Today's Globe: AG's report on Caritas, new strep vaccine studied, Exact Sciences soars, Genzyme launches kidney drug, heparin concerns spread

Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton should end its role as a top-level academic hospital treating complex cases and Caritas Carney Hospital in Dorchester should consider becoming primarily a mental health center, says a report on the Caritas Christi Health Care System by Attorney General Martha Coakley. The report, based on a four-month study by a consultant, also urges the Archdiocese of Boston to cede control of the eastern Massachusetts hospital chain to an independent board with expertise in healthcare management. The board running the hospitals now answers to Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley. In an editorial, the Globe says Caritas' internal recommendations for changing governance would leave O'Malley with too much control, adding "sluggishness that Caritas cannot afford."

Scientists in California reported in the journal Science today on a new approach to developing a vaccine against Group A streptococcal infections, the cause of strep throat, rheumatic fever and necrotizing fascitis, commonly known as "flesh-eating" syndrome.

In business, Exact Sciences Corp.'s shares soared nearly 45 percent after the American Cancer Society and other health groups recommended use of its stool DNA test to screen for colon cancer; Genzyme Corp. launched its kidney disease drug Renvela; and German dialysis patients have gotten sick using a different brand of heparin than the Baxter International product that has been linked to 19 deaths in the US, leading the FDA yesterday to advise all US suppliers of the blood-thinner to use a special high-tech test for a contaminant found in some batches of Baxter's heparin.