Business news in brief

Federal regulators won't accept Merck & Co. Inc.'s application for a new combination cholesterol pill that includes rival Pfizer's Lipitor, the world's top-selling drug. Merck disclosed the rare move by the Food and Drug Administration in a regulatory filing yesterday. The company had said about 21/2 years ago that it planned to make and market a cholesterol pill combining Pfizer Inc.'s Lipitor with Zetia, a cholesterol pill Merck jointly sells with partner Schering-Plough Corp. Merck said the FDA refused to file the application and instead is requiring more data on the manufacturing and stability of the drug. The FDA hasn't responded to requests for comment. - AP

Bensalem women's apparel retailer Charming Shoppes Inc. said it had completed its sale of 4.5 million customer credit-card accounts to Alliance Data Systems Corp. The company received $136 million net cash proceeds for turning over operations and financing for accounts belonging to Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug and Catherines customers. Charming Shoppes president and chief executive Jim Fogarty also announced the hiring of four executives to oversee sourcing, or acquisition, of goods for each of the chain's brands. - Maria Panaritis

A federal appeals court says Wyeth will get a new trial to determine if the drugmaker should pay punitive damages to a woman who got breast cancer after taking hormone replacement therapy. An Arkansas jury had awarded Donna Scroggin $2.75 million in compensatory damages and $27 million in punitive damages. Jurors said Wyeth, which has operations in the Philadelphia area, inadequately warned Scroggin that drugs Premarin and Prempro carried an increased risk of breast cancer. The suit also involved Upjohn's estrogen-only drug Provera. A federal judge struck down the punitive damages. Yesterday's appeals court ruling agrees Upjohn shouldn't pay punitive damages. It says a new trial must determine if Wyeth should pay them. Both Wyeth and Upjohn are now part of Pfizer Inc. - AP

GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Aliso Viejo, Calif., said they had filed a new drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a marketing authorization application with the European Medicines Agency, for retigabine, used as adjunctive therapy to treat adult epilepsy patients with partial-onset seizures. - Miriam Hill

Ulticom Inc., filing a late financial report, posted a net loss of $1.4 million, or 3 cents a share, for the first half of 2009, which ended July 31, compared with a loss of $700,000, or 2 cents a share, in the same period last year. The Securities and Exchange Commission required the Mount Laurel wireless telecommunications company to file the results by Nov. 9. The results included a $4.1 million charge in this year's first half and $8.1 million in last year's first half related to a government investigation, earnings restatements for fiscal 2005 through 2009, workforce reductions and other expenses. The investigation involved the company's award of stock options to executives, recordkeeping, proxy soliciation and financial reporting. The company blamed the increased loss in this year's first half on worldwide economic weakness. Revenue fell to $23.4 million from $31.6 million in the 2008 first half. - Paul Schweizer

Tasty Baking Co. said net sales rose 1.8 percent in the third quarter ended Sept. 26 from the comparable quarter in 2008, thanks to a combination of higher volume and price increases. But the Philadelphia company reported a net loss for the quarter of $500,000 on net sales of $43.6 million, compared with a net loss of $1.4 million on $42.8 million in net sales in the third quarter of 2008. The company said the recent quarter's results reflected a $400,000 reduction in "accrued post-

employment costs," funds set aside for severance and other expenses related to Tasty's transition from its Hunting Park plant to a new bakery at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Over time, the new facility will allow Tasty to reduce its workforce by about 210 people, mostly hourly employees. - Jeff Gelles

IDP Education, an Australian student-

placement company, said it was opening a U.S. headquarters on Market Street in Philadelphia. The 40-year-old firm entered the U.S. market in April with an office in Chester but said it now needs more space. IDP's six U.S. employees will move to the new site this week and will expand to 11 workers by May. The company, owned by 38 Australian universities, was formed to attract students from other countries to those schools. The U.S. operation will help American schools recruit international students. - Paul Schweizer

Pilots for Southwest Airlines have approved a new five-year labor contract that the union president said has smaller pay raises than his members wanted. The union said the vote for ratification was about 87 percent, with about 93 percent of Southwest's 5,900 pilots casting a ballot. The new contract includes retroactive pay raises of 2 percent for 2007 and 2008, plus 2 percent in 2011, the union said. Raises for 2009 and 2010 will be based on Southwest's profitability. The deal is the result of three years of bargaining between the airline and the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association. - AP

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in yesterday's auction. The Treasury Department auctioned $29 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.060 percent, down from 0.075 percent last week. Another $30 billion in six-

month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.170 percent, down from 0.185 percent last week. The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,998.48; a six-month bill sold for $9,991.41. - AP

The Federal Reserve said yesterday the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, was unchanged last week at 0.39 percent. - AP