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A generic drug maker plans to make a version of the Gilead Sciences Inc. chronic hepatitis B drug Hepsera.

Privately held Sigmapharm Laboratories LLC of Bensalem, Pa., submitted an abbreviated new drug application, or ANDA, to the Food and Drug Administration for permission to make and market generic Hepsera, according to Foster City-based Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD)

Sigmapharm claims that two patents for Hepsera, or adefovir dipivoxil, are invalid, unenforceable or will not be infringed by its generic.

Gilead, which said it is reviewing Sigmapharm’s notice, has 45 days to respond to the application, possibly by filing a patent infringement suit against Sigmapharm. That would suspend the FDA approval process for as long as 30 months.

If Gilead does not respond, Sigmapharm would be able to continue through the FDA drug approval process.

Once-a-day Hepsera tablets, approved by the FDA in September 2002 and European regulators in March 2003, registered sales of $271 payday loan lenders.6 million last year, down 20 percent from 2008. Six-month sales this year of $109.5 million were off nearly 22 percent from the same period last year.

Hepsera costs patients $813 per month.

As the first to challenge Gilead’s patent, Sigmapharm’s drug, if approved, would receive a 180-day monopoly on its lower-cost generic version. That generic monopoly period can translate into big bucks, since the price can be significantly less than that charged for a brand-name drug but not as low as when other generic companies jump in.

Sigmapharm, whose executive team includes former Impax Laboratories sales leader Mitchell Goldberg, has three approved drugs marketed by Rising Pharmaceuticals Inc.

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The Wichita City Council on Tuesday will vote on a contract extension with the company managing the new terminal project at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.

The $574,000 extension would add six months to the city’s contract with Los-Angeles-based AECOM.

AECOM was originally hired in 2005 to provide program management services on the new terminal as part of a $4.55 million contract.

The city staff is recommending the council, acting as the governing body of the Wichita Airport Authority, approve the contract.

Progress has slowed on the estimated $150 million terminal job and the city currently is performing a full financial review of the project no fax pay day loan.

City Manager Robert Layton has said city staff are working to determine if the original design is still realistic in today’s economic climate.

He said the city’s evaluation of the project should be done within about 30 days.

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Beacon Power Corp. said Tuesday it had reached a deal to sell up to $25 million worth of its shares to a Chicago-based investment fund over the next 26 months.

The Tyngsboro, Mass.-based company, which develops energy-storage and management technologies, announced it had already sold 1.5 million shares, for $500,000, to Aspire Capital Fund, LLC.

Aspire has committed to buy another $24.5 million worth of common stock under the agreement, according to Beacon Power. The deal allows Beacon to direct Aspire to buy up to 400,000 Beacon shares on any given day at a purchase price of at least 34 cents per share, so long as the closing share price was above 25 cents. “Beacon Power will control the timing and amount of any sales of Beacon common stock to Aspire Capital and will always know the sale price before giving notice to Aspire Capital to buy any shares,” Beacon said in its announcement.

Beacon Power (Nasdaq: BCON) said proceeds from the sales of the common stock will be used for general corporate purposes and working capital.

The stock closed at 32 cents on Friday, and the company’s total market capitalization was $58 instant payday loan.5 million. The share price had lost more than half its value in the past year, falling from 87 cents a share on July 2, 2009.

In the first quarter of this year, the company booked a $5.5 million net loss and saw its cash position slip by 23 percent despite reporting advances for hiring and for the company’s so-called flywheel energy-storage systems.

Among those highlights was accelerated flywheel production for a planned 20 megawatt energy-frequency regulation facility in Stephentown, N.Y. That production was expected to result in 50 new jobs. In May, the company announced $2 million commitment from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to help fund the Stephentown plant.

Beacon also announced Tuesday that it had delivered the first power electronics and support systems to the Stephentown plant. The company said it expects to deliver 40 flywheels, the equivalent of 4 megawatts, in the third quarter of this year, and expects the plant to be operational by the end of the first quarter of 2011.

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Tesla Motors Inc. said late on Monday that its shares priced at $17, raising $226.1 million for the electric car maker.

The closely watched Palo Alto company's company's shares get their first test on the open market on Tuesday when they trade on NASDAQ with the TSLA symbol.

Tesla sold 13.3 million shares instead of the 11.1 million originally planned and exceeded its previous estimated range of between $14 and $16 a share.

The company plans to use the money to help it bridge its offerings from the flashy two-door $109,000 Roadster that was its first car to a $50,000 Model S sedan that it plans to make at the former New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont.

The company has yet to make a profit and doesn't expect to until after it begins selling the sedan in volume. It has lost $290.2 million since it was founded in 2003 no teletrack payday loan.

The IPO is expected to trigger a $50 million investment by Toyota Motor Corp., which previously ran the NUMMI plant in a 25-year partnership with General Motors Co. GM pulled out of the plant last summer and Toyota made its last Corolla there on April 1.

Tesla also has the backing of the U.S. government, with a $465 million loan.

In addition to the Toyota plan to buy shares, Tesla gave its underwriters the option to buy 1.995 million more shares under certain conditions. Goldman, Sachs & Co. is underwriting the IPO along with Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank Securities.

