Thermo Electron awarded acid detection patent
WALTHAM – Thermo Electron Corp.’s BioStar unit has been awarded a U.S. patent for nucleic acid detection, Dow Jones news service reported. Nucleic acid is used in the study of how genes affect health. BioStar’s technology uses thin molecular films to detect the interaction of nucleic acids, such as DNA, through hybridization, Dow Jones reported. The patent is covered by an enforcement term through 2017, the company reported.
Staples.com takes stake in digital printing firm
FRAMINGHAM – Staples, Inc.’s Staples.com unit has acquired a 10 percent stake in NewDoc.com Inc., a digital printing company in Aliso Viejo, Calif.. the Boston Globe reported. NewDocs will use Staples’ production centers and office product retail sites for digital production needs, the Globe reported. The company also told the Globe that Staples will offer NewDocs distributive technologies, courier service and customer service at its retail sites. Staples’ investment in NewDocs is reportedly part of a $31 million second round financing, which included Goldman Sachs, Pacific Life Insurance Co., Spinnaker Ventures, ComVentures and Mission Ventures.
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IBM to use Akamai network
CAMBRIDGE – IBM Corp. announced it would make its software for Internet commerce easier to use with Akamai Technologies network, making each of the companies more accessible to the other. Akamai’s global communications network speeds the flow of data through the Web. IBM is the second biggest software manufacturer in the county behind Microsoft. IBM will be modifying its Websphere software to simplify its use by online businesses to tie in with Akamai’s global communications network, Bloomberg News reported.
Excelergy announces alliance with CGE&Y
LEXINGTON – Excelergy Corp. announced it is allying with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young to offer Web-related software throughout the world to deregulating energy suppliers. Excelergy, based here, with offices in Atlanta and Santa Monica, Calif., produces a variety of software for use by retail energy suppliers. CGE&Y is an international IT and management consulting firm.
Life Sciences says test identifies Parkinson’s
BOSTON – Boston Life Sciences, Inc., announced that presumably final tests of its diagnostic product, Altropane, have been successful in identifying Parkinson’s disease in patients. According to the Boston Globe, the study of Altropane, a product the technology company is developing for use in diagnosing a variety of neurological disorders, including attention deficit disorder is for the U.S.Food and Drug Administration. The testing for Parkinson’s disease is in the third stages, usually the final stage before approval or disapproval. If approved by the FDA, it would be the first drug approved for diagnosis of Parkinson’s.
Medical schools form pharmaceutical alliance
CAMBRIDGE – Harvard University Medical School announced that it and four other major medical schools in the country are forming an alliance to provide pharmaceutical companies with faster service in obtaining approval of their developing drugs. Included with Harvard are Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s in Boston, along with Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, the University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., and the University of Washington Medical School in Seattle. The alliance was formed, according to the Boston Globe, to offset the growing influence of private industry in the development of medication, and to share in the lucrative opportunities with pharmaceutical companies, which claim they spend up to $500 million to develop and win Food and Drug Administration approval of their products. The university hospitals hope to convince the pharmaceutical companies that they are better prepared and equipped to do the required studies more effectively and quicker than private industry.
Aetna U.S. Healthcare to buy data from Harvard
CAMBRIDGE – Aetna U.S. Healthcare announced it had reached agreement with Harvard Medical School to obtain consumer health information for an undisclosed sum that would be used in Aetna’s InteliHealth Web site. In agreeing to provide the information, Harvard imposed a variety of strict limitations on its use and a clear separation of advertising matter from text produced by Harvard staff, as well as restrictions on the use of Harvard’s logo. Johns Hopkins University had been providing the material to Aetna from 1996 until this past July. The Boston Globe quoted a doctor who oversees medical school publications for consumers who said that Aetna would pay 70 Harvard faculty members who will write for and edit the Web site, and also pay an additional fee to Harvard for use in whatever manner it chooses.
French telecommunications firm hires Arnold
BOSTON – Alcatel, a French telecommunications equipment company, has hired Arnold Communications to represent it in its attempt to expand its share of the U.S. market, the Boston Globe reported. Quoting AdWeek Online, the Globe reported that the contract would mean $40 million in billings to Arnold initially, but that annual spending could reach $100 million. Arnold is the largest ad agency in New England.
Roxy.com shifting jobs to Florida
MARLBOROUGH – Roxy.com, an online seller of electronics equipment, announced that it is consolidating its call center operation in Florida. Last year the company bought Everything Wireless, a catalogue and online retailer in Hollywood, Fla. The Boston Globe reported that only about 30 of the company’s 114 employees in Marlborough will remain there. The company plans to move most of its Hollywood staff and the Marlborough jobs to a new warehouse in Miramar, Fla., the Globe reported.
