The Ticker

FDA approves antibiotic from Lexington's Cubist

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved a new antibiotic from Lexington-based Cubist Pharmaceuticals to treat common skin infections often acquired in the hospital.

Regulators cleared the company's Sivextro as a pill and as an intravenous solution for adults with skin infections caused by bacteria that are often resistant to older antibiotics.

The FDA gave Sivextro an expedited review under a 2012 law designed to encourage drug makers to invest in researching and development of new antibiotics. Under the measure, Cubist will receive an additional five years of exclusive marketing rights to the drug.

Casino hopefuls present traffic plans

Mohegan Sun and Wynn Resorts laid out plans yesterday to help alleviate Boston-area traffic created by their proposed casinos.

The casino giants are vying for the lucrative eastern region gambling license, which is expected to be awarded in late August or early September.

Mohegan Sun officials, at a meeting before state gambling regulators at the Hynes Convention Center, said the casino's planned $1.2 billion resort on the Revere side of the Suffolk Downs horse racing track would include an estimated $45 million in transit-related improvements.

Wynn Resorts officials said their proposed $1.6 billion casino on a former chemical plant site in Everett would include about $50 million in such investments.

Both casino operators put forward a range of traffic-mitigating plans, including improvements to some of the area's most congested traffic circles. The casinos also said they would be limiting employee parking onsite and encouraging mass transit use while also staggering work shifts so that employees are not on the road during rush hour drive times.

Dow, S&P reach record highs

U.S. stocks rose yesterday, driving the Dow and the S&P 500 to close at record highs as the shares of 330 companies hit 52-week highs on the New York Stock Exchange.

The S&P 500 scored its third record closing high in a row while the Dow surpassed its previous record close on June 10. The blue-chip index hit an all-time intraday high at 16,978.02, coming close to the 17,000 mark.

For the week, the three major U.S. stock indexes rose 1 percent as investors brushed off geopolitical concerns about Iraq and focused on the Federal Reserve's comments indicating that it will keep interest rates low for a long period of time.

Sperry Van Ness International Corp., a commercial real estate franchisor based in Boston, announced that Diane Danielson, previously the company's chief platform officer, was promoted to chief operating officer. Danielson is responsible for the day-to-day operations that support the more than 180 Sperry Van Ness franchises nationwide. She previously worked as a new media and marketing technology consultant for several industries.

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City wants projects more 
accessible to the disabled

The city wants to change the mindset of real estate developers "hard-wired" to comply with only "bare-minimum" federal and state accessibility mandates for people with disabilities.

New development review guidelines adopted by the Boston Redevelopment Authority on Thursday are intended to instead convince developers to incorporate "ideal" accessibility and "visitability" accommodations into their building projects.

Developers will be required to complete an accessibility checklist at the start of the project review process. The city's Commission for Persons with Disabilities also will play a greater role in the process, starting with "pre-filing" meetings between the BRA and developers so issues can be considered during initial project design.

"Our expectation is … it will yield projects that do more than mere compliance with minimum standards," said acting BRA executive director Brian Golden, referring to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and state Architectural Access Board requirements.

"This is not a coercive device, because we don't have the authority to coerce in this regard," Golden said. "We think that if developers are shown options and discuss options early, they can incorporate them at minimal costs and maybe at no cost."

But while the BRA technically can't force developers to include "ideal" accessibility features in projects, it can use the permitting process as leverage, said David Begelfer, CEO of NAIOP Massachusetts, a commercial real estate development trade group.

Begelfer, who had yet to see the new BRA guidelines, said he's "cautiously concerned," citing already strict federal mandates and state requirements that exceed them, and possible added costs. "To go beyond the state and federal (requirements) … seems to be asking a lot," he said.

But, getting all city departments involved early in the project review process would be a good thing, Begelfer said. "There are a lot of other departments that don't get involved until much later ... and that gets to be a problem," he said.

The Commission on Persons with Disabilities previously got involved in the BRA development reviews about halfway through the process, when many design decisions already had been made, commissioner Kristen McCosh said.

"The goal is really to map out the accessibility features of a project at the beginning … rather than having them try to fit them in at the end," she said.

More than 77,000 Bostonians identify themselves as disabled. The city wants to develop not only accessible buildings, but accessible routes to accommodate them, McCosh said.

"We ask the developers to look at things like accessible transit stations in proximity to the development, sidewalk conditions ... accessible pathways … and visitability," she said. "Developers don't have that lens when they look at their projects.

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First nonstop Beijing flight lands in Hub

The first nonstop Hainan Airlines flight from Beijing arrived at Boston's Logan International Airport yesterday afternoon, christening a direct route expected to bolster trade and tourism between New England and China.

"Business, leisure and educational travel and trade between the United States and China has been growing dramatically," Hainan Airlines president Xie Haoming said in a statement after arriving on the inaugural flight. "This wonderful new link will stimulate this growth."

