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United Therapeutics Corp. agreed Wednesday to pay $210 million to settle claims that it paid kickbacks to Medicare patients. The U.S. Attorney’s office had alleged that the company violated the Anti-Kickback Statute of the False Claims Act, which prohibits drug companies from paying to induce Medicare patients to buy their drugs. The company, which sells a number of pulmonary arterial hypertension drugs, allegedly used a foundation claiming non-profit status as a conduit to pay the co-pay obligations of “thousands” of Medicare patients taking its drugs. “UT used a third party to do exactly what it knew it could not lawfully do itself,” said Acting U.S. Attorney William Weinreb. The $210 million settlement is equal to 47% of total third-quarter revenue. United Therapeutics’s stock gained 0.3% in midday trade. It has lost 5.2% year to date, while the S&P 500 has climbed 20%.

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Uber Technologies Inc.’s long search for a chief operating officer has come to an end. Barney Harford, the former CEO of Orbitz, will take on the Uber COO job, he said on Twitter Wednesday. Harford worked at Expedia with Uber’s new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, after Expedia Inc. acquired Orbitz in 2015. He has been working as a senior advisor at Uber since October, according to Bloomberg. Uber is trying to change up its corporate culture after a series of scandals. Founder Travis Kalanick was ousted from the CEO job earlier this year. Uber was dealt a disappointing blow earlier Wednesday after European regulators deemed the company a transit service, which could open the firm up to more regulations.

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Apple Inc. is reportedly planning to make it easier for developers to create apps that work across all Apple devices, according to Bloomberg. Apple shares are down 0.4% in Wednesday trading. As it stands, those who wish to make apps for Apple’s products have to make separate ones for the iOS mobile operating system and for the macOS computer operating system. A Bloomberg report says the company will roll out a way for developers to create a single app that works across both of these, “starting as early as next year.” Microsoft Corp. has universal apps aimed at PCs and Xbox devices, while Alphabet Inc.’s Google has made Android apps available on Chromebook computers. Apple shares are up 50% so far this year, while Microsoft’s stock has gained 37% and Alphabet’s is up 35%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen 25% this year.

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Magic Leap updated its website Wednesday to show the name and look of its forthcoming smart glasses, the Magic Leap One Creator Edition. The company said on its site that shipments would start in 2018, though it didn’t quote a price for the device. Magic Leap makes use of augmented reality, or mixed reality, to “generate digital light at different depths and blend seamlessly with natural light to produce lifelike digital objects that coexist in the real world.” Users will be able to view multiple screens at a time. Magic Leap investors include Google LLC, Qualcomm Ventures, and Alibaba Group Holding .

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U.S. oil futures gave up modest gains Wednesday, falling prey to an apparent bout of profit-taking, analysts said, after a larger-than-expected decline in domestic crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was flat at $57.56 a barrel after trading on both sides of unchanged following data that showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell by 6.5 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 15. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast, on average, a decline of 3.2 million barrels. A 1.2 million barrel rise in gasoline inventories may have contributed to the lackluster tone, analysts said. Analysts had forecast a 1.1 million barrel rise.

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Stocks opened higher Wednesday as investors awaited final legislative action on a bill that includes a sharp reduction in corporate tax rates. The S&P 500 was up 0.3% at 2,689.25, while the Dow industrials advanced 69 points, or 0.3%, to 24,823. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3% to 6,987. The House passed the tax legislation Tuesday, sending it to the Senate where it won approval in a party-line vote early Wednesday morning. Due to a procedural snag, it must go back to the House for a re-vote, which is expected later Wednesday.

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Shares of Seven Stars Cloud Group Inc. ran up 51% in active morning trade Wednesday, after the Beijing-based video-on-demand service company said it took a 27% stake in The Delaware Board of Trade Holdings Inc. (DBOT), a blockchain-based alternative trading system. Seven Stars said the purchase of the stake was made with 1,627,869 shares of its common stock, which based no Tuesday’s closing price of $4.33 was worth about $7.05 million. Seven Stars will become the largest shareholder of DBOT, which the company said is the only blockchain-based ATS that is fully licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Seven Stars’ stock has rocketed nearly 5-fold year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 20%.

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TherapeuticsMD Inc. shares dropped 7% in premarket trade on Wednesday after the company said the Food and Drug Administration will re-review its therapy by the end of May. The FDA classified the resubmission as a “class 2 response” rather than a class 1 response, giving it a longer timeline for FDA review, because “the additional endometrial safety information submitted to the [New Drug Application] for TX-004HR on September 14, 2017 was outside of an official review cycle.” If the therapy is approved according to the FDA’s timeline, TherapeuticsMD said it plans a launch in the third quarter of 2018, which could be as early as July 2018. “The wait continues,” said Stifel analyst Annabel Samimy, who had previously expected a class 1 review, which has a two-month timeline (relative to a class 2 review’s six-month timeline), adding “we continue to believe in the approvability of TX-004HR.” TX-004HR is intended to treat pain during sexual intercourse that is caused by a symptom of menopause. The FDA previously failed to approve the therapy in May, citing a need for more long-term safety data. Company shares have declined 2% over the last three months, compared with a nearly 7% rise in the S&P 500 and a 10.5% rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average .

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Shares of Net Element Inc. more than doubled on heavy volume in premarket trade Wednesday, after the electronic payments company said it was launching a blockchain-focused business unit. The company said it has partners with Bunker Capital to develop a decentralized crypto-based ecosystem that will act as a framework for services that can connect merchants and consumers directly using blockchain technology. “We believe that we’re at the dawn of a new evolution where additional digital payment methods are being introduced,” said Net Element Chief Executive Oleg Firer. The stock traded up 144% on volume of 875,000 shares ahead of the open, compared with the full-day average for volume of 458,000 shares. The stock had tumbled 30.5% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 had climbed 19.8%.

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