Thursday, February 28, 2013

Daily Business Update

 
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Daily Business Update Thu. Feb. 28, 2013
 
Hub ad agency Arnold Worldwide helps Al Gore take on global warming skeptics
Boston ad agency Arnold Worldwide said it is collaborating with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project to launch Reality Drop, an initiative using online game mechanics as it seeks to build an advocacy community to take on critics of global warming. Reality Drop offers a database of “climate-change myths” along with the science to refute them. “We had to custom-design a strategy that wouldn’t just find the right people passionate about this topic, but also make it easy for them to speak up and take part in real-time discussions that work in our digital culture,” Arnold’s Pete Favat said.
FDA will review Stedesa, Sunovion’s epilepsy drug candidate
Marlborough drug maker Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. said that US regulators have agreed to review its application to market a potential new treatment for the most common form of epilepsy. The drug candidate is called Stedesa, the proposed trade name for eslicarbazepine acetate, and if approved, Stedesa could offer US adults with epilepsy a way to manage partial onset seizures. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects nearly 2.2 million people in the US. Sunovion expects the FDA to make a decision about Stedesa later this year.
Online payment firm Plastiq raises $6m
Plastiq, a Boston company that provides online payment services to merchants, said it has closed a $6 milliion round of Series A financing. The round was jointly led by venture capital firms Atlas Venture and Flybridge Capital Partners. Investors from the previous round, NextView Ventures and Greenoaks Capital Management LLC, also participated alongside angel investors including Harvey Golub, former chairman and CEO of American Express. Plastiq’s cofounders Dan Choi and Eliot Buchanan logged time at Harvard’s i-lab.
Staples is debuting new rewards program
Staples Inc., the Framingham-based office supply giant, announced Thursday a rewards program that gives members 5 percent back on everything, including technology and services, and provides free shipping on Staples.com. The new program is scheduled to start on March 15, and it was influenced by feedback from the company’s small business customers, Staples said.
Kala Pharmaceuticals: New $11.5m funding will help develop treatments for eye diseases
Kala Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Thursday that it has secured $11.5 million in Series A equity financing. New and lead investor, Crown Venture Fund LLC joined Kala’s existing investors, including Lux Capital Management, Polaris Venture Partners, and Third Rock Ventures. Waltham-based Kala is developing products that are capable of penetrating mucosal barriers for the treatment of major diseases that affect the eyes, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, and female reproductive system. One of Kala’s cofounders is Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Cambridge complex that will host office and lab space for Millennium is moving forward
Commercial real estate developer Forest City Enterprises plans to break ground this fall on a stalled 250,000-square-foot biotechnology office and lab complex at 300 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge, outside Central Square, after the City Council approved the zoning petition. The building will be occupied by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, the Japanese-owned cancer drug company, which has about 1,200 employees in Massachusetts and is outgrowing its space in a half dozen other buildings at Forest City’s University Park development near the proposed site.
TJX Cos. finally ready to start selling online
Several months after buying discount Internet retailer Sierra Trading Post, TJX Cos. disclosed plans to launch ecommerce websites later this year to hawk the Framingham retailer’s offprice merchandise. TJX chief executive Carol Meyrowitz said in a conference call Wednesday that the company aims to develop a T.J. Maxx website in a “controlled, small test mode in the back half of this year.”
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Boston.com Today Feb. 28, 2013
 
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Daily Business Update

 
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Daily Business Update Wed. Feb. 27, 2013
 
Life is good hopes to raise $2m this year to help children
Life is good, a Boston-based lifestyle brand, hopes to raise $2 million this year to benefit children, in part by donating a portion of its profits. The company said it has raised $9.5 million to date for its foundation, which funds a program that supports childcare professionals. Much of the money comes from an annual music festival the company sponsors. To help meet its 2013 fund-raising goal, Life is good will now donate 10 percent of net profits to its Life is good Kids Foundation. But as a privately owned company, Life is good does not share financial information such as profitability.
Bloomberg Radio’s business news will air on WXKS in Boston
Bloomberg Radio, a 24-hour station focused on business news, said its programming will begin airing on Clear Channel’s WXKS radio station in the Boston market. Starting March 1, WXKS is scheduled to offer Bloomberg’s up-to-date market coverage, in addition to local news, traffic, weather, and sports. Given the importance of Greater Boston’s financial services industry, Bloomberg’s business news is an ideal fit for this market, Bloomberg and Clear Channel said.
Health clubs fail to adequately display membership fees, state investigators say
The Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation said that a recent investigation of 15 local heath clubs found that they failed to display membership prices and fees as mandated by state law. What’s more, none of the locations surveyed adequately displayed a consumer’s three-day right to cancel health club contracts, the state agency said.
TJX: ‘We are well on the road to being a $40 billion-plus company!’
TJX Cos., the Framingham-based retailers that operates such chains as T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods, reported diluted earnings per share of $.82 for the fourth quarter, up 32 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Fourth quarter sales rose 15 percent to $7.7 billion. For its full fiscal year, TJX said sales were $25.9 billion, up 12 percent. At stores open at least a year, a measure closely watched by retail analysts, sales rose 7 percent. Diluted earnings per share were $2.55 versus $1.93 a year ago.
Virtual assistants will drastically change health care, a Nuance survey of doctors finds
A survey of doctors from Nuance Communications Inc. found that 80 percent of respondents believe that virtual assistants that use voice-recognition software will “drastically change” how they interact and use electronic health records other health care apps. Headquartered in Burlington, Nuance specializes in voice-recognition technology, and doctors and hospitals are an important customer group. Worldwide, more than 450,000 doctors are using products that incorporate its technology.
Kelliher Samets Volk wins Mass Save marketing assignment
Kelliher Samets Volk, a marketing firm with offices in New York, Boston, and Burlington, Vt., said Wednesday that it has formed a marketing partnership with Boston-based Mass Save. Mass Save is a consortium of Massachusetts gas and electric utilities and energy efficiency service providers committed to helping customers save energy and reduce energy costs. Consortium members include National Grid and NStar.
Lilly Foundation monitoring Charles Street AME bankruptcy
The Lilly Foundation said it’s monitoring the contentious bankruptcy proceedings of the Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church, in the wake of reports that the Boston congregation tapped restricted grant funds while it was struggling financially.
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Love Letters
 
Meredith Goldstein on love and relationships
Meredith Goldstein is a Boston Globe columnist who follows relationship trends and entertainment. She offers daily advice on Love Letters — and welcomes your comments.
Join the conversation at 1 p.m here

Janeane Garofalo Live in the Lab
 
 

TODAY'S DEAL »

Barleycorn's Craft Brew

 
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