Prime Site joins Quintiles, college

DURHAM -- Quintiles Transnational Corp. has embarked on a partnership with the University of Pretoria in South Africa as part of its Prime Site program, an initiative to accelerate the development of medicines.

Pretoria is the third of Quintiles' Prime Sites, which also includes Queen Mary's College in London and the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

Christopher Cabell, head of Global Access to Patients at Quintiles, said Pretoria was selected because of its experience in conducting clinical research, its access to substantial patient populations and clinical expertise across multiple therapeutic areas.

Prime Sites are clinical institutions that collaborate with Quintiles to enhance their infrastructure for conducting clinical trials.

U.S. contracts XinRay for x-rays

DURHAM -- XinRay Systems LLC, a developer of advanced x-ray sources in Durham's Research Triangle Park, announced Thursday that it has received a $2.7 million research contract to develop x-ray for use in screening checked bags.

The contract was awarded by the Explosives Detection Subgroup of the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office, for a $1.1 million 10-month program with additional options. The research is funded by the federal Department of Homeland Security.

XinRay will test carbon nanotube cold cathode multiple beam x-ray sources for use in high throughput baggage and cargo explosives detection systems.

XinRay is a joint venture of Siemens Medical Solutions and Xintek, a nanotechnology company that's a spin-off from UNC Chapel Hill.

Mack to step down in January

NEW YORK-- John J. Mack will step down as CEO of Morgan Stanley in January but will continue as chairman, the investment bank announced Thursday.

Mack will be succeeded by Co-President James P. Gorman.

Robert Kidder, lead director of Morgan Stanley, said in a statement that Mack told the board 18 months ago he wanted to step back from the CEO role when he turns 65 in November. Mack has led Morgan Stanley for four years.

Mack has come under some criticism for scaling back the company's risk profile even as rivals like Goldman Sachs have regained momentum as the crisis has ebbed.

GM to sell Opel, still make cars

BERLIN -- General Motors Co. will sell European unit Opel to Canadian auto parts maker Magna International and Russia's Sberbank in a deal that preserves GM's ability to develop new cars with its longtime subsidiary.

The announcement Thursday was a politically charged win for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who saw the deal as the best chance to save jobs at a major employer less than three weeks before national elections on Sept. 27.

GM will see a 55-percent stake in Adam Opel GmbH transferred to the Canadian-Russian team but will keep 35 percent for itself, with 10 percent held by the workers.

-- From staff, wire reports