emergency services, illegal immigrants are going to the hospital due to a lack of options.

“It’s insane, and it has been for years at this point,” Dana, a Texas emergency room nurse who asked to have her full name omitted, told The Epoch Times.

Working for a major hospital system in the greater Houston area, Dana has seen “a zillion” migrants pass through under her watch with “no end in sight.” She said many who are illegal immigrants arrive with treatable illnesses that require simple antibiotics. “Not a lot of GPs [general practitioners] will see you if you can’t pay and don’t have insurance.”

She said the “undocumented crowd” tends to arrive with a lot of the same conditions. Many find their way to Houston not long after crossing the southern border. Some of the common health issues Dana encounters include dehydration, unhealed fractures, respiratory illnesses, stomach ailments, and pregnancy-related concerns.

“This isn’t a new problem, it’s just worse now,” Dana said.

Emergency room nurses and EMTs tend to patients in hallways at the Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital in Houston on Aug. 18, 2021. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Medicaid Factor

One of the main government healthcare resources illegal immigrants use is Medicaid.

All those who don’t qualify for regular Medicaid are eligible for Emergency Medicaid, regardless of immigration status. By doing this, the program helps pay for the cost of uncompensated care bills at qualifying hospitals.

However, some loopholes allow access to the regular Medicaid benefits. “Qualified noncitizens” who haven’t been granted legal status within five years still qualify if they’re listed as a refugee, an asylum seeker, or a Cuban or Haitian national.

Yet the lion’s share of Medicaid usage by illegal immigrants still comes through state-level benefits and emergency medical treatment.

A Congressional report highlighted data from the CMS, which showed total Medicaid costs for “emergency services for undocumented aliens” in fiscal year 2021 surpassed $7 billion, and totaled more than $5 billion in fiscal 2022.

Both years represent a significant spike from the $3 billion in fiscal 2020.

An employee working with Medicaid who asked to be referred to only as Jennifer out of concern for her job, told The Epoch Times that at a state level, it’s easy for an illegal immigrant to access the program benefits.

Jennifer said that when exceptions are sent from states to CMS for approval, “denial is actually super rare. It’s usually always approved.”

She also said it comes as no surprise that many of the states with the highest amount of Medicaid spending are sanctuary states, which tend to have policies and laws that shield illegal immigrants from federal immigration authorities.

Moreover, Jennifer said there are ways for states to get around CMS guidelines. “It’s not easy, but it can and has been done.”

The first generation of illegal immigrants who arrive to the United States tend to be healthy enough to pass any pre-screenings, but Jennifer has observed that the subsequent generations tend to be sicker and require more access to care. If a family is illegally present, they tend to use Emergency Medicaid or nothing at all.

The Epoch Times asked Medicaid Services to provide the most recent data for the total uncompensated care that hospitals have reported. The agency didn’t respond.

Continue reading over at The Epoch Times

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/15/2024 - 09:45

Read More

Continue Reading

Trending