Covis Pharma on Tuesday agreed to voluntarily withdraw its treatment for premature births after FDA concluded that the drug was not effective, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Minnesota, North Carolina, and Texas.

• Minnesota: Best Buy has announced partnerships with some of the largest health systems in the country, including Advocate Health, Geisinger Health, and Mount Sinai Health System. The partnerships are meant to help expand Best Buy's at-home care platform, Current Health, which it purchased in late 2021 for $400 million. "We are excited about the momentum of care at home, but it is still a nascent emerging part of the healthcare industry," CEO Corie Barry said last week. "We are essentially nurturing a start-up within a large-scale organization and leveraging Best Buy's core assets, including the Geek Squad, to incubate a new business." On Tuesday, Best Buy announced that it will provide technology support to Atrium Health, part of the newly formed Advocate Health, for its hospital-at-home program. "Best Buy Health brings in their strengths around really innovative, omnichannel experiences," said Rasu Shrestha, Advocate's chief innovation and commercialization officer. "The reason we're betting on this partnership is because we truly believe that we can bring so much to the table that is actually distinctly different, from not just what others are doing in the hospital-at-home space or the health-at-home space, but also really unique and what we actually need in service of the communities that we're a part of." (Hudson, Modern Healthcare, 3/7; Repko, CNBC, 3/7)

• North Carolina: Covis Pharma on Tuesday agreed to voluntarily withdraw its treatment for premature births after FDA concluded that the drug was not effective. According to Covis, the decision was based on an FDA advisory committee's unanimous conclusion that the drug provided no benefit in a large study. The drug, called Makena, gained FDA approval in 2011. In recent years, the drug's efficacy was called into question after findings from a follow-up clinical trial did not show a benefit. While Covis Pharma initially fought FDA's October 2020 request to withdraw the drug, the company ultimately agreed to voluntarily remove the drug from the market. "While we stand by Makena's favorable benefit-risk profile, including its efficacy in women at highest risk of preterm birth, we are seeking to voluntarily withdraw the product and work with the FDA to effectuate an orderly wind-down," said Raghav Chari, chief innovation officer at Covis. (Jewett, New York Times, 3/7; Silverman, STAT+, 3/7 [subscription required])

• Texas: On Monday, five women filed a lawsuit against Texas over legislation they say prevented them from getting abortions while facing life-threatening circumstances with their pregnancies. According to a statement from the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the women in the case, this marks the first lawsuit "brought on behalf of women denied abortions" and filed against a state that has implemented a ban blocking abortion access since Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer. "The lawsuit aims to hold the state of Texas accountable for the consequences of multiple harmful abortion bans on pregnant people facing obstetric complication," the center said in a tweet. (Dam, Axios, 3/7)