By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. will announce this afternoon a partnership with leading Boston-area hospitals, medical schools, and universities -- in a novel attempt to address a major hurdle in medicine: the years-long gap between basic science advances and the testing of drugs in patients.

Under the unusual arrangement, the company will invest $100 million over five years and establish a research space in the heart of the Longwood Medical Area where Pfizer scientists will work in close proximity and team up with academic scientists. The new Center for Therapeutic Innovation, which will create about 50 new jobs, is part of a global Pfizer initiative to foster new kinds of collaboration with academia to accelerate drug development, a program that will be headquartered in Boston.

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By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

A look at the morning's top health industry news.

Pyramid out. Plate in: Daily Dose blogger Deborah Kotz wrote about the new plate icon that has replaced the food pyramid. The design is meant to make it easier for us to decide what to put on our own plates. The Wall Street Journal posted a video here of First Lady Michelle Obama helping the US Department of Agriculture to unveil the new tool. Also check out the early coverage from the New York Times, which included this quote from Dr. Walter C. Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health: “It’s going to be hard not to do better than the current pyramid, which basically conveys no useful information.”

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By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff

A new report from Governor Deval Patrick's administration documenting what hospitals are paid for common procedures reveals some eye-opening differences in price. Also noteworthy is that even routine procedures, like removal of the appendix and gallbladder, are concentrated in the highest-priced hospitals, pushing up health care costs even more.

Some interesting variations:

The five largest insurers paid Children's Hospital Boston more than $2 million in 2009 for 166 appendectomies -- an average $11,889 each. They paid Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge an average of $7,601 for each of 102 operations.

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By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

The Globe 100: Nine medical device manufacturers made the Globe's annual ranking of publicly-held Massachusetts companies based on sales, profits and returns to shareholders. Covidien of Mansfield topped that group, with $10.6 billion in revenue and a 75 percent in profit margin. Harvard Bioscience based in Holliston was the leader among eight biotechnology companies on the list. It reported $108 million in revenue last year and a 108 percent increase in profit margin. Henri Termeer, retired chief executive officer of Genzyme Corp. in Cambridge, was recognized as an innovative leader in biotech and pharmaceuticals. Endocrinologist Scott Chappel, chief scientific officer at Tokai Pharmaceuticals, and Dr. Dennis Selkoe, a neurologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, were also noted as innovators. And in medicine, Dr. Atul Guwande, a writer and surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital, was recognized for his influence in the national health care debate and for efforts to reduce deaths and complications from surgery through checklists. The work of Dr. Daniel Haber, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and Dr. John Frangioni, co-director of the Center for Molecular Imaging at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was also highlighted.

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By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

Students enrolling in the advanced trauma life support training course provided by Massachusetts General Hospital in October will be learning skills needed to evaluate, resuscitate, and transport trauma patients by practicing on simulators -- not on live sheep as past students have done -- a hospital spokesman said today.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group that advocates for elimination of the use of animals in medical training, celebrated the decision. According to the group's survey of 257 hospitals that offer the trauma skills program, only nine now use live sheep.

“If Mass. General acknowledged that it isn’t necessary to use animals for this purpose, that’s hard to refute because they’re held in such high regard," said Dr. John J. Pippin, a Dallas cardiologist and a senior medical and research adviser for the committee.

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By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

A look at the morning's top health industry news.

Change of heart: Fewer people are getting heart bypass surgery even as more hospitals are offering the procedure, Salynn Boyles of WebMD Health News reports. A new study from the Journal of the American Medical Association says about one-third fewer patients received a bypass in 2008 as did in 2001. But, the number of hospitals performing the coronary artery bypass graft, or CABG, grew 12 percent. Experts say that's cause for concern: A drop in volume can also signal a drop in the quality of care.

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By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

Dr. James J. Mongan, longtime chief executive officer of Partners HealthCare, died today of cancer at Massachusetts General Hospital. Mongan, 69, who lived in Chestnut Hill, led the health care system from 2003 through his retirement at the end of 2009. He was chief executive officer of Mass. General for six years before that.

Partners is the state's largest private employer and one of the biggest nonprofit health systems in the country. It includes Mass. General and Brigham and Women's Hospital, as well as six community hospitals and other facilities. Mongan was a strong advocate for the Massachusetts health care law and is credited with increasing the use of electronic health records by Partners physicians from 10 percent in 2003 to 100 percent today.

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By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

A look at the morning's top health industry news.

State layoffs: The Department of Public Health has begun laying off workers in an effort to adjust to $33 million in budget cuts proposed by House lawmakers, the State House News Service reports. The department is expected to eliminate about 50 jobs across the department, affecting disease prevention, environmental regulation, and community health efforts.

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By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

A look at the morning's top health industry news.

The young insured: Phil Galewitz of Kaiser Health News reports that about 600,000 young adults are taking advantage of a provision in the Affordable Care Act that took effect this year, allowing them to remain on their parents insurance until age 26. The US Department of Health and Human Services had estimated that 1.2 million could sign up in 2011. But the numbers are outpacing that projection.

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By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

Much has happened at Massachusetts General Hospital in the 200 years since two Harvard professors saw the need for a hospital in the city and started a petition to create one -- so much so that the history needs multiple volumes for a full retelling.

The hospital last month released a 527-page narrative, told by local author, Webster Bull, and daughter, Martha Bull. Called "Something in the Ether" -- a nod to Mass. General's place in history as the site of the first public demonstration of ether as an anesthetic -- the book is available on Amazon and in local bookstores.

Spokeswoman Donita Boddie said several departments, including pediatrics and pathology, are considering releasing their own histories. And the Department of Nursing along with the nursing alumni association will officially unveil their book, "Nursing at Two Hundred," next week to coincide with Nurse Recognition Week. The book is filled with photographs and first-person accounts culled from hospital archives, historical societies and scrapbooks.

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