BIOTECH
Boston Children’s Hospital teams up with ElevateBio
Boston Children’s Hospital and ElevateBio announced on Tuesday that they are teaming with the goal of forming multiple cell and gene therapy companies to accelerate the hospital’s research. Cambridge-based ElevateBio incubates, launches, and runs biotech companies, and it operates a 140,000-square-foot research, development, and manufacturing hub in Waltham. As part of the deal, Boston Children’s will gain access to that facility, including dedicated manufacturing space for the production of viral vectors, which are commonly used to develop gene therapies. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The collaboration comes on the heels of a hefty venture capital haul by ElevateBio, which announced in March that it raised $525 million from investors. ElevateBio also has a 10-year manufacturing deal with Massachusetts General Hospital, whereby MGH has access to the company’s Waltham hub. — ANISSA GARDIZY
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BUSINESS GROUPS
Mass. Business Roundtable has a new hire
The Massachusetts Business Roundtable, a statewide group of CEOs and other top executives, has hired Claire Cooper to be its new vice president of public policy and operations. She is replacing Katelyn Hamilton, who is leaving to go to graduate school at Georgetown University. Cooper will manage administrative operations, membership resources, and events for the Roundtable. Cooper most recently worked at the Alliance for Business Leadership, where she was director of partnerships and programs and helped produce nearly 20 virtual events for business leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cooper has also worked at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate and in the office of the governor during the Patrick administration. — JON CHESTO
AVIATION
United orders new airplanes as travel rebounds
United Airlines announced a deal Tuesday for its largest airplane order amid a continuing rebound in air travel: 270 new aircraft, including 200 Boeing 737 Max jets and 70 A321neos built by Airbus. The order is a boost for Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft and the largest since the Federal Aviation Administration certified they were safe after they were grounded following fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. At the end of March, Southwest Airlines announced it would order 100 Max jets. With its latest order, United expects to add more than 500 new aircraft to its fleet in the coming years, with 40 expected to arrive in 2022; 138 in 2023; and as many as 350 in 2024. — WASHINGTON POST
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AUTOMOTIVE
Toyota’s sales up nearly 50 percent in May
Strong US demand for SUVs and trucks boosted Toyota’s global sales by 46 percent in May from a year earlier, though production fell from pre-pandemic levels, hinting at a potential inventory crunch. Toyota’s sales rose to 840,303 units last month, led by swiftly recovering demand in North America, the world’s top-selling automaker said in a statement Tuesday. Unit sales were up by about a third from a year earlier in Japan as well. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
WORKPLACE
Uber relaxes remote work rules
Uber is reworking its plan for employees’ return to the office. The San Francisco-based ride-hailing company will let staff work from anywhere half the time, a slight reduction from the previous policy. The new rule, which will go into effect in September, is different from Uber’s original plan of asking employees to come into the office at least three days a week, said a person familiar with the plan. The original policy drew grumblings from workers. Uber is now one of several tech giants that have recently outlined plans to let people work remotely more of the time. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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PANDEMIC
Central London could lose more than 800,000 people post-pandemic
Central London could lose as many as 835,000 people in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, with employees in service industries increasingly able to work remotely and flexibly, according to research by a consulting firm. An analysis of London’s labor market data by Advanced Workplace Associates, a consultancy based in the UK capital, showed that about 41 percent of people living and working in inner London could do their jobs away from their current office locations. The firm looked at 13 London boroughs plus the City of London, finding that many workers in the services sector are likely to be able to do their jobs outside the office. That could lead to a shift in where people choose to live. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
AUTOMOTIVE
GM recalling older Cadillac and Saab SUVs
General Motors is recalling more than 380,000 older SUVs in the United States, many for a second time, to fix a suspension problem that can cause them to sway at highway speeds. GM decided on the recall after the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation last year. The recall covers 2010 through 2016 Cadillac SRX and 2011 and 2012 Saab 9-4X SUVs. GM once owned Saab and manufactured its vehicles. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
FINANCE
Paris becomes Chase’s main EU trading center post-Brexit
Paris has become JPMorgan’s main trading center in the European Union, chief executive Jamie Dimon said at the inauguration of the bank’s new headquarters in Paris on Tuesday. The new premises has six trading floors and will see between $300 billion and $400 billion in trading volume every day, Dimon told reporters. The bank now aims to have 800 staff in its Paris office by the end of 2022, up from 260 in early 2020. JPMorgan, which was initially reluctant to increase its presence in Paris because of France’s labor laws, eventually made the city a key part of its post-Brexit footprint in continental Europe after the election of Emmanuel Macron in 2017. Dimon is handing Macron a triumph now as nations vie to take chunks of the financial center forced to shift out of the UK. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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FINANCE
Chase buys another fintech company
JPMorgan Chase has agreed to buy OpenInvest, a financial-technology firm that offers services for values-based investing. Founded in 2015, OpenInvest is backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Y Combinator, among others, JPMorgan said Tuesday in a statement. Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. The acquisition follows JPMorgan’s recent takeover of 55ip, a fintech that focuses on helping investors cut their tax liabilities. The moves position the New York-based bank to broaden offerings to financial advisers, a key source of growth in the asset-management industry. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
RETAIL
Walmart to sell its own brand of analog insulin
Walmart will offer its own brand of analog insulin for people with diabetes, an effort to boost its pharmacy business and counter Amazon’s recent push to sell more medications. The world’s largest retailer will begin selling ReliOn NovoLog this week in its US pharmacies with a prescription, Walmart said in a statement Tuesday. The medicine will cost between 58 percent and 75 percent less than the current cash price of branded insulin products for uninsured patients, Walmart said. More than 3 million Walmart customers are diabetic, and the retailer already offers human insulin to them for about $25. But that type is inferior to analog insulin, a man-made variety that’s designed to better mimic the body’s own blood-sugar production and regulation. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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