LEGAL
Genome-editing patents belong to Broad Institute, board says
The US patent office ruled Wednesday that hotly disputed patents on a revolutionary genome-editing technology belong to the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, dealing a blow to the University of California’s efforts to overturn those patents. In a one-sentence judgment by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, three judges said key patents for what is known as CRISPR-Cas9, awarded to the Broad beginning in 2014, are sufficiently different from patents applied for by UC that they can stand. The judges’ full 51-page decision explaining their reasoning stated that the Broad had persuaded them “that the parties claim patentably distinct subject matter.’’ The ruling means that, in the eyes of the patent office, breakthrough work by UC biochemist Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues on CRISPR — an ancient bacterial immune system that they repurposed to easily and precisely edit DNA — was not so all-encompassing as to make later advances “obvious.’’ That is at odds with how much of the science world has viewed their work. Doudna and her chief collaborator, Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the $3 million Breakthrough Prize in the life sciences in 2015, the $500,000 Gruber Genetics Prize in 2015, and the $450,000 Japan Prize in 2017. The patent board said in its decision that the achievement of the Broad’s Feng Zhang in inventing a way to use CRISPR to edit the genomes of mouse and human cells “would not have been obvious’’ from the invention by Doudna and Charpentier “because one of ordinary skill in the art would not have reasonably expected a CRISPR-Cas9 system to be successful’’ in those higher-order cells. — SHARON BEGLEY
HEALTH CARE
Baker administration proposes cuts in home nursing care
The Baker administration wants to cut how much the state pays for long-term home nursing care, a move to contain medical spending. But that may leave thousands of patients without the services they need, home health agencies warn. Leaders of several agencies said the proposed 25 percent rate cut would make it unaffordable for them to continue sending nurses to the homes of people with complex, chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and schizophrenia. Patients may lose access to nursing services at home, and they could end up in nursing homes, the agencies said. Governor Charlie Baker’s team is seeking to rein in the taxpayer-funded Medicaid program, or MassHealth, which serves 1.9 million people with little or no income. Officials have singled out MassHealth’s spending on home health, which includes nursing, physical therapy, and other services, as an area that especially needs trimming. MassHealth’s outlays are expected to rise 5 percent in the next fiscal year, to $16.2 billion, accounting for about 40 percent of the state budget. Home health companies, which contract with the state to provide services to MassHealth members, have generally been receptive to the cost-saving measures, including stricter approval requirements for patient services. But the latest proposal goes too far, they say. The rate cut would apply to about 7,000 people who have been receiving nursing care at home for more than six months, according to state officials. Some have been getting services for several years. Officials have not made a final decision on the payment rates, which are set to kick in July 1. They said they will consider public input before acting. — PRIYANKA DAYAL MCCLUSKEY
RETAIL
Crimson Corner may get a new home, around the corner
Crimson Corner, the outdoor newsstand being forced out of its iconic Harvard Square location to make way for a pizza chain, may get a new home just around the corner on Brattle Street. Colliers International, which manages the building on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Brattle Street where the newsstand operates, said Tuesday that it offered owner Chris Kotelly a lease for 35 Brattle St. The firm announced the offer for the new location, across the street from the Brattle Theatre, a day after the Globe reported that Crimson Corner was being forced out of its current space. Kotelly, a third-generation owner of the newsstand business started by his grandfather under the name Nini’s Corner 54 years ago, confirmed that his lawyer had received the tentative offer from Colliers. He has not had a chance to go over the details and has not accepted. Kotelly said he wants to remain in Harvard Square but tempered his enthusiasm until he has a chance to review the lease terms, especially given how much retail rental rates have skyrocketed in the square lately. The space at 35 Brattle is owned by the same group that owns Crimson Corner’s building, according to Colliers. Kotelly said 35 Brattle St. might pose challenges for his business, particularly when it comes to foot traffic, because there is little sidewalk space to display the newspapers and magazines that currently attract customers and onlookers. — KATHELEEN CONTI
INDUSTRY
General Electric doesn’t need a publicly accessible helipad after all
General Electric Co. has told city and state officials that it no longer needs a new publicly accessible helipad, taking the pressure off of them to find a suitable location for the controversial project. When the Baker and Walsh administrations worked together just over a year ago on crafting an incentive package to convince GE to relocate its headquarters to Boston, a state-funded helicopter landing facility was a prominent part of the plan. But GE executives say they have found that it’s easier to fly in and out of Logan Airport’s private aviation facility — it’s a short drive away from GE’s Fort Point headquarters through the Ted Williams tunnel — than they initially expected. The helipad project has also become a bit of a public relations liability, particularly in South Boston, just as GE is trying to prove itself to be a good neighbor. GE has averaged about three helicopter flights a week from Logan since its arrival late last summer, mostly to get to corporate jets at Hanscom Field in Bedford and to travel to GE’s Crotonville training center in Ossining, N.Y. State and city officials had assembled a task force to study where a helipad should go, and focused on a pier behind the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion on the South Boston Waterfront. But officials all but jettisoned that plan after neighbors objected to the concept, largely because of noise concerns. — JON CHESTO
CONSTRUCTION
Apartment building boom slows in the suburbs
The apartment building boom looks to be taking a break in the Boston suburbs. After a surge of construction earlier this decade, the number of permits issued for multifamily housing in the cities and towns that ring Boston dropped off steeply in 2016. What’s not clear is whether this is temporary, part of the normal ebb and flow of development, or the beginning of a longer trend that could put the brakes on desperately needed housing. In the 29 municipalities that ring Boston, permits for multifamily buildings — those with at least five units — dropped an estimated 53 percent in 2016 over the previous year, according to an analysis of US Census data by the Boston Foundation. Most cities and towns in and around the Route 128 corridor, where demand is greatest, experienced significant decreases, compared with 2015. Boston itself, the epicenter of large-scale development, was not immune. After authorizing nearly 5,000 units in multifamily buildings in 2015, the city permitted 2,784 last year — about a 40 percent decline, according to the Boston Foundation. — TIM LOGAN
