Sepracor replaces top 2 executives in shake-up

THE REGION

In a management shake-up at Marlborough drug maker Sepracor Inc., the company said in a regulatory filing it has hired Adrian Adams as president and chief operating officer and plans to promote him to chief executive within six months. Current president William James O'Shea will get a $1 million severance package and serve as vice chairman until the end of August. Founder and current chief executive Timothy Barberich , will remain as chairman. Adams is the former president of Kos Pharmaceuticals Inc. of New Jersey, which was acquired by Abbott Laboratories in December. (Stephen F. Heuser)

Massachusetts employers could see a reduction in workers' compensation insurance rates of 13.4 percent by September, according to a filing submitted to the state Division of Insurance. The Workers' Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau made the filing on behalf of insurers who write workers' comp policies, which are mandatory for Massachusetts employers. If the rate cut is approved, rates would be 64 percent less than in 1991, when a major reform law was approved. Paul Meagher, bureau president , said workplace injuries have continued to decline along with medical claims, although the price of average claims has continued to rise. (State House News Service)

National Grid USA , the state's biggest electric utility, said it could be fined up to $8 million by Massachusetts utility regulators for excessive power failures last year. But the utility, which has 1.3 million customers in 169 cities and towns, said it's asking the Department of Telecommunications and Energy to give credits for exceeding several service standards, as it got in other years, and also to not fine National Grid for "act of nature" blackouts during windstorms last January, February, and October and thunderstorms in August. If regulators agree, National Grid would face no financial sanctions. Separately, NStar Electric calculated it should get a $600,000 good-performance bonus that would add 13 cents to average homeowners' bills. DTE officials had no comment because the case is pending. (Peter J. Howe)

Owners of the Ragged Mountain ski resort in Danbury, N.H., were expected to file for bankruptcy yesterday or auction off the property. Neither happened. Brothers Al and Walter Endriunas also own the Blue Hills Ski Area in Milton. Instead, they were given a 30-day extension by their lender to help work out "a smooth transition to development of the property," co-owner Al Endriunas said. Court records say the brothers were already negotiating to sell Ragged Mountain -- but did not have a formal purchase offer -- when they defaulted on a $4.75 million loan from Endeavor Financial Services LLC in January. (AP)

Genzyme Corp. chief Henri Termeer received a $1.7 million bonus for 2006, bringing his total pay package last year to $3.2 million, according to a regulatory filing. The bonus was slightly lower than his award for 2005, although his overall pay last year was higher because of a salary increase. Genzyme's share price dropped about 14 percent last year, from $71.92 to $61.58, against an increase of 10 percent in the Amex Biotechnology index. The Cambridge biotech firm did win a high-profile bidding war for the Canadian cancer-drug company AnorMed Inc. (Stephen Heuser)

Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. said it has received a subpoena and civil investigative demand from the Federal Trade Commission in connection with a probe into its 2006 acquisition of rapid-diagnostics business Innovacon from ACON Laboratories. Inverness said the FTC opened an investigation in March 2006 into whether the deal is anticompetitive. The FTC could start administrative or federal court proceedings that would require the Waltham company to divest itself of assets, according to the company's annual report. (Dow Jones)

Boston Scientific Corp. said in a regulatory filing the tally of lawsuits related to 2005 issues with Guidant heart-rhythm devices has grown to more than 1,175 cases. The Natick medical-device company also joined rival St. Jude Medical Inc. in reporting it has received a statement from a French antitrust enforcement body alleging an act of collusion, in 2001, among implantable defibrillator makers. (Dow Jones)