Hub co. raises $12M for diet pill

A Boston biotech company working on a new kind of weight-loss pill to reduce obesity has received a 
$12 million boost from investors that it will use to continue clinical trials and development.

"It will help you to lose weight ... by making you feel satisfied with smaller portions," said Yishai Zohar CEO and founder of Gelesis. "It's a capsule that contains thousands of small particles that can absorb 100 times its original weight in gastric fluid."

Regulated as a medical device rather than medication, Gelesis100 is a "smart pill" whose particles travel through the stomach and the small and large intestines, making the patient feel full from less food and for longer.

"We don't want to prevent people from eating, we just want them to eat a little bit less," Zohar said.

The infusion of cash comes from the Pritzker/Vlock Family Office, founder PureTech and undisclosed investors, the company said.

Dr. Caroline Apovian, a professor at the Boston University School of Medicine who serves on many advisory boards for obesity treatments — including Gelesis — said the current treatment options aren't sufficient.

"We need more options," she said. "There are people who need to be treated who may not be able to tolerate medication."

The other alternative is surgery, but many people don't want to undergo such an invasive procedure. And an increasing number of adults are being diagnosed as obese, Apovian said.

"This is an alarming rate of increase," Apovian said. "We're at epidemic levels."

Zohar said development is continuing, but the pill is still several years from being commercially available.

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Casino co. drops suit over tribal preference

A company that wants to build a resort casino in New Bedford has ended its legal battle with the state over a section of the gaming law that gives initial preference to a federally recognized Indian tribe in the southeastern part of the state.

In court documents filed yesterday, the 1st Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals said an appeal by KG Urban Enterprises had been voluntarily dismissed.

"We have filed our initial application with the MGC (Massachusetts Gaming Commission) and engaged in conversations with the city of New Bedford," Andrew Paven, a spokesman for KG, said in an email. "Our focus is on winning a license, not litigation."

The company sued the state after the passage of the 2011 law allowing for up to three regional resort casinos and one slots parlor. The lawsuit argued that a provision that effectively gave the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe temporary exclusivity in the southeast region was unconstitutional because it discriminated against commercial developers such as KG.

In 2013, the gaming commission voted to begin accepting casino applications from commercial developers in the region, while still keeping tabs on the tribe's efforts to win federal approval for a proposed casino in Taunton.

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Foes: Casino panel colluded

Casino opponents say a lawyer for the state Gaming Commission colluded with Mohegan Sun to torpedo the Hub's claim as a host community, an assertion the commissioner leading the deliberations on the Boston-area casino license called "absurd."

"The idea that we can't ask questions of our applicants and find out what is in the application, and what they mean by parts of the applications, is absurd," said James McHugh, who assumed the role of chairman on the Boston license decision after Stephen Crosby recused himself last week. "We have to be able to do that."

In a letter filed yesterday with the state Inspector General, Matt Cameron, a lawyer for No Eastie Casino, said an April 28 phone call by a commission lawyer to a Mohegan lawyer to discuss a Suffolk Downs lease provision "was inappropriate on its face under the commonly-understood standards applicable to any impartial tribunal's dealings with parties before it."

The call was followed by the striking of the lease provision that would have allowed Suffolk Downs — who would be landlords to a Mohegan casino on the property's Revere side — to require Mohegan to also manage the racetrack on the Boston side. This, Cameron said, could have been used to argue Boston is a host community to the casino. The commission voted May 8 to deny Boston host status drawing criticism from Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who hasn't closed the door on a lawsuit to settle the question.

McHugh described the purpose of the commission's April 28 call to Mohegan to communicate that "you ought to be prepared to talk to us about that provision at (the May 8) meeting."

Cameron said he believes the call was an attempt to quash Boston's host claims.

"I don't see why they should be able to influence the outcome, which is what this is," Cameron said.

The commission yesterday approved a schedule that would see them decide between Mohegan Sun's Revere plan and Wynn Resorts' Everett plan as early as Aug. 29. Meanwhile, Crosby said yesterday he will not bow to calls that he resign from the commission due to ties to an owner of the Everett casino land and his attending opening day at Suffolk Downs.

