January 7, 2008
Central Mass In Review
Fitchburg
Water Park Plans Finalized
The transformation of Fitchburg's Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel into a Courtyard by Marriott hotel and CoCo Key indoor water park is moving forward. A full hotel renovation will start in the spring, and the water park will break ground in 2008, according to information from the hotel. The water park, to be developed by Wave LLC of Milwaukee, will look much like the existing CoCo Key park in Danvers, with slides, wave pools and other attractions. The hotel has suffered from a low occupancy rate in recent years, and city officials agreed to tax incentives to encourage its redevelopment.
Framingham
NMS Communications Announces Sale Of AccessGate
Framingham-based mobile network application company NMS Communications Corp. has sold its AccessGate business to Georgia-based Verso Technologies Inc. Verso paid $3.35 million for the business, including $2.5 million of Verso stock. NMS said the sale will allow the company to focus on its communications platforms business and its recently launched LiveWire Mobile business.
Franklin
Echo Begins Glucose Trial
Franklin-based medical products maker Echo Therapeutics Inc., formerly Sontra Medical Corp., said it had started the second clinical trial of a wireless, needle-free, continuous blood glucose monitoring system. The study is being conducted at Tufts New England Medical Center, and Echo expects to announce results of the trial in the first quarter of the year. The system, which is called Symphony CTGM, is designed to provide glucose monitoring for diabetes patients as well as help hospitals better monitor and control glucose levels in other patients.
Gardner
Firearm Manufacturer Sold
The parent company of a gun manufacturer in Gardner is expected to be bought by North Carolina-based Remington Arms Co. Inc. Remington has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Marlin Firearms Co. Inc. of North Haven, Conn., for an undisclosed sum. Marlin, a family-owned business, owns H&R 1871 Inc. in Gardner, which employs about 230 people. H&R (Harrington and Richardson) was founded in the 1871, and at one time had a plant in Worcester. According to past news reports, the company was bought by James O. Garrison in 1991, who then sold the company to Marlin in 2000 citing mounting legal bills from class action handgun lawsuits.
Hopkinton
EMC Buys California Co. For $85M
EMC Corp. will buy California-based customer communications company Document Sciences Corp. for $85 million in cash, the Hopkinton information infrastructure giant announced today. Document Sciences Corp. sells software that facilitates communication with customers, partners and suppliers. The company's stockholders will receive $14.75 in cash for each share.
Marlborough
Sepracor May Market Epilepsy Drug
Marlborough-based Sepracor Inc. will pay Portuguese drug-maker Bial as much as $175 million for the rights to bring an epilepsy drug to the U.S. market. The licensing agreement requires Sepracor to see Bial's BIA 2-093 epilepsy drug through approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The agreement also allows Sepracor to put the drug on the commercial market in the U.S. and Canada.
Natick
Boston Scientific Defibrillator Gets European Regulatory Approval
Boston Scientific Corp. of Natick has received European regulatory approval for a new cardiac defibrillator, the company announced. The implantable device is designed to monitor heartbeats in heart failure patients and improve their response to therapy. The device, known as LIVIAN CRT-D, is pending approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is not available in the U.S.
Southborough
Double-Take Acquires Montreal Firm
Southborogh-based Double-Take Software acquired TimeSpring, a data protection software company based in Montreal, for $8.3 million. Double-Take said the deal would broaden its overall "recovery strategy" to include not just disaster recovery for catastrophic failure but also "operational recovery," which includes data loss from human error.
Westborough
National Grid Sets Lofty Responsibility Goals
Westborough electricity and natural gas utility National Grid will reduce greenhouse gas emissions 60 percent by 2050, as part of a larger environmental, economic and social corporate pledge. The company's fist U.S. corporate social responsibility report is based on three themes of climate change, safety and reliability, and lays out the company's commitment to the communities it serves. In addition to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, the company will also move to 100 percent in-house renewable energy use and will invest more than $3 billion in its New York electricity systems over the next 5 years.
TruGreen's Westborough Site Hit With DEP Fine
Memphis, Tenn.-based TruGreen LandCare LLC was hit with $8,000 in penalties for stockpiling fill and landscape debris in a wetland buffer zone at its 29 Washington St. location in Westborough. According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, TruGreen's property was inspected upon request from the Westborough conservation commission.
Worcester
UMass Memorial Health Care Among The Elite
UMass Memorial Home Health, a division of Worcester-based UMass Memorial Health Care, has been named to the 2007 HomeCare Elite by health care information and services companies OCS Inc. and DecisionHealth. UMass Memorial Home Health was ranked in the top 25 percent of home health care agencies in the country, and was cited for strong performance in patient outcomes and improvement.
College Gets $2M Holiday Gift
The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, with campuses in Worcester, Boston and Manchester, N.H., got something nice for the holiday season. Alumnus and board member Richard E. Griffin of Bedford, N.H., has donated $2 million to the college. Griffin, a 1971 graduate of the college, founded and then sold Critical Care Systems Inc. of Nashua, N.H., which provides infusion therapies at patients' homes and at ambulatory sites. College officials said the gift will help expand programs on all three campuses.
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