PHARMACEUTICALS

After modifications, drug cost bill still has critics

The lead sponsor of a Massachusetts bill calling for some of the most sweeping steps in the nation to control prescription drug costs scrapped a controversial provision that would have capped prices on treatments for critical illnesses such as hepatitis C. Instead of setting maximum allowable prices for all consumers, an amended version of the legislation released by state Senator Mark C. Montigny would enable public health programs to receive rebates on a roster of expensive medications. Even with the price-cap proposal removed, the bill drew harsh criticism from biopharma industry executives, who complained at a State House hearing about requirements that drug makers disclose their costs for research, marketing, and manufacturing. Health insurers and consumer advocates pushed back, saying something has to be done to rein in spiraling drug costs.

TRADE

New Balance says TPP would endanger jobs in region

New Balance is renewing its opposition to the far-reaching Pacific Rim trade deal, saying the Obama administration reneged on a promise to give the sneaker maker a fair shot at military business if it stopped bad-mouthing the agreement. After several years of resistance to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pact aimed at making it easier to conduct trade among the United States and 11 other countries, the Boston company had gone quiet last year. New Balance officials. led by chief executive Rob DeMartini (above), say one big reason is that they were told the Department of Defense would give them serious consideration for a contract to outfit recruits with athletic shoes. But no order has been placed, and New Balance officials say the Pentagon is intentionally delaying any purchase. New Balance is reviving its fight against the trade deal, which would, in part, gradually phase out tariffs on shoes made in Vietnam. A loss of those tariffs, the company says, would make imports cheaper and jeopardize its factory jobs in New England.

BROADBAND

City welcomes Verizon offer of FIOS service

Verizon is finally ready to offer its high-speed fiber optic service to Boston — a victory for city officials who have long sought meaningful competition for high-speed Internet and TV service in a city dominated by Comcast Corp. Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced the Verizon move, a $300 million investment that will roll out in select neighborhoods beginning this summer but will take six years to cover the whole city. Boston has also agreed to speed up permitting for the infrastructure upgrade and to begin the process of licensing Verizon as a cable TV provider. Verizon’s surprise decision follows years of unsuccessful attempts by Boston officials to persuade it to offer the broadband service here, including accusations from former mayor Thomas M. Menino that Verizon was dragging its feet because of an unrelated tax dispute with the city over a tax of its property worth millions of dollars.

REAL ESTATE

Seaport Boulevard office building among city’s most expensive

One of Boston’s newest office buildings is now one of its most expensive. The glass tower at 101 Seaport Blvd. (above), which opened last year and is the local home to the accounting giant PwC, sold for the highest price per square foot ever fetched for a large office building in the city. Skanska USA, which developed the 17-story tower, closed a deal with German real estate fund Union Investment for $452 million. That equates to $1,027 per square foot for the 440,000-square-foot building, or $3 a square foot more than Oxford Properties and JP Morgan Chase spent last year on 500 Boylston and 222 Berkeley in the Back Bay. The deal reflects the surging demand from foreign capital for trophy real estate in Boston.

MEDICAL DEVICES

US launches criminal probe of Boston Scientific

Federal prosecutors have impaneled a grand jury in a criminal investigation of allegations that Boston Scientific Corp. used counterfeit raw material from China in vaginal mesh implants sold to thousands of American women. The grand jury in Charleston, W.Va., has sent out multiple subpoenas in recent months, according to two people familiar with the probe. The subpoenas, one of which was obtained by the Globe, seek documents relating to Boston Scientific’s purchase of a type of synthetic resin used in the mesh implants. The people with knowledge of the inquiry spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it. Among other things, one of the people said, investigators are examining whether the Marlborough medical device company engaged in deceptive trade practices by knowingly receiving substandard resins from China in packaging from a vendor whose materials had been approved by federal regulators, and whether it fraudulently sold defective products to health care providers. Kelly Leadem, a spokeswoman for Boston Scientific, said Wednesday the company has voluntarily provided information requested by the Justice Department. It has not received a subpoena, she said.

HEALTH CARE

Phaseout wins association support of hospital tax measure

The state budget proposed by House leaders Wednesday includes a new $250 million annual tax on hospitals to help fund the state’s big and growing Medicaid program. Hospitals objected after Governor Charlie Baker first proposed the levy without an end date in his budget proposal in January. But House leaders are calling for the tax to be phased out after about five years, a change that was enough to get the Massachusetts Hospital Association on board. The trade group lobbied lawmakers in recent days, asking them to make the tax temporary. “Without this, it would have been impossible to support,’’ said Timothy F. Gens, executive vice president of the association. “This puts us in a situation where it’s much more feasible to support the tax.’’ The tax — or assessment, as administration officials call it — was included in Baker’s budget as a mechanism for obtaining federal matching funds for the state’s Medicaid program, known as MassHealth.