"I've thought it through, and I've talked about it with the commissioners, and we have all agreed that there is absolutely no reason on earth to do that," Crosby said. "Sure, I thought about it, and it's not gonna happen."

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FCC passes proposed rules for Web ‘fast lane’

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday voted to take the first step to set new rules that would allow Internet service providers to charge companies for faster delivery of their content.

The 3-2 vote on the proposed rules governing net neutrality came after a federal court in January tossed the agency's previous rules.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler appeared to walk back on some of the original proposals for a "fast lane" for content, saying the Internet should remain open, and not be divided into the have and have-nots.

"I will not allow the national asset of an open Internet to be compromised," Wheeler said.

Still, some have said the proposed rules could stifle innovation and hurt startups who are not able to pay for priority service.

"The FCC has to make sure that the Internet remains an open platform for innovators, especially those that don't have the muscle to negotiate with Verizon and Comcast," said Andy Palmer, an entrepreneur and investor in Cambridge.

The Internet Association, which represents companies including Google and Facebook, said it will "advocate for the FCC to use its full legal authority to enforce rules that lead to an open Internet."

The rules now enter a 120-day public comment period, before FCC commissioners revise the proposal and vote again.

"It seems to me the chairman has a very fine line to walk," said Daniel Lyons, a law professor at Boston College. "The question is which way is the chairman going to steer the ship. Frankly, I'm not sure."

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Asia stocks down as weak Wall St offsets Japan GDP

SEOUL, South Korea — Asian stocks mostly drifted lower Thursday as robust growth in Japan was offset by U.S. markets pulling back from record levels.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock index fell 0.9 percent to 14,279.69 despite the government reporting that the economy expanded at an annualized 5.9 percent in the first quarter, the fastest pace in nearly three years.

The growth was attributed to consumers and companies bringing forward spending ahead of a sales tax hike on April 1. Economists say the tax increase could cause a contraction in the economy in the current quarter.

China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.5 percent to 2,037.14 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.2 percent to 5,487.50.

But Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.3 percent to 22,659.05. South Korea's Kospi was muted at 2,010.16. Southeast Asian markets were mostly down.

"In the US, markets have to tip-toed into unchartered territory in recent sessions but sustained moves higher appear to have been hampered by mixed economic data," said CMC Markets trader Niall King in a market commentary

Overnight in the U.S. stocks pulled back from record levels as investors sought safe assets. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 0.5 percent to 1,888.53 and the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.6 percent to 16,613. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 0.7 percent to 4,100.63.

In the energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude for June delivery was down 30 cents to $102.07 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 67 cents Wednesday to $102.37.

In currency, the euro rose slightly to $1.3721 from $1.3717 late Wednesday. The dollar advanced to 101.84 yen from 101.81 yen.

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Riots in Vietnam leave 1 Chinese dead, 90 injured

HANOI, Vietnam — A 1,000-strong mob stormed a Taiwanese steel mill in Vietnam overnight, killing at least one Chinese worker and injuring 90, Taiwan's ambassador said Thursday, the first deadly incident in a wave of anti-China protests prompted by Beijing's deployment of an oil rig in disputed seas.

The spreading unrest is emerging as a major challenge for Vietnam's authoritarian and secretive leadership, and is damaging the country's reputation as an investment destination. Companies from Taiwan, many of which employ significant numbers of Chinese nationals, are bearing the brunt of the protests and violence.

The overnight riot took place at a mill in Ha Tinh province in central Vietnam, 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Hanoi, operated by the conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group, one of the biggest foreign investors in Vietnam, according to Ambassador Huang Chih-peng and local hospital officials.

Huang, who spoke to a member of the management team at the mill Thursday morning, said rioters lit fires at several buildings and hunted down the Chinese workers, but did not target the Taiwanese management. He said the head of the provincial government and its security chief were at the mill during the riot but did not "order tough enough action."

He said he was told one Chinese citizen was killed in the riots, while another died of natural causes during the unrest. He said around 90 others were injured

A doctor at the Ha Tinh General Hospital said about 50 people, most of them Chinese nationals, were admitted to the hospital Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. He didn't give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Huang said the rioters left the complex at 6 a.m., but he feared they "might be going for a rest and could come back."