Xie and a delegation of Hainan executives, Chinese media and business people are scheduled to meet with local business leaders in the coming days.

Hainan Airlines will provide free private limo service for business-class passengers within 30 miles of Logan starting July 1, a service it already provides in Beijing.

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AG to probe CGI payments

The state will shell out an additional $35 million to developer CGI in a settlement over the disastrous Health Connector website, and Attorney General Martha Coakley has launched an investigation into the Virginia-based company, officials said yesterday.

"There were deficiencies and shortcomings on our part and CGI's part," said state Obamacare czar Maydad Cohen. "That has been well-documented by independent reports and by virtue of the fact we're in the position we're in today."

All totaled, CGI will have recouped $52 million of the original $69 million contract — a cost that skyrocketed to $89 million thanks to cost overruns. But the site was doomed from day one, baffling users with glitches that blocked people with hyphenated names and forced others to falsely identify themselves as prison inmates or mental patients to enroll.

"What a sad state of affairs that you spend that amount of money and there's no accountability at all," said Joshua Archambault of the Pioneer Institute. "If this were the private sector, there would be serious consequences for wasting this kind of money."

The agreement gives Coakley the power to try to recover up to $12 million from CGI under the False Claims Act.

"The failings of the CGI-developed website have been unacceptable, and we are conducting an investigation into their actions to seek to recover money back for taxpayers," said spokesman Brad Puffer.

But GOP gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker shot back: "Investigations cannot undo the taxpayer dollars wasted and the disruption of families' access to health care."

Gov. Deval Patrick defended the settlement in a statement: "This is a pragmatic way to wind up a frustrating relationship. CGI has been a disappointing partner."

CGI had continued working on the day-to-day project as recently as this week, even though Patrick had announced in March that the two sides were "parting ways."

Part of yesterday's settlement included determining the ownership of intellectual property — items such as software and code — that wasn't clearly spelled out in the contract.

CGI workers will remain on the job for the next three months in the transition.

"This agreement recognizes the important contributions made by CGI throughout the project and during the past three months when hundreds of CGI professionals stayed on the job," said CGI spokeswoman Linda Odorisio.

While state officials had blamed CGI for the disaster, documents unearthed by the Herald showed that in-fighting among Patrick administration officials, frequently changing work orders, and the state's obsession with building the "Rolls-Royce" of insurance portals also contributed to the cyber-meltdown.

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Presbyterians to divest as protest against Israel

DETROIT — The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Friday became the most prominent religious group in the United States to endorse divestment as a protest against Israeli policies toward Palestinians, voting to sell church stock in three companies whose products Israel uses in the occupied territories.

The General Assembly voted by a razor-thin margin — 310-303 — to sell stock in Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions. Two years ago, the General Assembly rejected a similar divestment proposal by two votes.

The American Jewish Committee, a policy and advocacy group based in New York, said the vote was "driven by hatred of Israel." But Heath Rada, moderator for the church meeting, said immediately after the vote that "in no way is this a reflection of our lack of love for our Jewish brothers and sisters."

The decision is expected to reverberate beyond the 1.8 million-member church. It comes amid discouragement over failed peace talks that have left activists desperate for some way to affect change and as the broader movement known as BDS — or boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel — has gained some momentum in the U.S., Israel's closest and most important ally.

Presbyterians who advocated for divestment insisted their action was not part of the broader boycott movement. Israeli officials, along with many American Jewish groups, denounced the campaign as an attempt to delegitimize the Jewish state. Separately, the assembly also voted to re-examine its support for a two-state solution.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the Israeli Embassy in Washington denounced the resolution as "shameful."

"Voting for symbolic measures marginalizes and removes its ability to be a constructive partner to promote peace in the Middle East," the statement said.

Omar Barghouti, a co-founder of the BDS movement, praised the vote as a "sweet victory for human rights."

He said Presbyterian supporters of Palestinian rights have introduced divestment into the U.S. mainstream and have given Palestinians "real hope in the face of the relentless and intensifying cruelty of Israel's regime of occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid."

The top Presbyterian legislative body has been considering divestment for a decade. Representatives of the Presbyterian socially responsible investment arm told the national meeting in Detroit that their efforts to lobby the three companies for change had failed. Carol Hylkema of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network, a Presbyterian group that advocates for Palestinians and spearheaded the drive for divestment, said their action was modeled on the divestment movement to end apartheid in South Africa. The 2012 assembly had endorsed a boycott of Israeli products made in the Palestinian territories.

"Because we are a historical peacemaking church, what we have done is, we have stood up for nonviolent means of resistance to oppression and we have sent a clear message to a struggling society that we support their efforts to resist in a nonviolent way the oppression being thrust upon them," said the Rev. Jeffrey DeYoe, of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network.

