Device maker lays off 55 at Marlborough facility

Boston Scientific Corp., the medical device maker, eliminated 55 jobs in Marlborough last month, according to the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. Company spokesman Paul Donovan said the Natick firm made the cuts after deciding to pull the plug on its Endovations program, an effort to develop a new single-use endoscope with an integrated digital system for use in colonoscopies. Donovan said the company determined the product wasn't commercially viable. He said the firm has offered severance and outplacement support to the affected workers. (Todd Wallack)

Cambridge's Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., formed a venture uniting Nobel Prize winners David Baltimore and Phillip Sharp to create drugs from a newly discovered class of genetic material. The venture, Regulus Therapeutics LLC, will have exclusive licenses from Alnylam and Isis for technology focused on so-called microRNAs. These molecules regulate networks of genes that may be involved in diseases including cancer, viral infections, and metabolic disorder, the companies said. Regulus also will be given patents. (Bloomberg)

The popular heartburn drug Protonix could face early generic competition, after a federal judge cleared the way for a copycat version of the medicine. The ruling was the latest in a string of setbacks for drug maker Wyeth. Shares fell 3.8 percent, or $1.82, to $45.72. Wyeth and its generic competitor, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, said Thursday that Judge Jose Linares of US District Court in New Jersey rejected Wyeth's request that he block Teva's marketing of the generic version. Although the Protonix patent is not set to expire until July 2010, Teva has filed suit challenging its validity. (New York Times News Service)

MedImmune Inc. said it has resolved Food and Drug Administration concerns about bacteria and mold problems at a plant making its nasal spray flu vaccine, paving the way for the medicine to begin shipping. The pharmaceutical maker also said it can now seek final FDA approval for expanded use of the medicine FluMist. FDA officials have said the problems at the United Kingdom plant weren't expected to significantly disrupt production of the nasal spray. (AP)

Two senators, union leaders, and researchers urged the federal government to set tougher restrictions on a microwave popcorn additive linked to lung disease among factory workers heavily exposed to it. The chemical diacetyl, used as a butter flavoring in some microwave popcorn, has been linked to serious lung damage in workers who test hundreds of bags per day and inhale the fumes. It also was tied to disease in one consumer who ate microwave popcorn nightly and breathed the steam from freshly cooked bags. Democratic Senators Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Patty Murray of Washington sent letters to the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Labor. (AP)

Imprisoned former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling asked for a new trial, saying the Justice Department used incorrect legal theories and "coercive and abusive tactics" to win a conviction, including threatening witnesses. Skilling was sentenced in October to more than 24 years in prison for his role in the collapse of Enron Corp., once the nation's seventh-largest company. He was convicted along with company founder Kenneth Lay on May 25, 2006, on 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading, and lying to auditors. (AP)

Chrysler LLC hired Philip Murtaugh, the former General Motors Corp. manager who spurred GM's growth in China, to run operations in Asia, adding another industry veteran to its list of executive recruits. Murtaugh becomes the fourth outsider lured by the fourth-largest seller of vehicles in America in the month since its sale to Cerberus Capital Management LP. (Bloomberg)