Covidien recalls syringes that contain heparin

Diversified healthcare products company Covidien Ltd. issued a voluntary recall of its prefilled syringes containing heparin because some might contain a contaminant. Mansfield-based Covidien said its supplier, Wisconsin-based Scientific Protein Laboratories, said two lots of Heparin Sodium USP active pharmaceutical ingredient it received might contain a heparin-like contaminant. Covidien said it is recalling the product as a precaution; no adverse events have been reported. Last week, Scientific Protein said an ingredient it provided contained oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, a chemical that does not occur naturally. (AP)

A Lawrence company is recalling fresh cut fruit products containing cantaloupe from a Honduran company the Food and Drug Administration has linked to a multistate salmonella outbreak. JARD Marketing Corp. said its recall affects food service and retail products containing cantaloupe from Agropecuaria Montelibano and distributed in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. The FDA this week asked grocers to remove cantaloupe from the Honduran company and blocked its imports after dozens of cases of salmonella were reported in 16 states. (AP)

Fidelity Investments executive vice president David Weinstein said he is retiring from his government relations post at the company at the end of the month. Weinstein, 56, said he plans to pursue interests in charitable, civic, and educational areas. He recently became chairman of the board of Boston College's law school and also is on the board of trustees of Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., where Fidelity has recently expanded. Weinstein had worked at Fidelity 23 years and previously was corporate counsel and chief of administration. (Ross Kerber)

Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin said he sent subpoenas to three broker-dealer firms to determine whether they misled investors into buying auction-rate securities that are mostly issued by nonprofit hospitals and universities. Fears related to market turmoil have deterred investors from participating in the weekly or monthly auctions, preventing previous investors from being able to cash out these shares, often held through closed-end mutual funds. That has driven up interest expenses for the institutions. Galvin said he is examining major brokers who stopped supporting these auctions. But his main interest is whether investors bought the securities without being advised about the risks, he said, citing responses from investors after he publicized an earlier inquiry to closed-end funds. Galvin subpoenaed a unit of Bank of America Corp., UBS Securities LLC, and Merrill Lynch & Co. Spokespeople for all three declined to comment. (Ross Kerber)

The largest public shareholder of The New York Times Co. has raised its stake to 19.8 percent, the fourth time it has bought shares since getting the publisher to support two of its nominees to its board. Harbinger Capital Partners said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it bought 150,000 class A shares, bringing its stake to 28.3 million shares. Based on the Times's closing share price of $18.43 yesterday, Harbinger's stake is worth $521 million. The Times's market value based on the same closing price is about $2.6 billion. Harbinger has not said why it continues to buy shares in Times Co. A spokesman for the group did not return a phone call. (Reuters)

Delta Air Lines Inc. said it raised its fuel surcharge by $10 round-trip, marking the carrier's second attempt in just over a week to pass more of its fuel costs onto passengers. The third-largest US carrier tried to raise fares by a similar amount March 19, but that effort failed after most other airlines refused to follow suit. Thursday's increase was the sixth attempted by domestic carriers in the past five weeks, according to FareCompare.com. (AP)