Elizabeth Warren would use drug co. fines for NIH funds

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren plans to file a bill next week to help fund basic medical research by targeting drug companies accused of breaking the law, but the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council has a problem with the proposed funding mechanism.

"We appreciate Sen. Warren's commitment to increased NIH funding, but believe the mechanism proposed ... is flawed and is not likely to provide the increase in dollars Sen. Warren is anticipating," CEO Robert Coughlin said.

Under Warren's bill, drug companies involved in government settlements over alleged wrongdoing would have to pay 1 percent of annual profits for their drugs that relied on taxpayer-funded government research. Those penalties, which would run for five years, would go to National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration research.

"This isn't a tax," Warren said. "It is simply a condition of settling to avoid a trial in a major case of wrongdoing. If a company never breaks the law, it will never pay the fee."

Budget cuts have choked off support for research that could lead to breakthrough treatments for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's and other conditions that affect millions, according to Warren.

Coughlin said the drug industry has supported a number of initiatives aimed at boosting NIH funding. "We look forward to the continued dialogue on increasing NIH funding for critical medical research and working with Sen. Warren and the entire Massachusetts delegation to find an appropriate solution," he said.

Massachusetts organizations received $2.4 billion-plus in fiscal 2014 — 10 percent of NIH funding and second only to California.

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Belmont Colonial an energy star

Talk about a makeover.

A 1927-built Dutch Colonial near Belmont High School wasn't just gut renovated — it was deep energy retrofitted.

Deep energy retrofits, defined as renovations that cut energy costs more than 50 percent, turn drafty houses into super-efficient homes.

The just-completed three-bedroom 2,700-square-foot single family at 158 Concord Ave. — on the market for $1,265,000 — looks like any number of contemporary makeovers. The living spaces have an open feel and there's a stylish kitchen with white cabinets, gray-and-white granite counters and Jenn-Air appliances, along with an adjacent sunroom dining area. The master bedroom suite has two closets with built-in storage, and an en-suite master bathroom features a glassed-in steam shower and a marble-topped double-sink vanity.

"A house doesn't have to look different to be green," said Leland DiMeco, the listing broker of the Belmont house and co-founder of Boston Green Realty, which specializes in selling energy-efficient properties. "And the price of deep retrofits is in the ballpark of a traditionally built high-end home."

But there are major differences in the way this house was reconstructed. Super-insulated walls are up to 16-inches thick, tilt-and-turn windows are triple-paned, and doors to the outside are nearly three inches thick. The roof and wall insulation exceeds the building code by 100 percent.

This retrofitted home will use 75 percent less energy than a traditional home.

And the air quality in the retrofitted house is more healthy than that in conventional homes, Butler said, with outside air brought into each room through ventilator fans, while stale air is exhausted. Indoor air runs through a heat exchanger to raise the temperature.

"The house has been rebuilt like a refrigerator," DiMeco said. "Once it reaches a certain temperature it's hard for that temperature to drop."

A wall-mounted heat pump unit takes care of the first floor and a small ducted heating/cooling system serves the top two floors.

"People wrongly think that deep energy retrofits are hugely expensive to do compared to a traditional gut renovation, " said contractor Brian Butler of Savilonis Construction, who has done more than a dozen DER projects. "But with the incentive rebates, it only costs about 6 percent more."

Developer Sachi Sato, who lives next door to 158 Concord Ave., bought the property from an elderly couple for $590,000 in 2013, and teamed up with her business partner Sayo Okada at SA2 Studios, which specializes in sustainable design and development.

"After we made the calculations, a deep energy retrofit made economic sense for this house because so much needed to be redone inside and out," said Sato, who tapped into utility National Grid's Deep Energy Retrofit incentive program, which provided $14,000 in rebates.

Sato estimates total construction costs at over $400,000, including the master bath addition and an all-new roof, and plumbing, electrical and heating/ventilation and tankless water heating systems.

"We're trying to get more builders to understand the benefits of doing deep energy retrofits," said DiMeco. "These properties not only cut energy costs significantly, but they are much healthier places to live."

