Jon Asplund

Chicago

Reporter, Health Pulse Chicago at Crain's Chicago Business

Marketing and content professional

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Articles

Northwestern medical school cuts, consolidates research centers, including one focused on equity

5 days ago | chicagobusiness.com | Jon Asplund

Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine announced internally last month the closures of several research centers and one merger of two centers as part of a faculty-led review conducted late last year. The Daily Northwestern reported today that research hubs focused on molecular cardiology, biomedical informatics and health equity transformation were affected.
AMA picks WebMD medical chief as new CEO

5 days ago | chicagobusiness.com | Jon Asplund

The American Medical Association has named Dr. John Whyte its new CEO and executive vice president. He will succeed current CEO Dr. James Madara effective July 1. Madara previously announced he would leave the Chicago-based physicians association after 14 years at the helm. Whyte, most recently the chief medical officer at WebMD, has experience in clinical medicine, government and the private sector, the AMA said in a press release.
Health care interests escalate fight over Illinois 340B bill

6 days ago | chicagobusiness.com | Jon Asplund

Opposing interests in the health care world are escalating their fight over an Illinois bill on the 340B drug discount program, which seeks to prevent pharmaceutical manufacturers from restricting which providers get the steep drug discounts allowed for in the federal 340B legislation.
Libertyville gene-therapy manufacturing site to close, lay off 133 employees

1 week ago | chicagobusiness.com | John Pletz |Jon Asplund

Bristol Myers Squibb is closing a gene-therapy manufacturing facility in Libertyville that employs 133 workers. It's the second time the facility has been on the losing end of a consolidation play. Bristol Myers Squibb acquired it two years ago from Novartis, which acquired the site when it bought gene-therapy startup AxeXis for $8.7 billion in 2018.
Imperiled immigrant health programs help buoy hospitals, report says

1 week ago | chicagobusiness.com | Jon Asplund

A new study details the economic lift of Illinois' programs meant to provide health care coverage to immigrant populations and the financial risk to hospitals if the programs are shut down by the state.
On heels of big data deals, Tempus AI touts robust revenue

1 week ago | chicagobusiness.com | Jon Asplund

Tempus AI continued to see dramatic revenue and gross profit growth in the first quarter of 2025, with year-over-year revenue up 75.4% and quarterly gross profit nearly doubling, the Chicago-based technology and medicine company said in a press release this afternoon. The company increased its full-year 2025 revenue guidance to $1.25 billion, about 80% growth over 2024. The quarter was marked by acquisitions and strategic collaborations.
Threats to Medicaid expansion funds put focus on Illinois' 'trigger law'

1 week ago | chicagobusiness.com | Jon Asplund

An Illinois law that would automatically initiate massive cuts to Medicaid funding could derail health care in the state if threatened federal cuts to the program come to pass, without legislators even having a chance to respond to the cuts, state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, warns. Potential federal cuts, the status and scope of which are currently unclear, could cause a 2013 "trigger law" to kick in, imperiling the Medicaid benefits of hundreds of thousands.
One of Abbott's first federal baby formula lawsuits dismissed

1 week ago | chicagobusiness.com | Jon Asplund

A judge threw out one the first "bellwether" federal lawsuits against Abbott Laboratories and its competitor Mead Johnson over the safety of their pre-term baby formulas.
RFK Jr. wants placebo trials for vaccines. A Northwestern researcher says that's unethical.

1 week ago | chicagobusiness.com | Jon Asplund

Ignoring ethical standards in medicine that have been developed over decades to unilaterally establish placebo controls in testing of new vaccines may treat patients unethically, and undermine the scientific basis of medicine itself, according to Seema Shah, professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has proposed requiring "all new vaccines" undergo testing that would include placebo-controlled trials.
Blue Cross rule encouraging self-injection of asthma meds draws ire

1 week ago | chicagobusiness.com | Jon Asplund

An asthma medication coverage policy by Health Care Services Corp. and its Illinois health plans that may lead to more at-home self-injections is meeting resistance from allergists, patients and an alliance of medication providers.