Medical device maker Covidien PLC has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Freemont, Calif.-based CV Ingenuity during the first quarter of 2013, the company announced Wednesday. more

(Updated, 10:45 a.m.) A federal judge accepted Amgen Inc.’s plea agreement on a charge that it misbranded its anemia drug Aranesp, putting to rest a five-year probe of the company’s marketing practices. more

Healing fractured bones can be a messy business. Surgeons often employ a toolbox of metal rods, plates, screws and nails to align and stabilize fissured bones. The difficulty of the task worsens with aging or osteoporotic bones. more

What makes Amgen Inc. a leader in community involvement and volunteerism is its core values in creating a holistic work/life balance, according to Bill Flaherty, a database administrator who has worked at the biomanufacturing facility in West Greenwich for 10 years. more

Rhode Island is set to receive $647,722 as part of a $42.9 million national settlement with drug maker Pfizer Inc. for the unlawful promotion of its drugs Zyvox and Lyrica. more

Amgen Inc., one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies, has agreed to buy genetic-testing company deCode Genetics Inc. for $415 million, Amgen announced Monday. more

Seven months after the initial groundbreaking, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth celebrated the end of the first stage of construction of the Massachusetts Accelerator for Biomanufacturing with a “topping off ceremony” on Thursday in Fall River. more

Maolin Guo, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, landed a $400,000 research grant from the National Science Foundation to support the development of a molecular imaging probe for cell research. more

The University of Rhode Island plans to increase its presence in the state’s capital city, according to President David M. Dooley, as part of a strategy to better prepare its students for success as well as help Rhode Island’s economy grow out of the hole it is in. more

Covidien PLC’s BIS Brain Monitoring System earned a recommendation from the U.K.-based National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence. more