Mass. to get $2.5m as part of settlement with Pfizer

Massachusetts will get more than $2.5 million of a $60 million national settlement with Pfizer Inc. over advertising for the Celebrex and Bextra pain relief drugs. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley disclosed the state's portion of the settlement, following a five-year investigation to determine whether Pfizer misrepresented the drugs as safer and more effective than traditional pain relievers. Investigators concluded that Pfizer conducted an aggressive, deceptive and unlawful campaign to promote the drugs for uses that had been rejected by the Food and Drug Administration. (AP)

Sermo Inc. of Cambridge, which operates an Internet social networking site for physicians, has struck a deal with financial news provider Bloomberg LP that will give professional investors access to Sermo. Investors will be able to communicate with Sermo's 90,000 users and get information about promising drugs and medical devices directly from the doctors who use them. Sermo chief executive Daniel Palestrant said the new service will help doctors influence investments in healthcare companies, while helping investors make better-informed decisions. (Hiawatha Bray)

Air One's suspension of five weekly flights between Boston and Milan may have shocked passengers who were rebooked on another carrier this month, but the Italian airline "had planned to operate Boston flights only during the summer," spokesman Stefano Lombardo said in an e-mail. Air One canceled Boston's only nonstop service to Milan as of Oct. 5 but plans to restart it on April 5. Lombardo would not say how many passengers were rebooked. Air One also canceled two weeks of flights when it launched its inaugural US service in June, resulting in more than 1,000 passengers being shifted to other airlines flying between Boston or Chicago and Milan. (Nicole C. Wong)

American Express Business Travel Advisory Services predicts room rates companies negotiate with midrange and upscale hotels in Boston may increase more than the national average next year, according to the 2009 national forecast. Nationally, rates at midrange hotels could decrease up to 1 percent or increase up to 5.5 percent compared with 2008. At high-end hotels, the rates could decrease up to 2 percent or increase up to 4.5 percent. In Boston, midrange rates are expected to rise 3 percent to 7 percent while the upper-end rates rise 2 percent to 6 percent. (Nicole C. Wong)

Helen Greiner has resigned as chairwoman of the board of iRobot Corp. of Bedford, one of the nation's leading robot makers. Greiner will be replaced by Colin Angle, who will also retain his role as company chief executive. Greiner will stay on as a board member of iRobot, which makes the Roomba robotic floor cleaners, and the PackBot military robots. Greiner plans to devote more time to her work with robot industry associations, including the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council's robotics cluster, and the Robotics Technology Consortium, a national group of some 80 firms. She also hinted at a willingness to take a post at another robotics company. "My future's entirely open," Greiner said. "I am only 40, so I certainly don't envisage retiring." (Hiawatha Bray)

IBM Corp.'s popular Lotus Notes collaboration program, developed in Cambridge, is the latest big-name software product to be delivered as a hosted service over the Internet. Lotus Notes Hosted Messaging is designed for companies with 1,000 to 10,000 employees. For $10 per user per month, companies can gain access to Lotus Notes services by connecting via the Internet to a remote data center run by IBM. The new service could make Notes more attractive to smaller firms. (Hiawatha Bray)

The Boston City Council unanimously approved an ordinance intended to increase recycling by businesses in the city. The measure, sponsored by Councilor Michael P. Ross, requires that commercial waste haulers offer recycling to their customers or risk losing their license. Haulers who don't comply would first be fined - $150 for a first offense and $300 for the second one; a third violation would result in license revocation. The proposal now goes to Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who is expected to sign it. (John C. Drake)