The price of bathing won't be dirt cheap

Procter & Gamble Co., the maker of Tide laundry detergent, Head & Shoulders shampoo, Gillette shaving cream and Ivory soap, will raise prices as much as 16 percent because of higher costs for plastic, energy and paper. Retailers will pay P&G 2 percent to 16 percent more for fabric, home and hair care, bar soaps, and health and shaving products, P&G spokesman Paul Fox said yesterday. Commodity expenses will climb more than $2 billion this year, he said. P&G previously added 4 percent to 8 percent to prices in the past 18 months, Mr. Fox said.

ALung Technologies names 2 to board, gains funding

Gerald E. McGinnis, former chairman of the board of Respironics Inc., and Peter DeComo, chief executive officer of Renal Solutions Inc., a subsidiary of Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, have been named to the board of directors of ALung Technologies. Mr. DeComo was elected chairman of the board. Nicholas Kuhn, ALung president and CEO, also announced a closing of the first $1 million in a $2.5 million financing round. The South Side-based company is developing a device that it says will provide support for the lungs of patients in critical care. Separately, Fresenius will buy APP Pharmaceuticals Inc. for as much as $4.6 billion to enter the U.S. market for generic injectable medicines used in hospitals.

Wizzard thinking of media partner

Shadyside-based Wizzard Software, the largest distributor of Internet broadcasts known as podcasts, may seek investment from a bigger media company to finance growth, Chief Executive Officer Chris Spencer said. Wizzard, which distributes more than 2.75 million podcast downloads a day, began as a speech-recognition and text-to-speech technology company. The company switched its focus to podcasting in 2006 because that industry had faster revenue growth, Mr. Spencer said.

AirTran cutting jobs, flights in September

Discount carrier AirTran Airways is cutting 480 jobs, or more than 5 percent of its work force, amid difficult financial times due largely to soaring fuel prices, a company executive said yesterday. The airline told employees that 180 pilot jobs and 300 flight attendant jobs will be eliminated effective Sept. 6, according to Kevin Healy, senior vice president of marketing and planning for the carrier. Flights also will be reduced in September, Mr. Healy said. AirTran has about 8,900 employees.

Also in business ...

Among the top 10 carriers, US Airways scored third in on-time performance for May, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. It was sixth in baggage mishandlings and ninth in customer complaints.