For more coverage of the Tesla-Toyota partnership, click here.

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In the middle of the federal government’s National Small Business Week, two of the most successful Small Business Administration programs are about to run out of money — again.

The SBA announced Wednesday that it is opening up its Recovery Loan Queue for the fourth time.

For more than a year, the SBA has used money first allocated in last year’s Recovery Act to temporarily reduce fees for borrowers and increase the guarantees banks receive on loans made through the agency’s lending programs. The SBA’s loan volume has picked up sharply in that time, a turnaround agency officials attribute to the stimulus incentives.

But the funding for them ran out in November. Since then, the agency has relied on a series of temporary extensions to keep the loan sweeteners in place. Every time the money runs out, the SBA opens up its Recovery Loan Queue to track applicants hoping to collect the last few remaining dollars.

The latest authorization for some of the loan incentives expires at the end of this month, and the money for them is likely to be exhausted even sooner.

President Obama and many in Congress say they want the loan incentives extended for at least the rest of this fiscal year, which runs through September. But the two chambers of Congress haven’t yet agreed on legislation to do that. Result: A series of emergency bills that so far have kept the funds flowing, but only after several brief expirations.

"The stopping-and-starting is problematic," said SBA spokesman Jonathan Swain. "It is a complicating factor for our lenders and our borrowers."

When the funding pool starts to go dry, lenders scramble. Seacoast Commerce Bank, a community bank in Chula Vista, Calif payday advances., had pushed five SBA-backed loans through by midday Wednesday.

"It certainly puts a lot of strain on the whole process," said David Bartram, an executive vice president in the bank’s SBA division.

It also throws borrowers into limbo. Losing the SBA’s fee waiver can make a loan thousands of dollars more expensive for the borrower — and there are some loans banks are only willing to make if they can get the higher SBA guarantee. Without it, those loans become too risky.

"There are some customers that we are not going to be able to help," Bartram said.

Members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate are pushing for another extension, but it’s unclear whether legislation can make it through before the Memorial Day break.

"Nothing gets through Congress easily these days, even bipartisan legislation," said Lynn Ozer, executive vice president of government lending at Susquehanna Bank.

SBA lending is one of the few bright spots in an otherwise barren credit landscape, but it’s still a small part. A recent government report estimated that SBA programs account for just 4% of all small business lending.

President Obama this week renewed his push for a new, $30 billion loan fund to seed small banks with capital to boost their local business lending. In a report issued Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the measure would cost the government $3.3 billion over the next five years. 

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Healthcare Trust of America Inc., a Scottsdale-based real estate investment trust, has purchased the Federal North medical office building in Pittsburgh for about $40.5 million.

Federal North is a four-level medical office building comprising nearly 192,000 square feet. Included in the deal is a separate four-level, 525-space parking garage. The Class A building, located near a 724-bed hospital, is 99 percent occupied.

“This acquisition is consistent with our long-term strategy of acquiring high-quality medical office buildings in key markets which are affiliated with strong health care systems,” Mark Engstrom, HTA’s executive vice president of acquisitions, said in a prepared statement bad credit pay day loans.

Engstrom added that Federal North is the REIT’s 10th acquisition in 2010.

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Over the last week, retail gasoline prices throughout Texas shot up an average of eight cents, amid speculation that gas is cruising back toward the $3 mark, according to AAA Texas.

The statewide average price of gas is $2.75. This is up eight cents from last week.

San Antonio’s average retail price for gas is currently $2.68 a gallon. This is up seven cents from last week.

Higher retail prices are being blamed for rising commodity prices. Oil has been trading at or above $85 a barrel for the past week, its highest level since October 2008. AAA Texas says that last week’s jobs report stating that employers added 162,000 jobs in March is a major reason why gasoline demand will increase.

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SWBC’s LendingXpress subsidiary has teamed up with Equity National to offer home valuation and analytic products to lenders to process real estate loans.

LendingXpress focuses on helping financial institutions order all of the products necessary to close a real estate loan, including property valuations and lien position. Equity National is a East Providence, R.I.-based company that provides lenders with a full range of valuation services to process mortgages.

“There are a lot of appraisal management companies fighting for business today, and after exhaustive due diligence, we chose Equity National to be our strategic partner based on their focus on the customer, (Home Valuation Code of Conduct) orientation, and their management team, which is unmatched in the industry,” says Ted Robinson, senior vice president and general manager of LendingXpress.

San Antonio-based SWBC is a financial services company that provides insurance, mortgage and investment services to financial institutions, businesses and individuals nationwide.

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Stocks rose Thursday, led by technology shares, as investors looked past the day’s ho-hum economic news and geared up for Intel’s quarterly report, released shortly after the bell.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 30 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 index (SPX) added 3 points, or 0.2%. Both closed at the highest point since Oct. 1, 2008. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) rose 9 points, or 0.4%, ending at the highest point since Sept. 3, 2008.

After the close, Dow component Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) said it earned 40 cents per share in the fourth quarter on sales of $10.6 billion. Both earnings and sales trounced estimates and marked a sharp improvement from the previous year. The stock gained 2% in extended-hours trading.

