Biopure lays off most of few remaining employees

Biopure Corp., which laid off 60 percent of its 80 employees in June, said it fired most of its remaining employees and cut salaries of other workers to conserve cash. The Cambridge biotech company, which is developing a synthetic blood product, said it is continuing to try to raise additional money. As part of the cuts, Biopure said in a filing its chief executive, Zafiris G. Zafirelis would receive "a reduced salary of $10,000 per month." Shares closed at 13 cents, down from $4.80 just over a year ago, reflecting investors' concerns about the company. (Todd Wallack)

Gold Star Mortgage Financial Group of Ann Arbor, Mich., said it's expanding service in 11 states including Massachusetts in the next six to eight months. Chief executive Dan Milstein said his high volume discount mortgage company is growing to meet customers' mortgage needs at a time when many companies involved in the subprime market shut down. The expansion will double the firm's size. It has recently hired 100 employees and now has 280. (Jenifer B. McKim)

Dyax Corp. said the Food and Drug Administration is giving priority review to the Cambridge biotechnology company's developing treatment Dx-88 for a genetic condition that can lead to dangerous swelling. The agency will aim to review the application for the drug within six months. An action date is set for March 23. Shares fell 11 cents, or 4.4 percent, to $2.40. (AP)

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. strengthened the guarantee on bank bonds, clearing the way for financial institutions to access markets with the "full faith and credit" of the US government. The FDIC will provide the guarantee on senior unsecured bank debt, ensuring creditors get a timely payment of principal and interest in the event of a default. Banks had said bond investors would reject the debt because the original guarantee wasn't strong enough to put the bonds on par with other government or government-backed securities. The FDIC excluded any loans with maturities of less than 30 days. (Bloomberg)

The pump price for regular unleaded fell 3.1 cents overnight to an average of $1.99 a gallon nationally, the lowest in more than three years, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service, and Wright Express. Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose 51 cents to settle at $49.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. (AP)

Georgia regulators have shut down The Community Bank, the 20th failure this year of a federally insured institution. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver. The bank had $681 million in assets and $611.4 million in deposits as of Oct. 17. The FDIC says all the bank's deposits and about $84.4 million of its assets will be acquired by Bank of Essex, of Tappahannock, Va. Its four branches will reopen Monday as offices of Bank of Essex. (AP)

Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's largest carrier, plans to modify a program that allowed coach passengers to pay as much as $25 extra for exit-row, aisle, and window seats, chief executive Richard Anderson said. Delta last month started charging $5 to $25 for exit-row seats with more legroom and certain aisle and window seats at the front of the plane. Delta ended that program Nov. 18 after it angered the carrier's most frequent travelers who get the seats for free and couldn't find as many seats available because they were being bought by coach travelers. (Bloomberg)