Business briefs, January 28, 2016

Public Storage expands property

BRADENTON -- National self-storage giant Public Storage has made itself the big player along Cortez Road with a recent $8.58 million purchase of a competitor's property.

The publicly traded Glendale, Calif., company bought a 67,000-square- foot storage facility at 6501 Cortez Road W. from Budget Self Storage on Jan. 13, according to Manatee County property records. Budget, a Sarasota company, owns storage facilities in Sarasota, Brandon, St. Petersburg and Tampa.

The facility sits on 4.4 acres.

Storage facilities have been changing hands at a regular clip in Manatee County in the past two years.

Last June, a New York investment company purchased the 63,000-square-foot Value Self Storage facility at 3283 University Parkway for $5.8 million.

A few months earlier, Extra Space Storage, a Utah-based real estate investment trust, bought a 49,000-square-foot storage facility on Cortez Road for $5.1 million.

Another self-storage facility, Kangaroo Self Storage at 5717 14th St W., sold in August 2014 for $2.48 million to a California company.

Public Storage operates more than 2,200 properties in 38 states and seven Western European nations, according to its website.

Spherion Staffing hosts event with CareerSource

BRADENTON -- Spherion Staffing will host a hiring event for assembly and machine operators.

The job fair will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 1 at the CareerSource Suncoast Bradenton career center, 1112 Manatee Ave. E.

Multiple positions are available and no experience is required.

All candidates must register and add a resume to employflorida.com prior to event. There is no appointment needed.

FDA OKs Merck hepatitis C drug, adding to choices

KENILWORTH, N.J. -- Patients with hepatitis C have yet another advanced treatment option, as the Food on Drug Administration has approved a new once-a-day pill developed by drugmaker Merck.

The FDA said Thursday Merck can begin marketing Zepatier (ZEP'-ah-teer), its new drug for patients with the liver-destroying virus.

The combination pill includes the medications elbasvir and grazoprevir, which attack the virus in two different ways.

Merck hasn't disclosed the list price for the drug, which requires a 12-week course of treatment.

The approval is good news for patients, because the growing competition should crimp the sky-high prices for hepatitis C drugs, and the additional option mean there's one that will work for nearly every subgroup of people with hepatitis C.

-- Herald staff, wire reports

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 11:31 PM with the headline "Business briefs, January 28, 2016 ."