Business news in brief

Merck & Co. Inc.

will pay its new chief executive officer, Kenneth C. Frazier, $1.5 million a year plus incentives, according to a filing with the

Securities and Exchange Commission

. Merck named Frazier on Tuesday to succeed Richard T. Clark as CEO effective Jan. 1. Merck, Whitehouse Station, N.J., employs about 12,000 people in Philadelphia-area operations. Along with his annual salary, Frazier will receive an annual cash incentive award of 150 percent of his annual base salary and receives a long-term incentive grant of $7.5 million. That grant will include restricted stock units, stock options, and performance share units.

- AP

Merck & Co. Inc.'s

enlarged-prostate treatment Proscar failed to win the support of a federal advisory panel for use in preventing prostate cancer. Outside advisers to the

Food and Drug Administration

voted, 17-0, with one abstention that Proscar has an unfavorable balance of risks and benefits in healthy men at least 55 years old. The FDA panel, by a 14-2 vote, also declined to back

GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C.'s

application for formal approval to expand use of its similar medicine Avodart in men at risk for prostate cancer. Both companies have major operations in the Philadelphia area.

- Bloomberg News

The Center for Injury Research and Prevention at

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

, which has been studying teen driving with financial support from

State Farm

, will lay off six employees April 1. The reason is a shift in emphasis away from basic research and toward creating interventions that make teens safer drivers. Hospital spokeswoman Dana Mortensen said most of the laid-off workers would get other jobs at the hospital. The center, which has advocated for tougher restrictions on new drivers, now has 40 employees.

- Stacey Burling

Plus-size apparel retailer

Charming Shoppes Inc.

recorded an $18.8 million loss, or 16 cents a share, for the quarter during which its former chief executive officer resigned. The Bensalem company, which owns Lane Bryant and other stores, said the loss for the period ended Oct. 30 was less steep than the year-earlier quarter, when a 42-cent-a-share loss totaled $48.4 million. A 40 percent increase in online sales helped offset the closure of 129 stores over the last year, the company said. Total net sales were up $3.4 million, to $463.6 million, for the quarter.

- Maria Panaritis

European drug developer

Eurand NV

said it had agreed to a buyout offer of about $583 million in cash from a privately held rival,

Axcan Holdings Inc.

The deal for Eurand, with U.S. commercial headquarters in Yardley, would add a range of existing and potential drugs to Axcan's portfolio of products. Axcan Holdings, parent company of Birmingham, Ala.-based Axcan Intermediate Holdings Inc., focuses on gastrointestinal conditions. Eurand, of Amsterdam, makes drugs for gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and pain conditions.

- AP

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

, a maker of generic drugs, said it would buy back up to $1 billion of its ordinary shares over the next 12 months. The Israeli company has U.S. headquarters in North Wales, Montgomery County. Teva shares closed down 5 cents at $49.99.

- Andrew Maykuth

A unit of

Johnson & Johnson

and

Merck & Co. Inc.

has recalled 12.3 million bottles of Mylanta in the United States and Puerto Rico because the labels failed to inform consumers about the alcohol content of the drugs, regulators said. An internal review found the products' labels did not disclose that alcohol was an ingredient in flavoring agents, according to a Nov. 29 notice posted on the

Food and Drug Administration's

website.

- Bloomberg News

Foreclosures in the third quarter accounted for 25 percent of all residential sales nationally, a drop of 25 percent from the previous quarter and a decrease of nearly 31 percent from the third quarter of 2009,

RealtyTrac Inc.

reported. In Pennsylvania, 11.53 percent of sales were foreclosures, down 11.15 percent from the second quarter and down 5.02 percent year-over-year. In New Jersey, 12.66 percent of sales were foreclosures, down 30.39 percent and 32.10 percent, respectively.

- Alan J. Heavens

Lowe's Cos. Inc., the second-largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, recalled 11 million Roman shades and roll-up blinds after reports of two near-strangulations, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said. The CPSC said Lowe's would recall all brands it sells of the two types of window coverings, totaling about six million Roman shades and five million roll-up blinds. Consumers should stop using the products immediately and obtain free repair kits, it said. - Bloomberg News

The average seven-day yield on taxable money market funds was 0.03 percent this week, unchanged from last week, according to

iMoneyNet Inc.

A seven-day yield is an annual yield that is based on the preceding seven days' level of income by the fund. The average yield on tax-free funds was 0.04 percent this week, unchanged from last week.

- Rhonda Dickey

Ireland must consult the

International Monetary Fund

and European authorities over any major change to its economic policy, according to documents disclosed Wednesday outlining details of the country's international bailout. Finance minister Brian Lenihan said Ireland had also set quarterly targets for its recovery under the deal for up to $89 billion in international loans.

- AP

Spain will sell a third of its national lottery business, partially privatize airports, and cut both a key jobless benefit and taxes for small companies in a move announced Wednesday by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodrigo Zapatero to soothe market fears about the country's debt crisis. The austerity push shows how anxious the government is to avoid a worsening of market turmoil.

- AP