Anti-Chinese sentiment is never far from the surface in Vietnam, but it has surged since Beijing deployed an oil rig into disputed waters in the South China Sea on May 1. The government protested the move as a violation of the country's sovereignty and sent a flotilla of boats to the area, which continue to bump and collide with Chinese ones guarding the rig, raising the risk of conflict.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, mobs burned and looted scores of foreign-owned factories in southern Vietnam near Ho Chi Minh City, believing they were Chinese-run, but many were actually Taiwanese or South Korean. Authorities said they had detained more than 400 people.

Ambassador Huang said the mill in Ha Tinh is Vietnam's largest foreign-invested project, and one of the largest integrated steel mills in Southeast Asia. It employs 1,000 Chinese nationals, he said. Vietnamese Prime Minster Nguyen Tan Dung attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the complex in 2012.

Low wages, especially compared to next-door China, have been driving investment in Vietnam over the last years.

Investors and analysts said that if order wasn't restored quickly, then investor confidence could take a hit.

"If this madness continues and spreads out in the next couple of days to other parts of Vietnam, definitely it will have a very damaging effect on exporters, because they might not be able to commit to their delivery day," said Willy Lin, who heads a Hong Kong trade group representing knitwear manufacturers and exporters.

Hong Kong-based contract clothing maker Lever Style, which started outsourcing production to Vietnamese factories three years ago, has sent some Chinese quality assurance and technical support staff working at those factories back to China as a safety precaution, said CEO Stanley Szeto.

"You always have these little hiccups, no matter where you go," Szeto said. "Other than our staff, we're not really affected."

___

Associated Press writer Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

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European court ruling redefines 'Googling' people

AMSTERDAM — A European court decision will require Google to sanitize its Internet search results to protect people who can demonstrate the information unfairly tarnishes their reputation.

The landmark ruling empowers the roughly 500 million people living in 28 European Union countries to prevent Google and other search engines from listing embarrassing or illegal episodes from their past. It will also change the role that Google and its rivals play in Europe, transforming them into caretakers of personal reputations.

Some key issues to consider:

—What was the court's ruling?

The European Court of Justice, the closest thing the European Union has to the Supreme Court in the United States, ruled that Google and other search engines must respond to user requests seeking to remove links to personal information. Google and the other search engines, including Yahoo and Microsoft's Bing, won't necessarily have to omit all the links covered in an individual's request, but they will have to make difficult decisions about what should remain within the reach of any Web surfer. The Luxembourg-based court said an individual's right to privacy has to be weighed against the public's interest in accessing information.

— How did this case come about?

The case began with a Spaniard seeking to have outdated information about himself removed from the Internet. His quest became a key test of the so-called "right to be forgotten" — to have unflattering information erased after a period of time. Specifically, in 2010 Mario Costeja asked for the removal of links to a 1998 newspaper notice that his property was due to be auctioned because of an unpaid welfare debt. A Spanish privacy agency agreed to his request, but Google protested, saying it should not have to censor links to information that was legal and publicly available. A top Spanish court asked the European court for an interpretation of how European privacy law applies to search-engine results, and got a broader ruling than it had asked for.

— How does change things in Europe?

The immediate impact will be on 200 cases still pending in the Spanish courts, which will now be guided by the ruling in Europe's highest court. Similar cases in other European countries are likely to be affected, too. Even more European citizens are now expected to challenge results produced alongside their names. Those complaints will create logistical headaches and ethical dilemmas for Google, which processes most of the search requests in Europe. Google said it was disappointed by the ruling and will need time to analyze its implications.

— Will this change the way Google and the other search engines show personal information in the results displayed in the U.S.?

Legal experts doubt it, although the search engines are still trying to figure out how they will draw the lines about what does and doesn't belong in their results. The most likely outcome is that search engines will have different rules for different countries. This isn't unprecedented. For instance, Google censors some information — such as in Germany where there are laws banning it from displaying links to websites promoting Nazi principles — while showing the results in other countries. The First Amendment makes it unlikely that a U.S. court would ever issue a ruling similar to the one made in Europe.

