BOSTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) – The drug-mixing company at the
heart of a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak solicited bulk orders
from physicians and failed to require proof of individual
patient prescriptions as required under state regulations,
emails to a customer show.

Reuters reviewed more than a dozen emails that show the New
England Compounding Center, contrary to state rules, sold drugs
without requiring physicians to supply individual patient
prescriptions.

BOSTON (Reuters) – The drug-mixing company at the heart of a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak solicited bulk orders from physicians and failed to require proof of individual patient prescriptions as required under state regulations, emails to a customer show.

Reuters reviewed more than a dozen emails that show the New England Compounding Center, contrary to Massachusetts regulations, sold drugs without requiring physicians to supply individual patient prescriptions.

BOSTON, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Ameridose LLC, a private company
that mixes drugs for hospitals nationwide, sought on Wednesday
to distance itself from the firm at the center of a deadly U.S.
outbreak of fungal meningitis, even though the two pharmacies
have common owners.

Both companies are owned by Gregory Conigliaro, an engineer
who invented a way to turn plastic into pot-hole filler, and his
brother-in-law, Barry Cadden, a pharmacist in charge of pharmacy
operations at the New England Compounding Center, which
distributed thousands of vials of a contaminated steroid that
has been implicated in 12 deaths.

By Aaron Pressman

(Reuters) – Just four weeks ago, an MSCI (MSCI.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) executive was crowing about his company’s near-monopoly on providing critical benchmark stock market indexes which are licensed by fund companies around the world.

“It’s the only part of our business in which we have a committed strategy of trying to utilize a little bit of pricing power and raise prices a little bit every year,” Edings Thibault, MSCI’s head of investor relations, told investors at UBS’s Best of Americas conference in London on September 7.

Oct 5 (Reuters) – Just four weeks ago, an MSCI (MSCI.N: Quote, Profile, Research)
executive was crowing about his company’s near-monopoly on
providing critical benchmark stock market indexes which are
licensed by fund companies around the world.

“It’s the only part of our business in which we have a
committed strategy of trying to utilize a little bit of pricing
power and raise prices a little bit every year,” Edings
Thibault, MSCI’s head of investor relations, told investors at
UBS’s Best of Americas conference in London on Sept. 7.

By Aaron Pressman

(Reuters) – Vanguard Group, the largest U.S. mutual fund manager, said on Tuesday it was switching 22 of its biggest index funds away from benchmarks provided by MSCI Inc in order to cut costs.

News that one of its biggest index licensing customers had defected caused shares of MSCI to plunge over 30 percent before recovering slightly. The shares were down 27 percent at $26.09, the lowest in over three years, in afternoon trading.

By Ross Kerber and Aaron Pressman

(Reuters) – Four of the largest U.S. money managers reported sharp declines in second-quarter earnings on Thursday, as volatile markets and fleeing customers cut into their fee income.

The decline was steepest at Denver-based Janus Capital Group Inc, which remains mired in a multiyear trend of lagging fund performance and customer withdrawals. The company’s shares lost 2.6 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

By Ross Kerber and Aaron Pressman

(Reuters) – A pair of big asset managers missed Wall Street’s second-quarter profit expectations on Thursday as customers pulled out cash amid volatile markets.

Both Janus Capital Group Inc (JNS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Invesco Ltd (IVZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported net outflows from their funds for the quarter, which dragged their earnings slightly below analysts’ expectations.

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – A series of high-level departures from BlackRock this month has raised questions about the direction of the world’s largest money manager.

Coming in rapid succession over the past two weeks, the departures included Susan Wagner, a founding partner and vice chairman, who will retire at the end of June, and Robert Capaldi, who has already left and was senior client strategist for Chief Executive Laurence Fink.

BOSTON/NEW YORK, June 22 (Reuters) – A series of high-level
departures from BlackRock this month has raised questions about
the direction of the world’s largest money manager.

Coming in rapid succession over the past two weeks, the
departures included Susan Wagner, a founding partner and vice
chairman, who will retire at the end of June, and Robert
Capaldi, who has already left and was senior client strategist
for Chief Executive Laurence Fink.[ID:nL2E8HM57O]