Indevus CEO postpones retiring after FDA inquiry

The chairman and chief executive of Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc. is postponing retirement after federal regulators asked the company for more safety data on an experimental medication. Glenn Cooper said he'll stay at the Lexington-based company indefinitely, while a search for a new CEO is put on hold. Cooper had planned to retire in September, when the company expected the Food and Drug Administration would approve its injectable testosterone drug Nebido. (AP)

Red Sox executive Charles Steedman has been named senior vice president and general manager for Northland AEG LLC, a sports and entertainment company in Connecticut. Steedman spent the last seven years marketing the Red Sox, negotiating movie and broadcasting deals that helped build the team into a global brand. Now Northland AEG wants him to do the same for the American Hockey League team it owns, the Hartford Wolf Pack. Steedman will be in charge of expanding operations in Hartford, which include managing the city's sports and entertainment venues, the XL Center and Rentschler Field, as well as the business operations of the Wolf Pack. (Angel Jennings)

A South Carolina company that offered to help people settle their tax debt has agreed to change its advertising and pay $1.5 million in restitution under a settlement with attorneys general in 18 states. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said JK Harris and Company took advantage of people seeking assistance with their taxes. Coakley says in some instances, the company took their money and didn't give them any help at all. JK Harris denied any wrongdoing and said it entered into the agreement for the betterment of its industry. (AP)

Carter Bryant, the original designer of MGA Entertainment Inc.'s Bratz dolls, said he pitched the idea for the multiethnic and urban fashion dolls while he was still working for Barbie maker Mattel Inc. Bryant testified in federal court in Riverside, Calif., during a trial over whether Mattel or MGA is the rightful owner of Bratz. Bryant, who had returned to Mattel in January 1999 after a hiatus during which he lived with his parents in Missouri, sent artist renderings of the dolls to a talent agency in August of that year, he testified. Mattel, the world's biggest toy maker, can seek hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from MGA if it can prove Bryant designed Bratz while he worked for Mattel and secretly took the idea to MGA in 2000. MGA receives about $500 million a year from Bratz sales and licenses, Mattel has said in court filings. (Bloomberg)

Criticized by states and cities for how it rates their bonds, Moody's Investors Service said it was considering rating municipal debt on the same scale it uses for corporate debt. It would be a significant change for the tradition-bound municipal bond market and could help to lower borrowing costs for some local governments during tough economic times. It could also lead to less demand for bond insurance at a time when several big guarantors are faltering. This year, California and 10 other states called on Moody's and its rivals, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings, to change how they rated municipal debt because bonds issued by public entities default far less often than comparably rated corporate securities. The states said that because of their lower rating they were forced to buy bond insurance so they could issue bonds that pay lower interest rates. (New York Times News Service)

Verizon Communications Inc. expanded the availability of its fastest DSL service to 3.4 million lines in 20 states. The service, with downloads of 7 megabits per second, was available on 400,000 lines when it launched in January. Verizon has not been putting much investment behind digital subscriber line technology, focusing instead on fiber optics. (AP)

Milberg LLP, the law firm that got $45 billion for investors who sued corporations over securities fraud, will pay $75 million to settle charges it illegally paid clients to file claims, two people familiar with the case said. The tactic helped the New York-based firm file cases faster than rivals, ensuring a bigger share of the settlements, federal prosecutors alleged. The government will defer prosecution, and none of the firm's current partners will be charged under the accord, which may be unveiled this week, according to the two people. (Bloomberg)