BP must pay oil spill claims amid appeals, court says

NEW ORLEANS – BP PLC must resume paying claims while it asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review its settlement with businesses over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

A three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that it would not put a stop to payments while BP appeals an earlier 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision. That decision said businesses, under the settlement with BP, do not have to prove they were directly harmed by the spill to collect money.

BP later asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put a stop to those payments.

The claims fund was set up after a BP well off the Louisiana coast blew out in April 2010.

$650M settlement reached over blood thinner Pradaxa

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim has agreed to pay $650 million to settle thousands of U.S. claims questioning the marketing and safety of its popular blood thinner Pradaxa.

The company said Wednesday that it expects the settlement to resolve roughly 4,000 claims, with the payout per case averaging about $162,500.

The plaintiffs argued that the company didn’t adequately warn Pradaxa users of risks that included severe or, in many cases, fatal bleeding.

Valeant raises offer for Botox maker Allergan

Valeant Pharmaceuticals has pumped more cash into its bid for Botox maker Allergan on Wednesday, a day after its reluctant acquisition target aired more concerns about a deal.

The Canadian drugmaker said it will now offer $58.30 and a portion of its stock for each Allergan share. The revised bid could be worth more than $50 billion, based on Tuesday’s closing price for U.S.-traded shares of Valeant. But it still may not be enough to get Allergan to the negotiating table, analysts say.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. also threw in a contingent value right worth up to $25 per share and based on future sales of a potential eye treatment.

Allergan Inc. said in a brief statement Wednesday that it would carefully review the new proposal.

Shares of Irvine, California-based Allergan fell 4.4 percent, or $7.27, to $157.75 Wednesday afternoon, and U.S.-traded shares of Valeant dropped $1.95 to $128.

Public-private survey finds cybercrime on the climb

SAN JOSE, Calif. – The hackers are winning, according to a survey of 500 executives of U.S. businesses, law enforcement services and government agencies released Wednesday.

The 12th annual survey of cybercrime trends found that online attackers determined to break into computers, steal information and interfere with business are more technologically advanced than those trying to stop them.

The survey was co-sponsored by business consulting firm PwC, the U.S. Secret Service, the CERT Division of Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute and CSO security news magazine.

Three out of four respondents said they had detected a security breach in the last year, and the average number of security intrusions was 135 per organization, the survey found.

“Despite substantial investments in cybersecurity technologies, cybercriminals continue to find ways to circumvent these technologies in order to obtain sensitive information that they can monetize,” Ed Lowery, who heads the U.S. Secret Service’s criminal investigative division, said in a written statement.