The bottom line

Prescription- and generic-drug sales rise

Americans spent $300 billion on prescription drugs in 2009, a 5.1 percent increase over the previous year. Generic-drug sales rose 5.9 percent and now account for three-quarters of all dispensed prescriptions in the U.S.

Medical Marketing and Media

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Wall Street resumes hiring

After slashing payrolls following the financial crisis, Wall Street is hiring again. JPMorgan Chase plans to add 1,000 bankers across the U.S., while Bank of America, with 3,600 job openings, has more than doubled its graduate and intern hiring this year.

USA Today

Last sardine-canning plant to close

America’s last sardine-canning plant, in Prospect Harbor, Maine, is set to close its doors April 18. At its peak, the U.S. sardine-canning industry boasted more than 50 plants. Plant owner Bumble Bee Foods blames new federal limits on commercial fishing.

The New York Times

Federal government a player in D.C. real estate market

The federal government is becoming a bigger player in the Washington, D.C., commercial real estate market, leasing 750,000 square feet of office space in the first quarter of 2010, compared with 670,000 square feet for all of 2009. Experts say expansion of the government is driving demand for new space.

The Washington Post

Airline industry faces long economic recovery

The airline industry will take at least three years to recover after the worst recession in six decades cut into travel demand, the International Air Transport Association says. Globally, the industry lost $50 billion in the past 10 years—$11 billion in 2009 alone.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek