Cytyc sweetens bid for Vision Systems to $517m

THE REGION

Cytyc Corp., a Marlborough maker of medical testing products, increased its offer to buy Australia's Vision Systems Ltd. to $517 million, topping a rival $346 million bid from Tucson-based Ventana Medical Systems Inc. Cytyc's new offer, up from its Sept. 17 offering of $377 million, came two days after Ventana said it had paid about $47.4 million to acquire about 10 percent of Vision Systems' shares. Nick Malden, chief financial officer of Ventana, declined to say whether his company would increase its offer for Vision Systems. (AP)

Biogen Idec Inc. and Genentech Inc. won US approval to widen marketing of their cancer medicine Rituxan to include patients newly diagnosed with a slow-growing form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The Food and Drug Administration approved Rituxan as a first-choice treatment following chemotherapy or in combination with it for patients with low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, the companies said. (Bloomberg)

Luxottica Group SpA, an Italian designer and retailer of high-end sunglasses, said it sold its Things Remembered gift retail chain to private equity investors for about $200 million. Luxottica said Things Remembered, a unit of Cole National, was sold to GB Merchant Partners LLC, the private equity affiliate of Boston-based Gordon Brothers Group, and Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co. Things Remembered has 653 locations nationwide. Luxottica originally bought the business in October 2004 through the acquisition of Cole National. (AP)

An investor holding 9.41 million shares, or about 22 percent, of Anormed Inc. agreed to a tender offer from Cambridge-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., which is seeking to purchase the drugmaker for $515 million in cash. Baker Brothers Investments said it filed the agreement with US securities regulators confirming its intention to tender its stake. Millennium has agreed to pay $12 a share for Vancouver-based Anormed. The price is 40 percent higher than Genzyme Corp.'s $8.55 offer on Sept. 1. (Bloomberg)

John Hancock Financial Services plans to spend $25 million to $35 million over the next year on an ad campaign to reshape its image among baby boomers. The company hired Boston ad firm Hill Holliday to create its ``The Future is Yours" campaign, the company's first attempt to create a new brand identity in a decade and its first new ad campaign since Canadian firm Manulife Financial bought the company in 1994. The ads are Hancock's attempt to refresh its identity among those aged 40 to 70 -- whom it calls the ``baby boomer plus" generation -- by reminding them of the promises they've made about the future to their children, families, and themselves. The ads will run on cable networks like MSNBC, ESPN and Discover, and in print and on websites beginning Oct. 2. (Keith Reed)

THE NATION

OSI Restaurant Partners Inc., which does business as Outback Steakhouse, discriminated against women in hiring and promotions, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a lawsuit. Outback didn't provide job assignments or training required for female employees to be considered for top management, according to a complaint filed in US District Court in Denver. The EEOC sued ``after attempts to voluntarily resolve the matter were exhausted," the agency said in a statement. (Bloomberg)

Medtronic Inc. received a warning letter from US regulators for failing to file a follow-up safety report on a medical device approved in 1999. The FDA said the company missed a May 31 deadline for reporting on the device, the AneuRx, a large stent that treats life-threatening weaknesses in the main artery that carries blood to the lower body. The FDA warning is the second in a month for Minneapolis-based Medtronic, one of the world's largest makers of medical devices. ``We're reviewing the letter," Medtronic spokesman Rob Clark said in a telephone interview. ``We obviously take these letters very seriously." (Bloomberg)