Inverness agrees to pay $230m for ParadigmHealth

Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. agreed to acquire ParadigmHealth Inc. for $230 million in cash as part of an expansion into disease management services from medical testing. ParadigmHealth, a closely held company based in Upper Saddle River, N.J., specializes in care and services for newborns and cancer patients, along with others with critical illnesses or complex conditions, Inverness said. ParadigmHealth had revenue of about $60 million over the past 12 months, according to the statement. Waltham-based Inverness develops and sells rapid medical tests, including those for pregnancy and heart conditions. (Bloomberg)

Cambridge biotechnology company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. said German officials granted the company a patent that covers 52 claims for small interfering RNAs. The goal of RNAi-based treatments is to target the gene at the root of a disease or condition and "silence" or switch it off without affecting other genes or cells. The patent granted to Alnylam, called "607," is part of the Kreutzer-Limmer I patent series. The patent series has been licensed to the company's development and research partners. (AP)

First Marblehead Corp.'s stock sank after a Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst downgraded the student finance company, saying there may not be as much cash committed to covering unpaid student loans as people think. Shares fell $2.90, or 9.7 percent, to $27.10. Matt Snowling slashed his rating on First Marblehead's stock to "underperform" from "market perform." He cut his price target to $26 from $43. Boston-based First Marblehead helps banks like Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. package their student loans into pools and sell them as bonds. The company charges fees for advising on the deals and helping funnel the payments from the students to the bondholders. (AP)

Arbitron Inc. is delaying the rollout of a new ratings system for radio stations in nine markets following complaints from broadcasters that the system's samples were too small to provide reliable data. The delays, which range from three to nine months, mark a significant setback for the new electronic ratings method, which Arbitron has been developing for years as a way to replace the 1960s-era paper-and-pencil diary system. Several broadcasters have been raising objections to the new system, saying Arbitron was failing to meet targets for getting enough people to participate, particularly young adults ages 18 to 34 and members of ethnic minorities. Arbitron said its earnings for 2008 would take a hit of 22 to 33 cents per share as a result of the additional costs for extending the diary systems in the affected markets as well as the loss of anticipated revenue. (AP)

Senator Charles Schumer urged a federal regulator to examine whether loans to troubled Countrywide Financial Corp. put at risk a network of regional government-sponsored lenders. Countrywide, plagued by a surge of defaults among loans made to borrowers with weak credit, is the largest borrower from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, with $51 billion, or 37 percent of the bank's total advances as of Sept. 30, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The Federal Home Loan Bank system, created by Congress during the Depression, has some 8,100 members around the country including banks, savings and loans, and credit unions. (AP)

Microsoft Corp. must pay more than $140 million for infringing on software patents owned by a Michigan-based technology company, a federal Appeals Court has ruled. Z4 Technologies Inc. sued Microsoft and Autodesk Inc., maker of drafting software, in 2004, claiming the technology they used to activate newly installed software and deter piracy infringed on patents created and owned by David Colvin, the owner of privately held Z4. Z4 argued that Microsoft's Windows XP and Office 2003 suite of productivity software used its patented method of asking computer users to supply two passwords, or authorization codes, before they could fully use new software. (AP)

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