— Is this a major blow to Google?

Google isn't pleased, but the ruling probably won't make the Mountain View, California, company any less powerful or prosperous. That's because the European ruling doesn't touch the ads that Google shows alongside its search results to generate most of its revenue. The decision isn't likely to prompt people to defect from Google's search engine to find information elsewhere either because all its major rivals also will have to limit the breadth of their results. Investors took Tuesday's news in stride, bidding up Google's Class A stock $3.11 to close at $541.54.

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Factories torched in anti-China protest in Vietnam

HANOI, Vietnam — Anti-China mobs torched up to 15 foreign-owned factories and trashed many more in southern Vietnam as anger over the recent deployment by China of an oil rig in disputed Southeast Asian waters span dangerously out of control, officials and state media said Wednesday.

The unrest at industrial parks established to attract foreign investors was the most serious outbreak of public disorder in the tightly controlled country in years. It points to the dangers for the government as it manages public anger at China and also protests itself against the Chinese deployment in a part of the South China Sea it claims as its own.

The unrest late Tuesday at a Singapore-run industrial park and others nearby followed protests by up to 20,000 workers at the complexes in Binh Duong province. Smaller groups attacked factories they believed were Chinese-run, but some were Taiwanese or South Korean, VnExpress website quoted Tran Van Nam, the deputy head of the province's people's committee, as saying.

On Wednesday morning, groups of men on motorbikes remained on the streets and all the factories in the area were closed, said one park manager, who declined to give his name because of sensitivities of the developments. Riot police had been deployed.

Another said many foreign-owned factories were putting banners on the gates of the factories saying "We love Vietnam" and "Hoang Sa, Truong Sa -Vietnam", using the Vietnamese terms for the Paracels and Spratlys Islands, South China Sea island chains disputed by Vietnam and China.

Nam said the protests Tuesday were initially peaceful but were hijacked by "extremists" who incited people to break into the factories. He said at least 15 factories were set alight and "hundreds" more vandalized or looted, while some security guards and unidentified "foreign experts" were assaulted.

Vietnam reacted angrily to the arrival of the deep-sea oil rig on May 1 close to the Paracel Islands, which are controlled by China but claimed by Hanoi. It has sent a flotilla of vessels to try and disrupt the rig. Some of the Vietnamese boats have clashed with Chinese ships sent to protect the oil rig.

Over the weekend, the government gave rare permission for street protests against China in cities across the country.

Those protests were enthusiastically covered the by the state media, unlike the ones on Tuesday.

The ruling Communist Parties in both countries maintain close links and until May 1 had been trying to handle tensions over the territorial disputes quietly. Vietnamese authorities are normally highly nervous of spontaneous public gatherings of any sort. Many of the leaders of the anti-Chinese protests are also calling for basic democratic reforms, presenting a challenge to one-party rule.

The standoff underlines China's intention to aggressively pursue its territorial claims in the South China Sea despite complaints from smaller nations such as Vietnam and the Philippines, which also claim parts of the waters. The United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines, has called the latest Chinese action "provocative."

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Site is mother’s little helper

A locally grown social network for moms is rapidly expanding as about 20,000 mothers have been matched up with new friends on Mom Meet Mom (mommeetmom.com).

"Our goal would be that no mom — whether it's a new mom, a mom of a teen or a mom of a child with special needs — would ever go through motherhood alone," said Christa Terry of Beverly, a marketing professional and one of three co-founders of Mom Meet Mom. "We want every mom to have support."

After a successful "soft launch" last summer, the women have been steadily building out the site and its user base. Late last week, the site added the MomFinder, which queries moms on their personalities, political leanings and more. It then uses an algorithm to match users up with like-minded moms.

"It makes it really quick and easy to find moms who are local to you," Terry said. "And to find kids in the same age-group, or if you have a particular challenge like hearing loss. And it matches you with local moms who are on the same wavelength."

Because they're bootstrapping the project and don't have investors to answer to, the women haven't strayed from the site's initial mission. You won't see traditional banner ads on Mom Meet Mom. Instead, the site makes its revenue by partnering with companies and products on giveaways and other initiatives.