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Measles outbreak casts spotlight on anti-vaccine movement

LOS ANGELES — A major measles outbreak traced to Disneyland has brought criticism down on the small but vocal movement among parents to opt out of vaccinations for their children.

In a rash of cases that public health officials are rushing to contain, at least 70 people in six states and Mexico have fallen ill since mid-December, most of them from California. The vast majority of those who got sick had not gotten the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine.

While still a scourge in many corners of the world, measles has been all but eradicated in the U.S. since 2000 because of vaccinations. But the virus has made a comeback in recent years, in part because of people obtaining personal belief exemptions from rules that say children must get their shots to enroll in school.

Others have delayed getting their children vaccinated because they still believe now-discredited research linking the measles vaccine to autism.

"Some people are just incredibly selfish" by skipping shots, said Dr. James Cherry, a pediatric disease expert at the University of California, Los Angeles.

As cases mount, several newspapers have criticized the anti-vaccine movement.

Measles "is a disease that has been beaten by modern medicine. That makes it all the more frustrating that anti-science stubbornness has proven, in the case of the Disneyland-related measles, that when it comes to contagious diseases, it's a small world after all," the Los Angeles Times said in an editorial last week.

Barbara Loe Fisher, director of the National Vaccine Information Center, a Virginia-based nonprofit that favors letting parents decide whether to vaccinate, said, "I don't think it's wise or responsible to blame" unvaccinated people for the Disney outbreak. She noted that a small number of those stricken had been fully vaccinated.

Health authorities believe the outbreak was triggered by a measles-stricken visitor to one of the Disney parks who brought the virus from abroad last month.

As one of the world's biggest tourist destinations, Disney was a perfect spot for the virus to spread, with large numbers of babies too young to be vaccinated and lots of visitors from countries that do not require measles shots. The disease has since spread beyond Disneyland.

The infected ranged from 7 months to 70 years old, including five Disneyland workers.

"It's tragic to see measles making a resurgence," said Deanne Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Care Agency. "When our immunity falls, it creates a problem for the whole community."

While all states require certain vaccinations for schoolchildren, parents in certain states such as California can opt out if they sign a personal belief waiver.

In the past five years, the percentage of kindergartners in California who are up to date on all vaccinations has held pretty steady from 90.7 percent in the 2010-11 school year to 90.4 percent in 2014-15. But there are some wealthy communities in Los Angeles and Orange counties and in Northern California with double-digit vaccination exemption rates.

To control this latest outbreak, those who are not vaccinated were warned this week to stay away from Disney theme parks. Disney employees who have no proof of immunization and may have come into contact with sick colleagues were placed on paid leave until they are given the medical all-clear.

At Huntington Beach High School in Orange County, two dozen unvaccinated students were ordered home until the three-week incubation period is up.

More than 30 babies in Northern California's Alameda County have been placed in home isolation after possible exposure.

"I'm terribly upset that someone has made a choice that not only affects their child but other people's children," said Jennifer Simon, whose 6-month-old daughter, Livia, was isolated after it was learned she may have been exposed to measles during a visit to the doctor's office.

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Contact Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

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Converse soups up Andy Warhol line

North Andover's Converse will launch a sneaker and clothing line celebrating late pop artist Andy Warhol's iconic imagery.

The Nike-owned brand's collection, set for a Feb. 7 release, will feature Warhol prints on Converse's own iconic sneaker — the Chuck Taylor All Star — which the artist had used as a canvas for his work.

Sneaker designs include reinterpretations of Warhol's Campbell's soup can screen print, and motorcycle and newspaper prints inspired by Warhol's mid-1980s Ads and Illustrations series. Graphic tees highlight Warhol's "Converse Extra Special Value" work that features the Chuck Taylor All Star.

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Kickass Cupcakes stales, files bankruptcy

Another local cupcake company crumbled this week, filing for bankruptcy after closing its Somerville store in August.

Kickass Cupcakes filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a proceeding used to liquidate a company's assets to pay off its debts. The company owes its creditors $263,000, according to court documents filed late Tuesday.

Kickass opened in Davis Square in 2007 and had moved to a new location on Highland Avenue in May before shutting down. It also had expanded to a food truck and was involved in several food truck "throwdowns."

