BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)

MEDICAL

Bristol-Myers to settle stock suit

The drug maker agreed to pay $300 mil to settle a securities class-action suit accusing it of artificially boosting earnings. It'll pay the sum out of $470 mil in legal reserves previously set aside. The pact doesn't end federal probes into a 3-year restatement of profit from '99-'01 when it inflated sales and earnings by encouraging wholesalers to overstock its medicines. Shares in Bristol-Myers Squibb rose 1.5% to 22.90.

Boston Scientific's stents return

The medical device maker said about half of the hospitals that stopped using its Taxus stents are using them again. About 20 hospitals had switched to a competing heart device after Boston Scientific recalled 96,000 of the drug-coated stents, which were linked to three patient deaths and 43 injuries. About 10 hospitals resumed usage after the firm fixed a glitch in the devices. Shares rose 2.5% to 38.26.

FDA approves anti-alcohol drug

The U.S. regulators approved Campral, a pill that aims to keep alcoholics from drinking after they've ...