Mom Meet Mom has plans to launch in Canada in the next month, and the women also plan to create a portion of the site devoted to promoting and organizing local events for moms.

The inspiration for the site came when Terry's friend, fellow co-founder Julia High, moved to Seattle and found herself struggling to make new friends.

"She kept striking out," Terry said. "She'd try a mom's group and it wouldn't be a good fit. She'd try talking to people on the playground but she's very introverted."

As the two cross-country friends began to work on the concept of a social networking site for moms, they located a potential competitor on LinkedIn: a woman living in Hull, Meg Gerritson, who was chasing the same idea.

So they did something that doesn't happen too often in the male-dominated world of tech startups: they put egos aside and joined forces.

Added Terry: "We said, 'Why are we doing this separately if we can do this together?"

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Cape expects hot summer

The Cape Cod summer season is heating up, with rental property prices seeing the largest year-over-year increases in nearly 20 years, according to a company that matches vacationers with 
homeowners.

Summer bookings are up 5.1 percent from last year amid a 3.3 percent price hike, according to stats from WeNeedaVacation.com,
a Brewster company whose website lists more than 3,500 properties on the Cape, Martha's Vineyard and 
Nantucket each year.

"Naturally, there was concern early on that the 
homeowner confidence driving the higher pricing might have been misplaced," said the company's Elizabeth Weedon. "But, so far at least, that does not seem to be the case."

Year-over-year price increases have averaged 2.2 percent for Cape summer rentals since the economic downtown started in 2008. Prices have jumped a cumulative 14.2 percent since then, from an average of $2,397 to $2,737.

"Homeowners have been forced to be patient and use restraint in raising their prices during the difficult economic times from which we seem to finally be emerging," Weedon said. "It's no secret to them that the economy has improved, and they are seizing the opportunity to recoup some of the maintenance expenses they've been incurring throughout the past few difficult years."

The optimism follows a strong 2013 — the best in a decade — according to Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce CEO Wendy Northcross, who expects a robust season based on members' advanced bookings and Web traffic.

"The table has been set, but the weather has to come through," she said.

Reservations for Memorial Day through Columbus Day are "very, very strong" at the Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club in Brewster, which has 340 guest rooms and villas. "We're up about 8.5 percent in transient bookings over last year at this time, and last year was a record year," said Robert Newman, general manager.

Ocean Edge employs 550 and takes a global approach to filling positions, relying on temporary foreign workers on H-2B and J-1 visas for about 30 percent of its staff due to a dearth of local candidates.

"We try to be very proactive in our recruiting process, so this past winter, members of my management team traveled to Ireland, England, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, Canada, Jamaica and Mexico to recruit," Newman said. "That travel started as early as last November and concluded in March."

Cape tourism also is expected to get a boost from JetBlue's new daily seasonal flights between Hyannis and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport that start June 26.

Bookings are healthy, JetBlue spokesman Anders Lindstrom said, and the service is expected to fare well.

"As with all new routes, though, it takes a while to get to the same level (as) routes that have been operating for a while," he said.

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Startup something of a Mystery

A Boston startup is trying to bring a little mystery to people's lives, one package at a time.

"We're thinking about how can we shake up consumers' lives in a fun way that they're actually looking forward to" said Joe Breed, co-founder, president and CMO of Mystery Envelope. "We tend to get stuck in routines as individuals. Even your mail can get routine."

Mystery Envelope's solution to shaking up that routine is to send out envelopes with secret contents to subscribers.

"The mystery is not only which envelope you're going to get, but it's also what the product is going to be," said Ben Lewis, co-founder and COO. "You're going to be completely surprised by what you're getting, and delighted."

For the first envelope, subscribers received a letter opener and items such as a Flying Glider and
Chiclets.

Most envelopes will center on a theme — the letter opener was meant to get subscribers ready and excited for future envelopes — but will also vary from subscriber to subscriber.

"We want you to get a mystery envelope, we want your friend to get a mystery envelope, but we don't want them to be the same," Lewis said. "Being able to provide something awesome to our subscribers is our core."

