 | Fri. Jan. 06, 2012 Researchers at MIT, Harvard launch start-up that will focus on combination medicines
Blend Therapeutics announced its launch as a Watertown biotechnology company that will focus on so-called “combination medicines.” Company founders include Robert Langer, David H. Koch Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Stephen Lippard, the Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry at MIT, and Omid Farokhzad of Harvard Medical School. Blend Therapeutics looks to “create integrated, pharmacologically controlled combination medicines that more predictably, effectively, and safely target the multiple mechanisms underlying complex diseases.” Eric Rosengren calls for more stimulus, targeted at housing and small business
The Federal Reserve, Obama administration and Congress should pursue policies to stimulate the weak economy, targeting them at two struggling areas that have historically helped lead US recoveries, housing and small business hiring, Eric S. Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said. In past recessions, a difficult job market has been the impetus some people used to start a new small business, Rosengren told business leaders in Hartford. But those efforts have been hampered as housing values declined and credit standards tightened NAI Hunneman brokers $4m sale of Foxborough industrial property
Commercial real estate firm NAI Hunneman has brokered the $4 million sale of a nearly 100,000-square-foot facility in Foxborough to a real estate affiliate of Motorcycles of Manchester. Motorcycles of Manchester presently operates a store – M.O.M. South – at 108 Washington St., just south of Gillette Stadium on Route 1. The company will be moving to the newly acquired property. The transaction will enable the company to relocate its store to larger space nearby. American Science and Engineering receives order for its X-ray screening technology
American Science and Engineering Inc., a Billerica company specializing in X-ray detection technology, said it has received an order for five of its Z Backscatter Vans from a law enforcement agency in South America. The company’s press release did not identify the customer or include financial details of the transaction. The order increases the company’s “installed base in South America,” president and chief executive Anthony Fabiano said. Moontoast raises $6 million
Moontoast, a technology company with offices in Andover and Tennessee, said it recently raised $6 million in new funding. The round was led by the Martin Cos., a venture capital firm headquartered in Nashville. Other current investors are also participating in the round. Moontoast describes itself as a creator of social commerce software that make it easier for entertainment and media companies to find fans of their properties online; deliver content; and, ideally, entice them to buy merchandise. Summit Partners funds raise $3.2b
Summit Partners, a Boston private equity firm, said it has raised $3.2 billion in two funds to invest in companies in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The firm said its fund VIII raised $2.7 billion for large private equity deals -- investments in profitable, growing companies. It also raised a $520 million venture capital fund to invest in younger companies. Investors in the funds include pension funds, foundations, and wealthy individuals. Putnam plans to lay off 78 local employees
Putnam Investments plans to lay off 78 employees in the Boston area, or 4.4 percent of its workforce, in the wake of last year’s volatile markets. It was the fourth job cut since 2008 for the Boston mutual fund firm, which said the latest cutbacks are mainly in operations, and do not involve investment staff. Before the layoff, which employees learned about today, total headcount at Putnam was 1,767. In a statement, a Putnam spokesman said that the company was making the reductions “as part of an effort to realign corporate resources.” NLRB complaint alleges Steward fired nurse for leading union organizing effort
A complaint lodged by the National Labor Relations Board alleges that Steward Health Care System unlawfully fired a nurse at its Holy Family Hospital in Methuen last August for leading a union organizing drive, in a case that underscores continued deterioration in once-warm relations between Steward and the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The complaint, issued Dec. 29, also cited Steward for preventing other Holy Family nurses from wearing buttons last summer in support of the fired nurse. Trader Joe’s plans Patriot Place supermarket
The Trader Joe’s supermarket chain plans to open a store at Patriot Place in Foxborough this year, Patriot Place management said. Patriot Place describes itself as a shopping, dining, and entertainment destination located next to Gillette Stadium. Tenants include Bass Pro Shops, a 14-screen Showcase Cinema De Lux, CBS Scene Restaurant & Bar, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill, and a Renaissance Hotel & Spa. The 16,000-square-foot Trader Joe’s store will be the chain’s 18th Massachusetts location. TD Bank survey: Small businesses expect better performance in early 2012
A growing number of East Coast small businesses expect stable or improving revenue performance in the early 2012 despite a general lack of optimism about the US economy, a new survey from TD Bank concludes. Small businesses in the Boston area tended to be slightly more optimistic than their counterparts in many other regions of the bank’s Maine-to-Florida footprint. Although its twin headquarters are in Portland, Maine, and Cherry Hill, N.J., TD Bank is one of the largest banks in Massachusetts. Former Lotus & Microsoft exec Ray Ozzie hiring for new start-up, Cocomo
Ray Ozzie has a post-Microsoft start-up, and he’s hiring. But aside from mentioning that the company is called Cocomo and doesn’t yet have an office of its own, he didn’t want to divulge much more. Ozzie is perhaps best known as creator of the 1990s collaboration product Lotus Notes, and more recently as the person Bill Gates chose to succeed him as Microsoft’s chief software architect, in 2006. Ozzie spent four years in that role, departing at the end of 2010. |