The vote was the subject of intense lobbying both from within and outside the church. Rabbis and other members of Jewish Voice for Peace, which advocates for Palestinians, lined the halls of the meeting and prayed in vigils outside the convention center wearing T-shirts that read, "Another Jew Supporting Divestment." Other rabbis and their Presbyterian supporters held panel discussions and sent letters to delegates urging them to vote no.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the liberal Union for Reform Judaism, which is the largest branch of American Judaism, addressed the delegates twice, urging them to reject divestment. After the vote, Jacobs said the denomination as a whole is no longer "a partner for joint work on Israel-Palestine peace issues."

In leading an effort to strike down the proposal, Frank Allen of the Central Florida Presbytery told delegates, "Divestment will create dissension. Dialogue and relationship building will lay the groundwork for true peace."

Bill Ward of the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest, based in Spokane, Washington, argued the proposal was not an attack on Israel. The measure adopted Friday reaffirms Israel's right to exist. "It is motivated by stewardship integrity, not partisan political advocacy," Ward said.

Two smaller U.S. religious groups have divested in protest of Israeli policies: the Friends Fiduciary Corp., which manages assets for U.S. Quakers, and the Mennonite Central Committee. Last week, the pension board of the United Methodist Church, the largest mainline Protestant group in the U.S., revealed plans to sell holdings worth about $110,000 in G4S, which provides security equipment and has contracts with Israel's prison system. However, the United Methodist Church had rejected church-wide divestment.

Motorola Solutions said in a statement that the company follows the law and its own policies that address human rights. Hewlett-Packard said its checkpoints for Palestinians were developed to expedite passage "in a secure environment, enabling people to get to their place of work or to carry out their business in a faster and safer way." Caterpillar has said it does not sell equipment to Israel, just to the U.S. government.

A church spokeswoman estimated the value of Presbyterian holdings in the companies at $21 million.

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Zoll reported from New York.

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Soccer interactions dwarf other events on Facebook

NEW YORK — Through one week of the World Cup, Facebook has already seen more people having more interactions about the tournament on the social media site than it had for the Sochi Olympics, Super Bowl and Academy Awards combined.

A total of 141 million people have commented about, "liked" or shared posts on Facebook about the World Cup, the company said Friday. There have been 459 million different interactions on it.

Much of the action is international: 85 percent of the people talking about the World Cup on Facebook are from outside of the United States. There are 1.28 billion people on Facebook worldwide, 80 percent of them living outside the U.S.

"We always see a large level of conversation on Facebook around big sporting events," said Justin Osofsky, the company's vice president of global operations and media partnerships. "But what we're witnessing around the World Cup has been extraordinary."

By contrast, the Super Bowl engaged some 50 million people on Facebook, the Sochi games 45 million people and the Oscars 11.3 million people, the social media site said.

Facebook has targeted the World Cup as part of its effort to become a site with more real-time conversation and news distribution around big events, functions where many people think of Twitter first. Facebook is promoting World Cup-related hashtags, has a special World Cup-related section and heavily promotes celebrity-related posts.

A photo posted by Pitbull, who performed at the opening ceremonies, has received more than 1.2 million interactions, as has a photo posted by Brazilian soccer star Neymar, Facebook said.

Facebook is also working with other media outlets to increase its exposure. One of the most prominent is Univision, the broadcaster with the Spanish-language rights to telecast the World Cup in the United States, which is featuring details about Facebook postings on its telecast. For CNN International, Facebook is constantly measuring what topics surrounding the World Cup are getting the most attention.

"In a fundamental sense, we're just getting started," Osofsky said.

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David Bauder can be reached at dbauder@ap.org or on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dbauder. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/david-bauder

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TD Garden gets growing on $70M redo

TD Garden yesterday unveiled further details of a two-year, $70 million renovation that includes digital technology and Wi-Fi enhancements, concourse and Legends Club upgrades, new menu items and a much larger pro shop.

The goal is to provide a "best-in-class hospitality and in-game event experience," according to Charlie Jacobs, principal of arena owner Delaware North Cos. and the Boston Bruins. "I hope it will set a standard for the arena industry and the hospitality industry," he said.

A high-density Wi-Fi system with 400-plus antennas will be installed in the 19-year-old arena. Delaware North also is exploring an industry-first: placing 24 of those Wi-Fi antennas in the hockey boards that circle the ice.

The project will add 29 video walls displaying game feeds, fans' Twitter posts and sponsor messaging; 72 overhead digital LED displays; and eight digital maps.

A larger Legends Club, the restaurant for season ticket holders, will have poles wrapped in LED displays and changing projections of sports banners. A raw bar, charcuterie and items including lobster pot pie and braised short rib nachos are on the new made-to-order menu.