Retail subscriptions services are nothing new — Birchbox, a monthly box of beauty product samples, recently raised $60 million in venture funding.

Mystery Envelope plans to partner with brands to include products in the envelopes, which could be a key source of revenue in the future.

"It's an authentic way to connect to excited and engaged consumers," Breed said.

Still, the envelopes are somewhat limited. Not only do items have to be low cost to make sense with a $4.99 subscription, but they have to physically fit in the envelope. That's an issue Breed and Lewis say they are working on.

"With products that won't fit in an envelope, we can work with partners to find something that is appropriate," Lewis said.

That could mean a coupon, or an exclusive discount for a product.

A MassChallenge semi-finalist, the company made a pitch to the accelerator Friday.

The company, which launched in March, was founded by Lewis, Breed and Jeb Breed, the company's CEO and Joe Breed's brother, the only employees.

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Ford Focus’ interior acts like it’s a haunted house

I have a 2004 Ford Focus. When my car sits in the garage for a couple of days some of the dash lights and dome lights will stay on and there's a beep, even with no key in the ignition. I start the car, the beep stops and the dome light goes out but the dash lights stay on. The next day everything is OK, then the cycle starts all over again. Any ideas?

Strange electrical gremlins like this often are hard to pinpoint, but in this case I think the ignition switch and/or lock cylinder are the likely suspects. My Alldata automotive database pulled up Ford bulletin No. 05-21-17 dated October 2005 that outlines service procedures for replacing the ignition lock cylinder if the ignition chime beeps with the key removed. There's also a troubleshooting guide for continuity testing of the ignition switch at its multi-terminal connector.

I'd suggest locating, disassembling and cleaning the multi-terminal switch connector under the dash to see if this restores proper switch function. If not, it's probably time for a replacement.

• • •

I own a 1996 Toyota Camry V6 with 300,000 miles. We have a problem with the car vibrating when I step on the brake as the speed slows from 25 to 15 mph. The harder I brake, the worse the vibration. If I shift into neutral the car will not shutter or vibrate. Two other interesting things occurred at the same time. The check engine light came on, and when I step on the brake both the "Reverse" and "Drive" indicator lights are on. The car has no trouble shifting. My guess is that the torque converter is failing. Your thoughts?

If the torque converter were failing to disengage when the brakes are applied, you would experience a shuddering as the vehicle slowed to a stop. In fact, the engine would stall as you came to a complete stop, just as if you'd left a manual transmission vehicle in gear and braked to a stop.

Since the shudder/vibration is occurring in a higher speed range, my first thought is that the transmission has failed to downshift as the car slows. Try driving with the transmission's overdrive switch off to prevent the overdrive from engaging. Then try manually downshifting through each gear, matching the gear to the road speed as the vehicle slows. You also could try downshifting to third or even second as you're experiencing the shudder in that 25-15 mph range. If any of these tests stop the vibration, the problem is most likely in the transmission itself.

Have a scan tool read the DTC fault code that triggered the check engine light, but with 300,000 miles on the vehicle, the only transmission "repair" I'd suggest would be adding half a can of SeaFoam Trans-Tune to the fluid to clean any sticky solenoids or valves in the valve body.

• • •

The maintenance schedule for my 2003 Toyota Avalon has me replacing my iridium spark plugs at 120,000 miles. At 130,000 miles, the car runs fine and this plug replacement is expensive. Is it necessary?

Why does this question remind me of doing my taxes or making a doctor or dentist appointment? All of them are no fun at all, but necessary if one wants to stay law-abiding and healthy.

So yes, you should follow the manufacturer's recommended spark plug replacement interval, particularly if you're going to keep the vehicle for several more years.

With that said, I'd be more concerned about one or more spark plugs ending up seized in the cylinder head as they are removed. I've always been a fan of removing the original spark plugs at 10,000 to 30,000 miles, coating the threads with anti-seize compound and reinstalling them for the remainder of their full service life.

Paul Brand, author of "How to Repair Your Car," is an automotive troubleshooter, driving instructor and former race-car driver. Readers may write to him at: Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 55488 or via email at paulbrand@startribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number.

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