European debt fear drives Dow down 125
NEW YORK – European debt flared again as a worry for Wall Street and drove stocks Wednesday to their worst loss in a month. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 125 points, and the price of gold plunged to its lowest level since January.
It was only the second time this year the Dow has recorded a triple-digit decline. The average gained 8 percent from January through March, its best first quarter since 1998, but has lost 1 percent already in April.
The Dow was down as much as 179 points earlier in the day. A disappointing auction of government debt in Spain signaled that investor confidence in that country’s finances is weakening. Spain announced tax increases and budget cuts last week, which could hurt its economy further.
Turkish cancer drug is fake, FDA warns
WASHINGTON – The Food and Drug Administration is warning doctors that a second counterfeit version of the best-selling cancer drug Avastin has been found in the U.S., packaged as the Turkish brand of the medication.
The FDA said late Tuesday that the counterfeits do not contain the active ingredient in Avastin, which is used to treat cancers of the colon, lung, kidney and brain. The vials are packaged as Altuzan, the Turkish version of Avastin, which is not approved for use in the U.S. The agency says any packages or vials labeled with the lot number B6021 should be considered counterfeit.
Doctors bought the counterfeits through Richards Pharma, a U.K.-licensed distributor that also does business as Richards Services, Warwick Healthcare Solutions and Ban Dune Marketing Inc.
British regulators said Wednesday that Richards Pharma imported 120 packs of the fake Altuzan from Turkey. Thirty-eight packets were shipped directly to the U.S., while the rest were sold to another U.K. distributor who then shipped them to the U.S. The agency is advising doctors to stop using any drugs acquired from the network. No deaths have been reported in connection with the counterfeits.
Judge: Reebok can’t sell Tebow Jets apparel
NEW YORK – A judge on Wednesday rejected Reebok’s bid to overturn his ban on its sale of Tim Tebow New York Jets jerseys, saying the public can wait a few weeks for Nike Tebow jerseys to show up in stores.
U.S. District Judge Kevin P. Castel said Nike Inc. had shown a “probability of success” in its quest to permanently halt Reebok sales of Tebow jerseys and T-shirts during a daylong hearing that follows the filing of a lawsuit last week. Castel temporarily blocked Reebok from selling 6,000 Tebow-Jets jerseys and 25,000 T-shirts a week ago.
Reebok International Ltd. argued for the ban to be lifted Wednesday, saying it had found evidence that the Canton, Mass.-based company, an Adidas AG subsidiary, was within its rights to create the gear even though its agreement with the National Football League Players Inc. to use players’ names and numbers had expired at the end of February. Its 10-year NFL licensing deal for players’ apparel expired at the end of March, when Nike began its own five-year deal.