THE DIGEST A ROUNDUP OF SAN FERNANDO VALLEY NEWS Hospitalist Company Acquires On Call IPC The Hospitalist Co. has acquired On Call Physicians Medical Group Inc. in Oakland, allowing it to expand into Northern California markets. On Call employs 41 full- and part-time physicians in five hospitals in the East Bay. As part of the transaction, those physicians will become IPC employees on Oct. 1. OCP was formed in 1996 by four physicians affiliated with Summit Hospital in Oakland. Today, it has annual revenues of approximately $7 million. IPC, founded in 1995, manages more than $1 billion of health care expenditures annually and employs more than 300 physicians. Flyaway: Construction will begin in November on an expansion of the Van Nuys Flyaway parking facility. Plans for the $42-million construction project by Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX as well as Van Nuys Airport, call for a total of nearly 3,000 parking spaces by December 2003 (right). New Ahmanson Report Released A supplemental environmental impact report for Ahmanson Ranch was released Sept. 24, suggesting steps for protecting plants and wildlife but finding no need for additional traffic studies for the proposed 3,050-home development. The report also found no evidence of groundwater contamination from Rocketdyne. The supplemental report focuses primarily on effects of the proposed project on the endangered California red-legged frog and the San Fernando Valley spineflower. The study will be considered Oct. 9 by Ventura County’s Environmental Report Review Committee, which can recommend that the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors certify the report or send it back for revisions. The report stood by earlier projections that 37,500 car trips a day would be generated by the project. Critics have said the figures used in the original 1992 environmental report are outdated. The report includes a new analysis that found no contaminants migrated to the site from the nearby Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory. Amgen Out of Development Pact Praecis Pharmaceuticals will pay Amgen Inc. $13 million to wrap up the drawn-out development of a prostate cancer drug. Last fall, Amgen dropped out of an agreement with the Massachusetts-based firm. The Food and Drug Administration had earlier rejected Praecis’ application to market Plenaxis, a prostate cancer drug that was developed in conjunction with Amgen. In a similar vein, Thousand Oaks-based Amgen ended a licensing agreement with Baltimore-based Guilford Pharmaceuticals in September. The second phase of clinical trials with Gilford’s Parkinson’s Disease drug was not fruitful. Earnings Up at Medtronic Medtronic Inc., which acquired MiniMed Inc. last year, saw profits rise sharply in the last quarter on strong sales of cardiac devices and accelerating sales of new products. Earnings at the maker of insulin pumps, pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators rose 14 percent to $389.9 million, or 32 cents a share, for its fiscal first quarter, up 14 percent from a year ago. The results exclude a $6.6-million charge for the consolidation of Medtronic’s vascular operations. Medtronic’s revenue rose 16.5 percent to $1.71 billion. Murdock Wants All of Dole The Dole Food Company Inc. Board of Directors has received an unsolicited proposal from David H. Murdock, its chairman and CEO, to acquire all of Dole’s outstanding common stock not already owned by Murdock or his family for $29.50 per share in cash. The board announced it will establish a special committee of independent directors to consider the proposal and its implications. Dole, with 2001 revenues of $4.5 billion, is the world’s largest producer and marketer of fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and fresh-cut flowers, and markets a growing line of packaged foods. Countrywide Breaks Lending Record Countrywide Credit Industries Inc., the largest independent mortgage lender, said its lending volume rose 24 percent in August from July, setting a record as more people refinanced their home loans. Countrywide said it lent $21.2 billion last month, up from $17.1 billion the previous month. The previous monthly record was set in December, when the company made $17.6 billion in loans. Mortgage companies are benefiting from home loan rates at 30-year lows. Countrywide loans to buy homes fell 1.7 percent in August to $8.31 billion, while loans to refinance homes rose 49 percent to $12.2 billion. Airport Improvements Begin Again The city of Burbank has issued building permits allowing Burbank Airport to resume some security-related construction work at its terminal. The permits allow the airport to begin construction of a new building shell, part of the 40,000-square-foot expansion that airport officials say they need to accommodate federally mandated baggage checks and passenger screening. The city halted the airport’s construction work last month by red-tagging a site where crews had just begun some demolition, because the airport did not have building permits for the project. The project will allow the airport to install better baggage-screening technology, increase the number of passenger check stations and provide more office space for security personnel and police. The city gave its approval after its planning and engineering consultants concluded that the project, which would expand the airport’s 173,000-square-foot main terminal to 213,000 square feet, was needed for security.
