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The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday said more than 100 patients have died while taking the blood thinner heparin since early 2007.

The agency has been investigating contamination of heparin made by the manufacturer Baxter International Inc., which it linked to 19 deaths and hundreds of allergic reactions.

New data posted to the FDA’s Web site shows the agency has received 103 reports of death with heparin made by various manufacturers since January 2007.

FDA recorded a spike in deaths beginning in December 2007 and continuing through February this year, when Baxter recalled its contaminated product payday loan.

FDA said about 40% of the deaths were associated with allergic reactions and that the remaining deaths showed no evidence of allergic reactions.

For both 2006 and 2007 FDA received 55 reports of death with the blood thinner.

A Baxter (BAX, Fortune 500) representative was not immediately available for comment.

An FDA spokeswoman said the agency decided to release the additional numbers on heparin deaths at the request of consumers. 

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Morgan Stanley (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Wednesday said first-quarter earnings fell amid write-downs in mortgages and loans, yet resilient trading results helped the second-largest U.S. investment bank exceed lowered expectations by a wide margin.

The results offer a big boost to Chief Executive John Mack, trying to help the bank recover from $9.4 billion in mortgage trading losses last year that eroded earnings and dented his reputation. It also delivers another jolt of good news to a market that had been prepared for bigger write-downs and signs that Wall Street firms were facing liquidity problems.

Morgan’s income from continuing operations fell by about a third to $1.55 billion, or $1.45 a share, in the quarter ended February 29, from $2.31 billion, or $2.17, in the year-earlier period. Quarterly revenue fell 17 percent to $8.3 billion.

Analysts on average expected Morgan Stanley to earn $1.03 a share in the quarter on $7.3 billion of revenue, according to Reuters Estimates.

Trading results fell compared with last year’s idyllic market conditions. Yet the firm’s investment banking and trading division had its third-best quarter ever, generating revenue of $6.2 billion.

Fixed-income trading revenue posted its second-best quarter ever at $2.9 billion, while equity trading revenue surged by half payday loans. Investment banking revenue rose 6 percent to $1.6 billion.

Wall Street banks have tumbled this year amid a worsening debt market, culminating in a Federal Reserve intervention last week and a nearly insolvent Bear Stearns (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) announcing a shotgun wedding with JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) for just $2 a share.

Better-than-expected results from Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Lehman Brothers (LEH.N: Quote, Profile, Research) spurred a rally in financial shares on Tuesday and helped ease worries about additional bank failures. Morgan Stanley shares, down 42 percent this year, surged 19 percent on Tuesday and were up in pre-market trade on Wednesday. 

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Health care giant Johnson & Johnson’s chairman and CEO received compensation valued at $22.8 million in 2007, a 10.4% rise in a year when J&J announced plans to cut up to 4% of its work force in its biggest restructuring ever.

William C. Weldon, J&J’s chairman and chief executive officer since 2002, received compensation totaling $20.6 million in 2006.

In 2007, he received a base salary of $1.73 million, according to a proxy statement filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Weldon, 59, received stock awards and options valued at $5.34 million when they were granted in February 2007, plus another $9.19 million in annual performance bonus.

Weldon, who started his career at Johnson & Johnson in 1971, also received other compensation totaling $3.22 million. That included $2.95 million in deferred compensation called dividend equivalents, $77,625 in contributions to his retirement plan and $179,231 in various perks, from $118,653 for personal use of company aircraft to $29,753 for a car and driver.

The Associated Press calculations of total pay include executives’ salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year fast cash advance loan. The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

J&J, which makes everything from Band-Aids and baby shampoo to contraceptives and genetically engineered medicines, last year saw a rare decline in net income, which fell by 4% to $10.6 billion.

However, sales jumped nearly 15%, to $61.1 billion, mainly because of the company’s acquisition the prior year of Pfizer Inc.’s (PFE, Fortune 500) huge consumer health business.

J&J (JNJ, Fortune 500) shares rose 11 cents to $62.55 in regular trading Wednesday, before the proxy was filed, then rose another 10 cents in after-hours trading. Its shares have traded in the range of $59.72 to $68.85 over the past 52 weeks. 

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Florida has subpoenaed Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) as part of a widening investigation into subprime lending practices, the state’s attorney general said on Thursday.

Attorney General Bill McCollum told fellow cabinet members the investigation involving the nation’s largest mortgage lender was linked to practices that may have hurt Florida’s state-run investment pool.

McCollum’s office issued the subpoena to the California-based company on January 17, seeking information and documents on Countrywide’s lending practices, especially relating to subprime loans that go to people with poor credit histories.

“It’s a broad subpoena seeking information about whether or not the company potentially violated Florida’s deceptive and unfair trade practices act in a manner related to mortgages,” McCollom’s spokeswoman Sandi Copes told Reuters.

“Countrywide has received the subpoena from the Florida Attorney General and will cooperate fully with the State’s investigation,” the company said in a statement guaranteed cash advance loan. “As a matter of policy, Countrywide does not comment further on the status of pending investigations.”

The subpoena is part of a larger investigation of the industry in response to the subprime lending fiasco.

In November, investors made a multibillion-dollar run on the state’s Local Government Investment Pool after a small percentage of its investments were downgraded to “junk” status.

The pool, which local governments and schools use like a money market account, saw deposits drop from nearly $27 billion to less than $10 billion in a matter of weeks as depositors withdrew their funds. 

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ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Auto Show at America’s Center Saturday had everything you’d expect of such an event.

There were "car girls" on turntables and smooth-talking salesmen. There were concept cars and muscle cars and shiny new models from Acura through Volkswagen.

And there was one thing you might not expect: kids, lots and lots of kids, demonstrating once again that Americans’ love of the auto is very much a family affair.

Everywhere you looked Saturday, there was a boy years too young for a drivers license clambering in a front seat, grabbing the wheel and yanking the stick shift. There were dads showing their sons how to open a hood, or sharing with their daughters the finer points of a Ford F-150. There were whole families sitting in the back of a minivan or perching on the tailgate of an SUV.
There certainly were some kid-oriented things to do, like dance shows by Radio Disney and a Ford talking robot to interrogate ("Do you like ice cream?" "Can you rap?"). And everyone under 12 got a free miniature truck. But the biggest attraction seemed to be all the shiny new big-kid toys in the room.

That’s what caught the eye of young Arvaan Kakkar, of O’Fallon, Mo., taking in his first St. Louis Auto Show with his parents.

"He loves cars," said his father, Arijit Kakkar. "He’s been going around, sitting in all of them."

Between bites of cotton candy, Arvaan allowed that he particularly likes Infinitis.

Some have even more specific interests.

Adam Arbini, 6, of Fenton, and his dad, Mike, were there taking pictures of dashboards http://payday-nofax.com. He collects them, and has hundreds on his computer at home.

"He has a fascination with them," Mike said. "He can name them on sight."

Of course, the Auto Show has its attraction for adults, too. Some came to check out the new trends, others to shop around for a good buy.

For Raphael Seymour, of Maryland Heights, the show was a good chance to see all kinds of cars in one place, without a salesman looking over his shoulder.

"You can make your own decision this way," he said. "It’s how dealers ought to work."

And it’s a way for his son Raphael Jr., 5, to sample the wares as well; dealerships don’t tend to let the kids climb around quite so much. Little Raphael’s favorites?

"He likes the (GMC) Yukon, the Hummer," his dad said. "There was a Pontiac he liked, too."

Of course, Seymour notes, there are reasons beyond entertainment to bring a 5-year-old to a car show. One is input.

"The kid’s going to be riding in it, too," he said.

tlogan@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8291

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