Business Briefs – April 12, 2016

Canadian Pacific Ends Bid To Buy Norfolk Southern

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A major railroad merger appears that much more unlikely after Canadian Pacific dropped its roughly $30 billion bid for Norfolk Southern Monday.

The ill-fated deal would have been the first to test tough rules for railroad mergers that were drafted in 2001. But Canadian Pacific’s proposal faced strong opposition from Norfolk Southern, politicians and rail customers along the route and other railroads.

Canadian Pacific dropped the deal before the federal Surface Transportation Board could rule on its proposed structure. The Justice Department’s opposition to the deal’s structure, announced Friday, may have sealed the decision.

Researchers Say New Generation Of Ransomware Emerging

WASHINGTON (AP) – An unusual strain of virus-like hacker software that exploits computer server vulnerabilities without requiring human interaction is a leading example of a new generation of “ransomware,” according to a new report by Cisco Systems Inc.

Hackers use such software to target large-scale networks and hold data hostage in exchange for bigger payments. In such attacks, hackers target backup files and records, encrypting them to make them unreadable. To regain access, users without additional safe backups who don’t want to lose critical files often pay the ransom, typically $10,000 to $15,000 for an entire network or hundreds of dollars for a single computer.

FDA Approves Drug for Tough-To-Treat Type of Leukemia

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug targeting a subset of leukemia patients with a genetic abnormality that makes the cancer harder to treat.

It approved sales of Venclexta for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who relapsed or weren’t helped by a prior treatment and are missing the part of chromosome 17 that kills cancer cells. That allows the blood cancer to worsen.

Venclexta is manufactured by AbbVie Inc. of North Chicago, Illinois. AbbVie will market it overseas and will sell it in the U.S. together with Genentech, part of the Roche Group.