South Side drug development company raises $62 million
A University of Pittsburgh spinout company has received $62 million in its latest round of venture funding, which will jumpstart the second phase trials of its first drug candidate. Complexa Inc., which was founded in 2008 by Bruce Freeman, chair of Pitt’s department of pharmacology and chemical biology, is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing compounds that address inflammatory reactions in humans implicated in a number of diseases. FDA approval will be needed for Complexa’s new product.
Amazon looking for 50,000 people during giant job fair
Amazon plans to make thousands of job offers in just one day as it holds a giant job fair next week at nearly a dozen warehouses across the U.S. Those offered jobs on the spot will pack or sort boxes and help ship them to customers. Most of these jobs will count toward Amazon’s previously announced goal of adding 100,000 full-time workers by the middle of next year.
The hiring spree is yet another sign of Amazon’s massive growth at a time when traditional retailers are closing stores and cutting jobs.
Universal Stainless tops 2nd-quarter estimates
Universal Stainless and Alloy Products reported second quarter profits of $1.2 million, or 17 cents per share, versus a loss of $802,000, or 11 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Sales increased 28 percent to $52.6 million.
New version of Coca-Cola Zero to hit shelves next month
Coca-Cola is rolling out a new recipe, name and look in North America to replace one of its most successful products — Coca-Cola Zero. The Atlanta beverage giant announced the new version during its second-quarter earnings report. It will be called Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. The new cans and bottles, to roll out in August, will mostly mimic Coca-Cola’s traditional red packaging.
Facebook’s ads just keep creeping into new apps
Facebook has squeezed just about as many ads into its main platform as it can. Any more and users might start to complain — or worse, just leave. At the moment, ads are moving onto its Messenger chat app; commercial messages on its other chat app, WhatsApp, may not be too far behind.
Video ads also are a big opportunity for Facebook, and some analysts expect Facebook to simply start charging more for the ads it already sells.