Business Briefly
Published 9:00 pm Monday, December 8, 2003
Congress approved the first national effort Monday to stem the flood of unwanted e-mail pitches offering prescription drugs, cheap loans and other dubious come-ons. President Bush has indicated he intends to sign the measure into law. It would outlaw the shadiest techniques used by the most prolific e-mailers, who send tens of millions of messages each day.
Seattle Genetics Inc. said Monday that it plans to begin clinical trials of a new drug candidate to see if it helps patients with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells. In preclinical tests, the Bothell-based biotechnology firm showed SGN-40 could be given safely to animals. The phase 1 trials, scheduled to begin in early 2004, will test for safety and effectiveness in humans. Multiple myeloma can weaken the body’s bone marrow, suppress the immune system and create other serious symptoms. At present, the specific cancer can be treated, but not cured.
The Federal Reserve, finally starting to see the hoped-for rebound in the economy, still is expected to leave interest rates unchanged today at its last meeting of 2003, allowing consumers and businesses to enjoy the lowest rates in decades into the new year. Analysts uniformly are predicting that the Fed’s target for the federal funds rate, which has been at a 45-year low of 1 percent since June, will not be changed.
Citing the improving economy, Republicans decided Monday against extending federal unemployment benefits before Congress leaves for the year. Federal unemployment benefits, which supplement state payments to the jobless, have been extended three times since March 2002. Without legislative action, they will be phased out beginning Dec. 21.
A consumer group wants all state attorneys general to investigate fraud at auto dealerships, saying dealers regularly bilk customers out of hundreds of dollars through price manipulation and costly financing deals. In a report released Monday, Public Citizen cited as an example of fraud an offer for an anti-theft program that etches the vehicle’s identification number in the window glass. The service should cost about $100, Public Citizen said, but dealers charged as much as $500. In some cases, customers paid and the service wasn’t provided.
From Herald staff
and news reports
