Santa Maria Times from Santa Maria, California • B4

B4 Friday, October 23, 2015 Santa Maria Times BUSINESS Yesterday's U.S. Markets Dow Jones Nasdaq Gold GAS PRICES Yesterday SB County Regular Diesel $2.96 $2.85 SLO County Regular Diesel $3.11 $2.98 Source: AAA Daily Month ago Year ago $3.16 $2.87 $3.54 $3.89 $3.35 $2.99 $3.58 $3.96 Fuel Gauge Report 17,489.16 4,920.05 2,052.51 $1,166.40 320.55 79.93 33.57 Drug compounder offers cheap version of costly Turing drug Diesel scandal keeps VW's US forecast flat Audi A3. The scandal comes as about one in four VW dealers are struggling to turn a profit according to the head of a group that represents U.S. dealerships. Others forecasters echoed the J.D.

Power estimates. Car-shopping site Edmunds.com predicted Thursday that Volkswagen brand sales will be flat in October, but said industry sales could jump as much as 11.5 percent over last October. Volkswagen and other automakers are scheduled to report U.S. sales on Nov. 3.

Many Volkswagen dealers in the U.S. are disappointed. After years of complaining to Germany that their vehicles were too expensive and not tailored to Americans' tastes, things seemed to turn around in May with the arrival of the new Volkswagen Golf. Group sales jumped 8.5 percent, according to J.D. Power, and also rose sharply in June and July.

"We had some cadence going and their fear is that we're going to lose our forward momentum," said Alan Brown of his fellow Volkswagen dealers. Dee-Ann Durbin ASSOCIATED PRESS DETROIT After some summer gains, Volkswagen's U.S. sales seem to have stalled amid revelations it cheated on emissions tests. Volkswagen Group's sales are expected to be flat in October, even as total U.S. sales rise 8 percent for one of the best Octobers in more than a decade, according to data from J.D.

Power and Associates obtained by The Associated Press. J.D. Power combines all the brands Volkswagen AG sells in the U.S., including Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley. Its forecast is a sign that surging sales of the German automaker's luxury brands aren't making up for a slowdown for the Volkswagen brand. Volkswagen admitted last month that it had cheated on emissions tests using software installed on 482,000 diesel vehicles in the U.S.

and 11 million worldwide. VW Dealers have been forced to stop selling four diesel models affected by the emissions probe the 2009 through 2015 Golf, Jetta, Passat and Courtesy of Joel Morillo of Passage Productions via AP A technician is seen inside Imprimis Pharmaceuticals in Irvine. Imprimis Pharmaceuticals which mixes approved drug ingredients to fill individual patient prescriptions, saidThursday it will supply capsules containing Daraprim's active ingredients, pyrimethamine and leucovorin, for $99 for a 100-capsule bottle. Linda A. Johnson ASSOCIATED PRESS TRENTON, N.J.

-Stepping into the furor over eye -popping price spikes for old generic medicines, a maker of compounded drugs will begin selling $1 doses of Daraprim, whose price recently was jacked up to $750 per pill by Turing Pharmaceuticals. San Diego-based Imprimis Pharmaceuticals which mixes approved drug ingredients to fill individual patient prescriptions, said Thursday it will supply capsules containing Daraprim's active ingredients, pyrimethamine and leucovo-rin, for $99 for a 100-cap-sule bottle, via its site: www.imprimiscares.com. The 3 12-year-old drug compounding firm also plans to start making inexpensive versions of other generic drugs whose prices have skyrocketed, Chief Executive Mark Baum told The Associated Press. "We are looking at all of these cases where the sole-source generic companies are jacking the price way up," Baum said in an interview. "There'll be many more of these" compounded drugs coming in the near future.

The high price of prescription medicines in the U.S. from drugs for cancer and rare diseases that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year down to once -cheap generic drugs now costing many times their old price has become a hot issue in the 2016 presidential race. News that Turing, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and called toxoplasmosis that mainly strikes pregnant women, cancer patients and AIDS patients. Imprimis, which primarily makes compounded drugs to treat cataracts and urological conditions, will work with health insurers and prescription benefit managers in each state to make its new capsules and other compounded generic medicines widely available, Baum said.

"We're geared up. We're ready to go as soon as the orders come in," he said. Compounded drugs are typically made to fill a doctor's prescription for an individual patient, sometimes because the mass-produced version is in short supply or completely unavailable and sometimes to allow for customized formulations or dosages. Compounders don't need Food and Drug Administration approval to do that, unlike drugmakers making huge batches of drugs on complex production lines. Baum said Imprimis will produce its pyri-methamineleucovorin capsules, using bulk ingredients from manufacturing plants approved by the FDA, at its own facilities in Allen, Texas; Folcroft, Pennsylvania; Irvine, California, and Randolph, New Jersey.

Turing's Shkreli, under fire from all sides, said late last month that he would lower the price of Daraprim, but hasn't so far. A Turing spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment Thursday but recently noted the company is capping patient copayments at $10. other drugmakers have bought rights to old, cheap medicines that are the only treatment for serious diseases and then hiked prices severalfold has angered patients. It's triggered government investigations, politicians' proposals to fight "price gouging," heavy media scrutiny and a big slump in biotech stock prices. At the eye of the storm is former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli, head of Turing Pharmaceuticals, scorned last month for buying rights to and then increasing by more than 5,000 percent the price of Daraprim, a 62-year old drug with no competition.

