MEDICAL

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center expands its network

A group of doctors and hospitals affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will add two hospitals to its network after gaining approval from the state’s Health Policy Commission on Wednesday. The decision allows Beth Israel Deaconess Care Organization, or BIDCO, to add MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham and New England Baptist Hospital in Boston to its network and jointly contract with insurance companies. MetroWest is also planning a clinical affiliation with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The Health Policy Commission, which studies big health care industry transactions, said the deals will solidfy BIDCO’s place as the second-largest hospital network in the state and are likely to cause “small to moderate’’ increases in health spending. But commissioners decided not to refer the deals to the attorney general for further investigation. The approval was expected after commissioners signaled support for the transactions in July. — PRIYANKA DAYAL MCCLUSKEY

PHARMACEUTICALS

Pfizer hires new chief scientific officer for neuroscience research division

Pfizer Inc. has hired a well-known expert in neurodegenerative diseases to be the drug maker’s new chief scientific officer for its neuroscience research division in Cambridge. Ole Isacson will replace Michael Ehlers, who left Pfizer to take a top executive position at neighboring Biogen earlier this year. Isacson currently is a neurology professor at Harvard Medical School and founding director of the Neuroregeneration Research Institute at McLean Hospital in Belmont. ­Isacson has built a reputation for, among other things, his expertise in researching ways to fight Parkinson’s disease. He’ll start at Pfizer next week, and will report to Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer’s president of worldwide research and development. Dolsten cited Isacson’s strong ties to the local academic community, saying those ties will be important as Pfizer looks to collaborate more with institutions in the area on research efforts. While Pfizer is based in New York, the company employs more than 2,000 people in Massachusetts. That number includes Pfizer’s research and development hub in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, where Isacson will be based. — JON CHESTO

EMPLOYMENT

Businesses had a record number of job openings in July

American employers advertised a record number of open jobs in July, a sign hiring may stay healthy despite a slowdown last month. Job openings jumped 4 percent to 5.87 million, the Labor Department said Wednesday, slightly above the previous peak reached in April. The data dates back to December 2000. The report muddies the employment outlook for the Federal Reserve, which meets in two weeks to consider whether to raise short-term interest rates for the first time this year. The big increase in open jobs suggests hiring will pick up in the coming months. But that message runs counter to the government’s jobs report Friday, which showed that employers pulled back on hiring in August. They added 151,000 jobs last month, about half the total of the previous two months. The unemployment rate stayed a relatively low 4.9 percent for the third straight month. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

WEBSITES

Tegna to list Cars.com as separate public company

Tegna Inc., the broadcaster that spun off newspaper publisher Gannett Co. last year, will list auto-sales website Cars.com as a separate public company and is evaluating a sale of its ­CareerBuilder job-hunting unit. Tegna spun off Gannett last year after acquiring more local TV networks from Belo Corp. and London Broadcasting Co. The broadcasting business now has 46 stations and is the biggest affiliate of Comcast Corp.’s NBC and CBS Corp.’s flagship network. Gannett bought out its partners in Cars.com in 2014 for $1.8 billion, then included the auto-sales website in the Tegna split. CareerBuilder is 53 percent owned by Tegna, with Tribune Media Co. and McClatchy Co. holding the rest. Tegna will retain all the company’s debt when Cars.com is spun off, though the auto-sales website will pay its parent company a one-time dividend before the transaction to help maintain its credit rating. Tegna’s long-term debt, rated just below junk by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, was $4.3 billion at the end of June. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

AUTOMOTIVE

Michigan eases rules on self-driving car tests

Michigan would no longer require that someone be inside a self-driving car while testing it on public roads under legislation passed unanimously Wednesday by the state Senate, where backers touted the measures as necessary to keep the US auto industry’s home state ahead of the curve on rapidly advancing technology. The bills, which are on track for final legislative approval by year’s end and are supported by Republican Governor Rick Snyder, would end a requirement that a researcher be present inside an autonomous test vehicle. Supporters said the human operator requirement is seen as an impediment that could put Michigan at risk of losing research and development to other states. Other provisions would let ‘‘platoons’’ of commercial trucks travel closely together at electronically coordinated speeds and help create a facility to test autonomous and wirelessly connected cars at highway speeds at the site of a defunct General Motors plant that once churned out World War II bombers. Also, auto manufacturers would be authorized to run networks of on-demand self-driving vehicles. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

FOOD

Mondelez to market Oreo candy bars

Mondelez International Inc. wanted Hershey Kisses and Reese’s Pieces. The global snack giant will have to settle for Oreo candy bars instead. After abandoning a bid last month to acquire Hershey Co., Mondelez is making its own play for US chocolate consumers. The Deerfield, Ill.-based company will roll out Oreo-branded candy bars — already available in some countries overseas — in an attempt to crack a domestic market where it has little presence. The Oreo candy bars, made with Milka-branded chocolate, will start to hit US stores in October and will be available nationally in 2017, according to the company. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

BEER

World’s largest brewers want a stake in Vietnam’s top beer brewer

The world’s largest brewers from Europe to Asia are lining up for a chance to buy a stake in Vietnam’s top beer-maker, in a deal worth at least $1.8 billion as consumption in the Southeast Asian country surges. Dutch brewer Heineken, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and its merger partner SABMiller, as well as Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings and Kirin Holdings are among seven foreign companies that have registered to bid for stakes in Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp., also known as Sabeco, its chief executive officer Le Hong Xanh said. The deal is garnering interest from foreign beer brands attracted by Vietnam’s young population and rising middle class in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

SOCIAL MEDIA

Snapchat ends daily local stories for cities

Snapchat Inc. is ending its daily local stories for cities feature, which pulled together video of everyday activities — concerts, cute puppies in the park — shot by users in locales such as New York. Instead the photo and video-sharing app will focus on so-called live moments: videos of specific events, like Fourth of July celebrations, and the Super Bowl. About 15 curators who worked on the local stories feature will lose their jobs, according to people familiar with the matter. — BLOOMBERG NEWS