BRIEFCASE.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Gas prices up, but by less than usual

Gasoline prices in the Los Angeles area rose for the sixth consecutive week this week, but by their smallest amount during the period, the Automobile Club of Southern California reported Friday.

The average price of a gallon of self-serve unleaded regular was $2.606 in the Los Angeles area Friday morning, 1.6 cents more the last week, 28 cents more than last month and 51 cents more than at this time last year.

Prices rose 8.1 cents from Jan. 27 to Feb. 3, 5.9 cents from Jan. 20 to Jan. 27, 4.6 cents from Jan. 13 to Jan. 20, 16.6 cents from Jan. 6 to Jan. 13 and 1.2 cents from Dec. 30 to Jan. 6.

Skechers predicts higher earnings

MANHATTAN BEACH - Skechers USA announced Friday that it expects fourth-quarter 2005 revenues to be in the range of $220 million-$223 million and $1.003 billion-$1.006 billion for the full year.

The Manhattan Beach-based global footwear company's previously announced guidance was $210 million-$220 million for the quarter.

The company now expects diluted earnings per share to be 12 cents-14 cents for the fourth quarter, and $1.04-$1.06 for the full year, exceeding the First Call Consensus of 6 cents and 98 cents for the quarter and year, respectively.

JAKKS finished with acquisition

MALIBU - JAKKS Pacific Inc. announced Friday that it has completed its $116.5 million acquisition of substantially all of the assets and liabilities of Creative Designs International Ltd. and a related Hong Kong company.

The privately held CDI toy company, which is based in Feasterville, Pa., manufactures girls' dress-up and role-play toys, including outfits, tea sets, and pretend kitchens and vanities, and holds licenses from Disney for its classic characters, princesses and fairies.

According to JAKKS Pacific, the deal consisted of $93.3 million in cash and 150,000 shares of JAKKS common stock valued at about $3.2 million, with an additional $20 million to be based on the achievement of certain financial performance criteria.

Malibu-based JAKKS Pacific is a multibrand company that designs and markets a broad range of toys and consumer products.

Witness: Merck slow on warning

NEW ORLEANS - Merck & Co. could have warned that its popular painkiller Vioxx might increase the risk of heart attacks as soon as the first evidence showed up, rather than waiting two years for federal approval, a former Food and Drug Administration official testified Friday.

Richard Kapit said there was plenty of time to alert the public before Richard ``Dickie'' Irvin began taking Vioxx, which his widow claims caused his fatal heart attack after a month on the drug in 2001.

Merck says it alerted the FDA in 2000 that a study showed that heart attacks occurred five times as often in patients taking Vioxx as those on another drug, called naproxen. The agency didn't approve the label change until April 2002.

The company pulled the drug from the market in September 2004, after another study showed that it could double the risk of heart attacks.

Kapit, who worked for the FDA for 16 years, mostly as a drug application reviewer analyzing adverse effects, said companies are allowed to change a drug label as soon as they apply for permission to add or strengthen a warning, precaution, or other information about a serious side effect.

``The FDA is a bureaucracy. ... You don't want to wait until it goes through all the records,'' he said.