Lewis PR, a San Francisco-based digital communications company with offices around the world, said it has acquired the Davies Murphy Group, a public relations firm headquartered in Burlington. Financial terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed. In 2012, the Davies Murphy Group, or DMG, had revenues of nearly $9 million; the firm has 65 employees. Eric Davies, who founded DMG in 1998, and partner Andy Murphy will continue to lead the firm under the DMG name, Lewis PR said in its press release. After the acquisition, Lewis PR said it projects global revenues of more than $45 million. Its global head count is now 420 employees. “There can be no clearer statement of our global ambitions than this deal with DMG,” Lewis PR chief executive Chris Lewis said in a statement. Histogenics Corp., a regenerative medicine company based in Waltham, said Monday that it has appointed Peter Greenleaf to be its new chief executive. Greenleaf most recently served as President of MedImmune, the worldwide biologics arm of drug giant AstraZeneca. Greenleaf succeeds Patrick O’Donnell. Histogenics looks to combine cell therapy and tissue engineering technologies to develop highly innovative products for tissue repair and regeneration. Histogenics’ key product initiatives are focused on providing treatment options for patients suffering from articular cartilage derived pain and immobility. In an e-mail statement, Histogenics explained why it decided to appoint Greenleaf. “Histogenics is now a late-stage development company that is rapidly approaching commercialization,” the statement said. “This new set of needs and challenges warranted new leadership and expertise.” The average price for gas in Massachusetts was $3.49 a gallon in the latest weekly AAA survey, a penny less than the average in the previous week’s survey, AAA Southern New England said Monday. Massachusetts prices are up 1 cent over the past month, AAA Southern New England added. The current national average for gas is $3.63 a gallon. A year ago at this time, the Massachusetts average was $3.48. In the current Massachusetts survey, the range in prices was 34 cents, from a low of $3.35 to a high of $3.69. The weekly surveys look at prices for self-serve, regular unleaded gas. Aveo Pharmaceuticals Inc. said in a Monday press release that it has received a formal rejection of a kidney-cancer drug candidate from the US Food and Drug Administration. The news was expected. Last week, Cambridge-based Aveo said it would lay off 140 employees as it looks to scrap the kidney-cancer drug candidate and re-focus on other experimental drugs in its pipeline. Aveo announced the restructuring after an advisory panel recommended last month that the FDA reject Aveo’s new drug application for tivozanib as a treatment for renal cell carcinoma. The disease is a form of kidney cancer that kills tens of thousands of people around the world annually. Related Cos., a New York real estate company whose properties include luxury condominium and apartment buildings, said it plans to roll out the Zagster bike-sharing program at several of its New York properties following a successful pilot program in Boston. Cambridge-based Zagster aims to be to bike sharing what Zipcar is to car-sharing. Zagster’s business model is to convince hotels, condo and apartment buildings, businesses, and college campuses that bike-sharing is a desirable amenity. Related tested the Zagster program at its One Back Bay luxury residential building in Boston. Now Related plans not only to expand the program to some of its properties in other cities. Zagster CEO Timothy Ericson said, “By offering Zagster, Related can meet their residents’ needs while providing Related a key differentiator in a highly competitive market.” State officials in Massachusetts are seeking a commitment from banks to approve at least 10,000 mortgages for first-time homebuyers over the next five years. The Massachusetts Home Ownership Compact, to be announced by Governor Deval Patrick and state officials on Monday, calls on lenders to originate mortgage loans for buyers with household incomes that fall below the median income in their geographical areas. ‘‘By giving more young people and families the opportunity to own a home, we retain our talent pool and create sustainable long term economic growth,’’ Patrick said in a prepared statement. Representatives of several banks that have signaled support for the compact planned to join Patrick for the announcement, which was planned at the home of a first-time homeowner in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. Once pedestrians flourished stout sticks and walking canes; now thanks to smartphones and mobile devices, many text while they stroll, and that can lead to distracted street-crossing, a new survey finds. The survey is from Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance. According to the Liberty Mutual Insurance Pedestrian Safety Survey, 60 percent of pedestrians walk while texting, e-mailing, talking on the phone, or listening to music despite the fact that 70 percent of respondents consider those behaviors to be dangerous. In 2010, there were 4,280 pedestrian deaths in traffic crashes, a 4 percent increase from the previous year, said Liberty Mutual, citing industry data. Liberty Mutual commissioned the survey from Ketchum Global Research & Analytics, which conducted a nationwide phone survey of 1,004 adults from April 1 through April 10. |
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