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Fri. Mar. 16, 2012 Cubist opens expanded R&D facility Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Friday that it has officially opened its expanded research and development facility at its headquarters in Lexington. The 104,000 square-foot expansion includes state-of-the art laboratory space for R&D around antibiotics and other acute care products, a molecular modeling room, office space, and conference rooms. Cubist makes a drug called Cubicin, which treats skin and bloodstream infections. The company had revenue of $754 million last year.	Advertisement
Can IBM fix Boston’s bad traffic? That’s the hope when the computer giant lends the city several engineers for three weeks this summer. They will use their engineering smarts to come up with solutions for fixing traffic problems more quickly and even ideas for reducing vehicle emissions. Boston is one of 33 cities around the world that will get access to IBM know-how as part of the company’s 2012 Smarter Cities Challenge. The grant is worth about $400,000.
Genzyme parent buys Pluromed Sanofi SA, the French drugmaker that bought Genzyme Corp. of Cambridge last year, said Friday that it has agreed to buy Pluromed Inc., a medical device company based in Woburn. Financial details of the agreement were not included in Sanofi’s press release. Pluromed makes a product called LeGoo, a gel used during vascular and cardiovascular surgicial procedures. According to Sanofi, LeGoo is a “breakthrough technology” that provides temporary control of blood flow while avoiding vessel trauma during such surgical procedures.
Apple fans rave about new iPad About 200 people were waiting in line for the new iPad when the Apple Store on Boylston Street opened at 8 a.m. Friday. The queue stretched around the corner of Boylston and Fairfield streets.
Comcast, Verizon look to March Madness Two providers of cable TV service are using the March Madness college basketball tournament to show off some snazzy features. Comcast, for example said it is providing free live streaming for all of the NCAA tournament games to its subscribers. And rival Verizon FiOS TV has a feature that lets subscribers access and edit their tournament brackets right from their televisions, tablets, computers, and wireless phones.
Altman & Vilandrie opens office in San Francisco Boston consulting firm Altman Vilandrie & Co. announced the opening of a San Francisco office as a way to attract more talent and better serve its West Coast clients. “Many of the most innovative companies in the world are here, especially those at the intersection of the Internet, digital media, mobility, and the cloud,” said Stefan Bewley, the firm director who will head the new office. Altman Vilandrie focuses on clients in the communications, media, clean tech, and related technology sectors.
For most Prudential shopping center businesses, two-day blackout means lots of red ink As the blackout at the Prudential Center extended deep into Thursday, businesses and merchants began counting up the losses from the power outage that shut down one of Boston’s largest office and retail complexes in Boston. For example, after keeping products on ice for nearly two days, Legal Sea Foods managers began dumping pounds of fish into trash bags Thursday afternoon because they could no longer maintain proper temperatures at the chain’s restaurant in the shopping mall.
GMAC is back in the Massachusetts mortgage business months after pulling out of the state GMAC Mortgage, one of the nation’s leading mortgage lenders, is back in business in Massachusetts after a monthslong hiatus prompted by a legal tussle over its foreclosure practices.
Ministers urge customers to withdraw their funds from OneUnited Bank A group of ministers held a press conference Thursday outside the OneUnited Bank branch in Grove Hall to urge customers to withdraw their funds because the bank is planning to foreclose on the Charles Street AME Church in Roxbury. Reverend Eugene Rivers, who is among the leaders of the boycott, urged black customers and others to “withdraw every dime” from the bank.
Cambridge planning group wants revisions in Google expansion plans A community planning group will ask the Cambridge City Council to call for changes in Google Inc.’s plans for an urban campus in Kendall Square.
National Grid: Bills should go down for natural gas customers An abundance of natural gas supplies should result in bills going down for National Grid’s natural gas customers in Massachusetts, the company said Thursday. For its residential customers, lower prices caused by that abundance should translate into a drop of about $6 in their monthly bills, the company said. If approved, the new rate would go into effect in May and run through October.
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