Sara Ross, the company's owner who formerly wrote for the Herald's Fork Lift blog on food, fun and drink, could not be reached for comment.

The bankruptcy still leaves many cupcake options available in the crowded Boston-area market. Hub-based Sweet has six shops in Boston, Harvard Square and Chestnut Hill; Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown Cupcakes has a single Boston store on Newbury Street; and Treat Cupcake Bar has Natick and Chestnut Hill locations.

Cohasset's Wicked Cupcakes — which sells cupcakes in a jar and whose owners appeared on ABC's "Shark Tank" and paired with one of its investors, Kevin O'Leary — operates at Faneuil Hall Marketplace.

Crumbs Bake Shop also reopened in Boston last fall after the formerly public New York chain filed for bankruptcy in July and was taken over by Marcus Lemonis, an entrepreneur and host of CNBC's reality series "The Profit."

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City, startup develop online project forum

A new partnership between the city of Boston and a local startup will let residents keep tabs online on the development of city-owned land and chime in with questions and comments.

"You can see all those projects, you can see what's happening in your neighbor­hood, you can have a conversation with us, with your neighbors, about the impact," said Devin Quirk, director of operations for the Department of Neighbor­hood Development. "We want to take the same robust community conversations we're having and make that available to a wider audience by taking it online."

Working with coUrbanize, a Cambridge startup, DND has listed its 87 on­going projects, which include developments the city has selected after a request for proposals process, as well as city-funded public housing.

"As soon as we make a change to any of our properties, it's immediately updated on our website," Quirk said.

Each project has a place to submit feedback on the project, and lists the current status, details on the final proposal, and pictures and renderings.

"As part of the Boston 2030 housing plan, my administration committed to making the development of city-owned land even more transparent," said Mayor Martin J. Walsh.

CoUrbanize's Web platform is designed to increase access to details on new developments. The company was founded out of MIT's School of Architecture and Planning.

"Their mission really aligned with ours," Quirk said. "They want to have a robust conversation about development in neighborhoods."

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Hyundai sues over subway cars

A losing bidder is accusing the Patrick administration of illegally giving a rail enterprise owned by the repressive Communist Chinese government an "inside track" on a lucrative contract to manufacture Red and Orange Line subway cars last year.

In a blistering lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court yesterday, Hyundai Rotem Co. alleges China CNR Corporation, which now has a $566.6 million contract with the MBTA to produce 284 subway cars, unfairly benefited during the bid process when former Gov. Deval Patrick and former MassDOT head Richard Davey met privately with officials from a CNR joint venture during a "trade mission" to Hong Kong.

Patrick and Davey also relaxed previous bid requirements to favor CNR, the suit alleges.

Massachusetts awarded China CNR its first major North American subway car contract last year.

In a statement, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo defended the contract: "As part of a lengthy and thorough procurement process, the MBTA fully considered all materials submitted by each of the bidders, including Hyundai Rotem. Hyundai Rotem's bid was substantially higher than the successful bid and did not present the best value for the taxpayers of the Commonwealth, and so the MBTA did not award the contract to Hyundai Rotem. The MBTA does not believe that the complaint has any merit."

South Korea-based Hyundai Rotem, which claims it filed an administrative appeal with the state in November, demands in the suit that the contract be thrown out and that it be declared entitled to the contract because it produced the next lowest bid — $720.6 million.

"The procurement process was deeply and fundamentally flawed because the MBTA failed to put the bidders on equal footing, made arbitrary and capricious decisions, failed to adhere to the terms of the bid documents or do minimum due diligence of CNR, all in violation of Massachusetts General Laws," the suit contends.

Hyundai Rotem claims that during the December 2013 trade mission to Hong Kong, Patrick and Davey held "improper" private ex-parte discussions with officials from CNR's Chinese joint ventures regarding CNR's plans to build a North American headquarters in Springfield as part of the deal, but "no effort was made" to hold similar meetings with other bidders.

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Microsoft to show off more Windows 10 features

REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft will use an event Wednesday to offer a wider glimpse of the next version of Windows.

