Biogen revises warning label for cancer drug

The Food and Drug Administration said Biogen Idec Inc. of Cambridge has revised the warning label for its cancer treatment Zevalin after an undisclosed number of patients experienced serious side effects and some died after using the drug. In a letter sent recently to doctors, Biogen Idec said the new label warns doctors of serious skin conditions, some fatal, which occurred within days to months after treatment. Zevalin is administered in conjunction with Biogen Idec's Rituxan for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Because potentially fatal side effects were associated with Zevalin during clinical trials, the drug is approved only for patients who have not responded to other treatments, according to an FDA paper. A Biogen Idec spokesman said the warnings being added to the Zevalin label are already on the Rituxan label. (Jeffrey Krasner)

Broadcaster to make offer for radio station WCRB-FM

Marlin Broadcasting chief executive Woody Tanger said Marlin or a new company he forms will submit an offer next week to buy classical music radio station WCRB-FM (102.5) and its sister stations for ''substantially north of $50 million"; the offer will include a guarantee that WCRB will ''continue classical music broadcasting." WCRB's owner, Charles River Broadcasting Co., disclosed plans this week to explore a sale. That process is in the preliminary stages, said company chairwoman Mary L. Marshall. (Chris Reidy)

First official tree planted on Kennedy Greenway

Massachusetts Turnpike Authority officials, Boston officials, and North End residents yesterday planted what was officially called the first tree on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway: a honey locust, at the corner of North Street and Surface Road. Before shoveling a pile of soil onto the roots of the young tree, hoisted into a pit by a backhoe, Turnpike chairman Matthew J. Amorello said it was the first of 1,500 trees, tens of thousands of shrubs and vines, 4,000 plants, and 5,500 bulbs. Mayor Thomas M. Menino credited neighborhood activists such as Nancy Caruso of the North End, who ''kept our feet to the fire every day." Officials of the 14-year, $14.6 billion Big Dig said in June 2002 that trees planted then near South Station were the first on the restored Central Artery corridor. (Thomas C. Palmer Jr.)

$30m fraud is alleged at Lunenburg plastics firm

An independent examiner's report alleges that the top three officers of a Lunenburg plastics firm created fake customers and used corporate money to pay for personal expenses as part of an elaborate $30 million fraud. The report by Charles Glerum details years of alleged misconduct by former Gitto/Global Corp. officers Gary Gitto, Charles Gitto Jr., and Frank Miller. The report was prepared by Glerum under orders the by Bankruptcy Court in Worcester. (AP)

Etc.

Old Mutual PLC affiliate 2100 Capital bought a controlling stake in US hedge fund investor Larch Lane Advisors LP for an undisclosed amount. Boston-based 2100 Capital is one of 21 firms that comprise the $223 billion Old Mutual Asset Management Group . . . Oil prices held above $61 a barrel amid lingering concerns that Gulf of Mexico oil facilities recovering from hurricane damage will struggle to meet heating oil demand this winter. Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose 13 cents to $61.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange . . . Lawyers for Merck & Co. and for a postal worker suing the company over its now withdrawn painkiller Vioxx met privately with the judge in the case again, negotiating the wording of instructions she will give to jurors before they begin deliberating. Frederick Humeston's case against Merck is expected to go to the jury Monday or Tuesday. (Globe wires)