Overall S&P 500 earnings are expected to have risen more than 200% from the previous year, the worst quarter in Thomson’s history. JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) is due to report results Friday morning.

The financial behemoth is expected to have earned 66 cents per share on revenue of $27 billion.

Stocks ended higher Wednesday, with the Dow closing at a 15-month high, as investors looked past Google’s potential shutdown of its China operations and mea culpas from the nation’s major bank executives. After a weak start Thursday, stocks turned higher, despite the day’s mixed economic news.

The major indexes posted sizable gains last year as investors dove back in after moving beyond the worst financial crisis in decades. But any gains this year are likely to be more subdued.

"The next few months is going to be about merging expectations and reality," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank.

"Expectations have been set pretty high for earnings and the economy, in terms of where stock valuations are set," he said. "Now we need to see if the results can deliver."

Economy: Retail sales fell 0.3% in December, the government reported Thursday. The report was a surprise to economists who were expecting sales to have risen 0.5%, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. Sales rose a revised 1.8% in November.

Retail sales excluding autos fell 0.2% in December after rising 1.9% in the previous month. Economists thought they would rise 0.3%.

Helping to soften the blow, the National Retail Federation said holiday sales for the November-December period rose 1.1%, a better showing than the retail group’s forecast of a 1% decline low interest rate personal loans.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment rose last week to 444,000 from 433,000 in the previous week. Economists thought claims would rise to 437,000.

Continuing claims, a measure of Americans who have been receiving benefits for a week or more, fell to 4.596 million from 4.807 million in the previous week. Economists thought claims would fall to 4.750 million.

November business inventories rose 0.4% after rising 0.4% in the previous month. Economists thought claims the increase would be 0.3%.

Banks: A congressionally appointed panel investigating the lead-up to the financial crisis was holding a second day of hearings, with government officials including Attorney General Eric Holder testifying.

On Wednesday, CEOs of the largest financial institutions testified that while the banks took on too much risk and made mistakes, they were not aware at the time that a financial crisis of such a magnitude could develop.

In other news, President Obama proposed a plan Thursday to tax companies that took bailout funds, legislation he says is necessary to make sure the banks return the money they accepted in full.

Results: Intel shares gained ahead of its results. Merck (MRK, Fortune 500), Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500) were the Dow’s other big gainers.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers by four to three on volume of 890 million shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners five to four on volume of 2.3 billion shares.

World markets: Asian and European markets mostly ended higher.

Commodities and the dollar: The dollar fell against the euro and gained versus the yen.

COMEX gold for February delivery rose $6.20 to settle at $1,143 an ounce. Gold closed at an all-time high of $1,218.30 an ounce last month.

U.S. light crude oil for February delivery fell 26 cents to settle at $79.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Bonds: Treasury prices rallied, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.73% from 3.79% late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.  

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Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou pledged “radical” action to bring the country’s budget deficit within European Union limits by 2013 as the two- month old government struggles to convince investors it can get to grips with public finances.

“In the next three months we will take those decisions which weren’t taken for decades,” he said in a speech in Athens today, attended by union and employer-group representatives, and politicians. Papandreou, who came to power in October, said many choices will be “painful,” though he pledged to protect poorer and middle-income Greeks.

Papandreou is trying to shore up confidence in Greece after its bonds tumbled last week amid concern about its commitment to cutting the European Union’s largest budget deficit, set to reach almost 13 percent of economic output this year. Fitch Rating cut Greece one step to BBB+ and the yield on the Greek 10-year government bond has risen more than a percentage point to 5.465 percent since Oct. 8.

“It does not appear that he has provided much insight into how he will reduce Greece’s heavy debt burden,” Brown Brothers analysts led by New York-based Marc Chandler wrote in a research note. “The most important take-away point is that key decisions will be made over the next three months and the pain will be distributed.”

European Central Bank Vice President Lucas Papademos on Dec. 12 said Greece’s fiscal situation is “extremely serious.”

Papandreou, who said he will forge a “new national” agreement, today pledged to cut the deficit, to under 7 percent from 2011 and begin reducing the debt, set to exceed 100 percent of gross domestic product this year, from 2012 Payday advance. That will be achieved through taming the deficit and selling more state asset beginning next year.

The premier said revenue to reduce debt would come from exploiting the state’s real estate holdings, a real estate investment fund, as well as securitization of income from the state’s tax on major property holdings.

Under pressure from the EU to move quickly, Papandreou said he would step up talks on an overhaul of the tax system, one of his election pledges. The new system will be in place in the first quarter of 2010, he said.

The audience applauded when Papandreou announced executives of banks under state control wouldn’t get any bonuses and those paid at private banks would carry a 90 percent tax rate.

The government will set up a new economic police department to stamp out contraband, tax evasion and corruption, a key plank in the Socialists’s agenda to boost revenue.

“Today our biggest deficit is that of credibility,” Papandreou said. “In the last years Greece lost all traces of credibility, which is why international institutions, partners want to see actions.”

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