The startup drugmaker paid Impax Laboratories $55 million in August for rights to Daraprim, which treats a rare parasitic infection December. Industrials stocks were among the biggest gainers. KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average rose 299 points, or 1.8 percent, to 17,468 as of 2:59 p.m. Eastern time. The Standards Poor's 500 index added 32 points, or 1.6 percent, to 2,051.

The Nasdaq gained 72 points, or 1.5 percent, to 4,912. The gains brought the 500 index nearly back to breakeven for the year following sharp declines in August and September. STIMULATING PROSPECT: Mario Draghi, head of the Strong earnings send stocks higher US: eight deaths, 98 injuries from exploding air bags McDonald's, eBay perform well in Thursday's market Alex Veiga AP BUSINESS WRITER U.S. stocks moved sharply higher in afternoon trading Thursday, on course to rebound after a two -day slide. Investors welcomed encouraging earnings from McDonald's, eBay and other companies and news that the European Central Bank could consider expanding its stimulus program in European Central Bank, signaled Thursday that the bank could boost monetary stimulus at the its next meeting in December.

That raised expectations that the ECB might extend its $1.2 trillion bond purchase program. Draghi also said that the ECB was also considering other measures, such as further cutting one of its key interest rates. THE QUOTE: "The market was in a tight trading range leading up to today's move to the upside, waiting for a catalyst in essence to push the The grille of a Volkswagen car for sale is decorated with the iconic company symbol in Boulder, Colo. Associated Press recalled inflators had been replaced nationwide. The figure was 4.4 percent on Sept.

1. Officials said it's difficult to estimate how long it will take to fix all of the cars because of the size and complexity of the recall. NHTSA is considering taking over management of the recalls in order to speed up the pace of repairs. The progress is "simply not good enough to address the risk these vehicles pose to the driving public," said Jennifer Timian, head of NHTSA's recall management division. Officials showed a slow-motion video of a violent explosion of a metal inflator during a test.

They said people have suffered cuts to the neck, loss of eyesight and hearing, and broken teeth. The agency knows of 89 driver's side and 32 passenger inflator ruptures. All eight known deaths involved driver's side air bags. "NHTSA is considering a number of steps under the authority Congress has given us that could accelerate repairs and ensure that the inflators that present the greatest safety risk get replaced first," NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said. The agency plans to make a decision on management of the recalls by Thanksgiving.

Among the options NHTSA is looking at to speed up the recalls is allowing outside repair shops to do the recall work. Currently only auto company dealers are allowed to make the repairs. market in one direction or the other," said Quincy Krosby, a market strategist at Prudential Financial. "And you can see clearly that the Draghi comments were very positively received by the market." SECTOR VIEW: Nine of the 10 sectors in the 500 index notched gains, led by industrials, up 2.6 percent. Health care stocks fell 0.9 percent.

E-GAINER: EBay jumped 13.2 percent a day after the e-commerce company reported results that came in well ahead of what analysts were expecting. The stock rose $3.19 to $27.40. HAPPY MEAL: McDonald's climbed 7.8 percent after the world's largest burger chain said its sales increased in the third quarter. McDonald's shares added $7.98 to $110.52. STRONG RESULTS: Texas Instruments vaulted 11.9 percent after the chipmaker reported better-than-expected third -quarter profit and revenue and gave an upbeat outlook for the current quarter.

The stock added $6.18 to $58.08. Cfoicto'3AcoKW $twtA JAohAaq thru Old Fashioned Style 1 Hnmpmarlp 1 SHi Marcy Gordon and Tom Krisher AP BUSINESS WRITERS WASHINGTON -People whose cars have been recalled to fix air bag inflators made by Takata Corp. should get the repairs done as soon as possible or face the risk of death or injury, U.S. safety regulators said Thursday. Speaking at a public meeting on Thursday, officials of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said eight people have died and 98 more have been hurt by inflators that can explode with too much force, spewing shrapnel into drivers and passengers.

About 23.4 million Takata driver and passenger air bag inflators have been recalled on 19.2 million U.S. vehicles sold by 12 auto and truck makers. As of Oct. 9, only 22.5 percent of the AAa "Til 6m Served with a Smile -Betake yi a Annual Switch to Groundwater SCHEDULED FOR Oct. 30 -Nov.

23, 2015 The State of California Department of Water Resources will perform its annual maintenance of the water distribution system pipeline. During this time, City of Santa Maria water users will be provided with water from the groundwater basin. City water users may notice a difference in the water due to the increased hardness and mineral content. For questions regarding the switch to groundwater, a water quality specialist is available weekdays between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

at (805) 925-0951 ext. 7270. Additional information may be found on our website. www.cityofsantamaria.org Marte tn Ordr 11 Utilities The Pantry 726 S. Broadway, Santa Maria Department (805) 739-8895.