TD Garden also will sport four new "fan hospitality zones," 25 new portable food and beverage carts, new craft beer bars and revamped concession stands with digital menu boards. Burgers and local specialties such as lobster rolls, fried clams, meatballs and cannoli will be sold.

"I think people will be most excited about the food," TD Garden president Amy Latimer said.

The current pro shop will remain open until the new second-level shop, which is more than double the size, opens by year's end.

"We're looking for some fun technology as well for that space," Latimer said.

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East-meets-Gothic in Zen makeunder

The interior of the five-bedroom penthouse unit at the Burrage House mansion 
in the Back Bay, which just went on the market for 
$10.7 million, is nothing like you'd expect from the building's exterior.

The imposing residence at 314 Commonwealth Ave., built in 1899 as the home of copper tycoon Albert Burrage, was modeled after a French Gothic chateau and is decorated with gargoyles, dragons and cherubs carved into its elaborate stonework.

But the current penthouse owners went for a minimalist approach, with an interior designed by Japanese-born architect Moho Abe of Woburn-based Zen Associates. Abe has successfully incorporated an Eastern aesthetic within the confines of a very Western building.

There are only four units in the Burrage, which was converted to condos in 2003-2004.

The penthouse has large, open living spaces filled with natural light that radiate serenity.

"People are taken aback by the open space and minimalist design," said listing broker Terry Maitland of Landvest. "The buyer is 
going to have be someone with a really modern aesthetic because too much has gone into the renovation."

The architect took 
advantage of the top floors by creating vaulted ceilings and adding skylights throughout. Fine touches include a staircase to the fifth floor with floating maple stairs and handrails wrapped in leather.

The entryway off the 
elevator, modeled after a Japanese house, has movable walls that are ideal for displaying artwork. The open living/dining area features beige limestone floors and a wood fireplace set 
inside a large wall of onyx.

The building has two turrets: Under one is a free-standing stainless steel hot tub, and the other hosts a meditation space.

The custom kitchen features blue limestone floors and stainless steel Poggenpohl cabinetry, and Sub-Zero, Kuppersbusch and Miele 
appliances. At the far end of the kitchen is a built-in tropical fish tank that acts as a 
divider to a family room with cathedral ceilings, skylights and a gas fireplace.

Off the family room is a cleverly designed child's bedroom with built-in beds. A hallway has a long row of burled walnut cabinets with lots of storage space and a Miele washer and dryer.

The fifth floor, taken up by the master bedroom suite, has a carpeted bedroom with a sunken bed and a wall of burled walnut closets with custom built-ins. The bedroom opens onto a two-tiered roof deck with another hot tub as well as great Back Bay tower views.

If there's any negative, it's that three of the unit's bedrooms are in a connected 1,265-square-foot apartment in the building next door. The unit, made for a nanny
or other live-in help, is rather average-looking and is untouched by the hand of the architect.

The penthouse and live-in apartment total 8,565 square feet and the taxes are $81,461 this year. The condo fee, even though it includes all utilities, including heat and central air conditioning, is a staggering $5,676 a month.

But in its favor, the penthouse comes with four deeded spaces in the building's garage, plus there's one outdoor parking space. You'd be hard-pressed to get this kind of parking anywhere in the city no matter the price.

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Kraft Foods recalls 260 cases of Velveeta

NEW YORK — Kraft said Thursday it is recalling its Velveeta cheese product from Walmart stores in as many as 12 states, mostly in the Midwest, because the cheese product lacks the proper amount of preservatives.

Insufficient levels of sorbic acid has led to the recall of 260 cases of Velveeta original pasteurized recipe cheese product because it could cause the cheese product to spoil prematurely or cause food-borne illnesses.

Kraft Foods Group Inc. said the cheese product was sent to three Walmart distribution centers and could have been shipped to as many as 12 states: Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

The company said the code on the packages is 021000611614. The packages also have a date stamp that reads "17 DEC 2014" and the timeframe is between 10:54 and 14:35.

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Drug maker Shire rejects offer from AbbVie

LONDON — The Dublin-based drugmaker Shire said Friday it has rejected an unsolicited 27 billion-pound ($46.2 billion) offer from AbbVie Inc., arguing that it fundamentally undervalues the company and its prospects.

The company said in a statement Friday that U.S.-based AbbVie's proposal was for 20.44 pounds ($34.78) and 0.7988 shares per Shire share. That values Shire stock at 46.11 pounds each — a 23 percent premium to its price of 37.38 pounds on Thursday.

Based on the number of outstanding shares in the company, the deal values Shire at 27.1 billion pounds.

Besides the price, Shire PLC says its board also has concerns about company structure "as AbbVie would redomicile in the UK for tax purposes."

The offer comes at a time of intense speculation in the industry, as drugmakers look to grow or eliminate noncore assets while focusing on strengths.

Last month, Pfizer pulled the plug on a takeover offer for Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca, amid intense political pressure to keep jobs in Britain.

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