The company is planning to show off new features of its flagship operating system — and possibly an improved Internet browser and more uses for Microsoft's voice-controlled digital assistant, Cortana. Executives will also demonstrate how the new Windows is designed to provide a more consistent experience and a common platform for software apps on different devices, from personal computers to tablets, smartphones and even the company's Xbox gaming console.

The company has invited journalists and industry analysts to its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. CEO Satya Nadella plans to speak.

Microsoft gave only a limited preview of Windows 10. More features will be announced as Microsoft gets closer to releasing it later this year.

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Hong Kong airline has high hopes for Hub launch

Cathay Pacific Airways plans a full-court promotional blitz to get its brand and logo in front of New England travelers before its May 3 launch of nonstop flights between Boston and Hong Kong.

"The whole Cathay distribution machine will be out there telling people," corporate development director James Barrington said yesterday at a breakfast co-hosted by the Langham Boston and Hong Kong Association of Massachusetts. "It's been too long coming, because as we look at this market, it's going to be a pretty good one."

Boston is the largest U.S. market currently without direct Hong Kong service, and the new flights will open up business opportunities, leisure traffic — from tourists, students and their parents — and the flow of goods for New England, Barrington said.

"North America is where the future lies for our cargo business, and in particular capturing the huge two-way flows of goods between China and the U.S.," Barrington said. "While these trade lanes have been built largely on the outflow of goods from the key manufacturing regions in mainland China, now we are seeing more high-end consumer goods moving in the other direction as China's middle class grows in both numbers and spending power."

Larger and larger numbers of Asian investors are coming into Boston because of its high-tech sector and real estate, according to Johnny Ip, managing director of TW Capital Group LLC and president of the Hong Kong Association of Massachusetts. The group has been organizing trade missions from Hong Kong and China every quarter in the last few years to match businesses with U.S. corporations.

Cathay Pacific has seen 423 percent growth on its U.S. routes in terms of passengers carried to and from mainland China in the last eight years.

"Travel and tourism in the mainland are already substantial, and the projections for the future are staggering as urbanization continues and spending power continues to rise," Barrington said.

Chinese visitors are the biggest overseas spenders, plunking down $6,100 per person when they visit the United States, said Evan Saunders, CEO of Attract China, which helps hospitality businesses connect with independent Chinese travelers.

"It's a fantastically large deal," Saunders said of the Boston-Hong Kong flights. "It connects Boston and all of New England with a huge part of Asia, including much of southern China — cities below Beijing."

The Hong Kong airline's flights will leave both destinations four times a week.

"If it starts successfully and it works for us, we have the aircraft to move to daily (flights) in three to four months," Barrington said.

The direct Boston flights will shave about 4.5 hours off flights to Hong Kong that now stop in New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Round-trip tickets for the inaugural 15.5-hour flight from Boston, returning May 30, yesterday started at $1,170 for economy, $2,185 for premium economy, $7,560 for business class and $18,850 for first class on Expedia.

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Contractors seek exemption from new sick-time law

A group of construction trade associations is asking a federal court judge to rule that the Bay State's newly passed sick-time law does not apply to them because it is pre-empted by the federal Labor Management Relations Act.

"When a state law comes out and establishes a working condition — and in this case also a wage — our argument is that those are exclusive to the bargaining parties under federal labor law," said James Grosso, an attorney for the trade associations, which include general, electrical and mechanical contractors. "They can't come in and dictate to employers and employees what they're going to have in their collective bargaining agreements."

The new sick-time law, which becomes effective July 1, requires employers with more than 10 workers to allow them to accrue up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year.

The trade associations, which negotiate collective bargaining agreements with various labor unions, say the new law allows the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office to bring suits against companies in state court, while federal law requires those same disputes to be hashed out in federal court.

Meanwhile, Raise Up Massachusetts, the group that pushed for the sick- time law, said there had been many debates on how the new referendum would work, and the trade associations never came to the bargaining table.

"This was an issue that was debated for months, and it passed overwhelmingly by the voters of Massachusetts," said Steve Crawford, Raise Up's spokesman. "The people who are bringing this legal action were virtually silent throughout the process."

The AG's office, which had not yet been served with a copy of the petition, could not comment.

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