Three biotech companies are relocating to Boston

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino plans to disclose this morning that three small-to-midsize biotech companies are moving to the city, bringing hundreds of jobs. A city spokeswoman declined to name the companies. Boston has tried to court biotech companies for several years with its LifeTech Boston Initiative, which it calls a one-stop shop to help companies with site location, financial assistance, permitting, zoning, workforce development, and transportation. The city sent a delegation to the Biotechnology Industry Organization convention in San Diego last month and hopes to create 10,000 biotech jobs by 2010. Boston has been hampered by a lack of lab space - with a vacancy rate of less than 2 percent - but new space is opening up, including the 18-story Center for Life Sciences and some buildings on the South Boston Waterfront, where at least one of the companies is moving. (Todd Wallack)

Dalton paper maker Crane & Co. said it will sell a minority stake to a New York investment firm. Crane, owned by members of the founding family for more than 200 years, did not disclose the price. The company said the investment by Lindsay Goldberg LLC will "provide liquidity" for some shareholders and help the company grow. Lindsay Goldberg's comanaging partners, Alan Goldberg and Robert Lindsay, will take seats on the board. Crane, which employs about 1,000 people in Berkshire County, is best known for its production of paper for US currency. (Robert Gavin)

Boston Scientific Corp., the world's second-largest maker of heart devices, lost its bid for a new trial of a $432 million patent infringement verdict won by a New Jersey doctor over drug-coated stents. A US District Judge in Marshall, Texas, rejected Boston Scientific's requests for a new trial, that the verdict be thrown out, or that radiologist Bruce Saffran be forced to accept a reduced award of $13.3 million. "The verdict is unsupported by both the evidence and the law, and we believe we will prevail on appeal," said a Boston Scientific spokesman. (Bloomberg)

Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical company Altus Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it signed a long-term deal to buy a growth hormone ingredient from a unit of Novartis AG. Financial details were not disclosed. (AP)

Waltham's Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., which makes laboratory supplies and scientific instruments, said it will raise prices on some products 5.3 percent, on average, effective Aug. 1, to offset higher raw material and energy costs. The products include lab plasticware and liquid-handling products. (AP)

To partially offset rising fuel costs, Northwest Airlines Corp. said it will charge most passengers a fee to check in the first piece of luggage. The $15 fee, which does not apply to elite frequent fliers and full-fare coach passengers, applies to tickets sold today or afterward for travel on or after Aug. 28 in the United States and to Canada. Northwest also said passengers redeeming award tickets issued in North America on or after Sept. 15 will be assessed $25 for domestic flights, $50 for trans-Atlantic flights, and $100 for trans-Pacific flights. Ticket change fees also increased, as of yesterday, from $100 to $150. The airline expects these fees to generate $250 million to $300 million a year. (Nicole C. Wong)

Wachovia Corp., the fourth-biggest US bank, named Treasury Undersecretary Robert Steel, who resigned yesterday, as chief executive to stanch losses caused by bad loans. Steel served at Goldman Sachs Group from 1976 to 2003. He replaces interim chief Lanty Smith, the chairman who led the company after the June ouster of Kennedy Thompson. Shares are down about 62 percent this year. (Bloomberg)

Cases of salmonella poisoning from tainted produce surpassed 1,000 as US regulators shifted their focus from tomatoes to jalapeno peppers and other ingredients in salsa. At least 1,017 people in 41 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada have become infected with the Salmonella Saintpaul strain since mid-April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on its website. Officials have been unable to determine how the produce was tainted or where it came from. (Bloomberg)