Pfizer offers share exchange to grant Zoetis its freedom
Pfizer is cutting the apron strings at Zoetis. Just months after its highly successful IPO, in which Pfizer sold off a 20% stake, the animal health business is set to become fully independent. Pfizer is offering a stock swap to its shareholders, who can exchange $100 in Pfizer shares for roughly $107 worth of Zoetis stock.
Vermont passes assisted-suicide law, with drug-dispensing safeguards
The law includes safeguards, including requirements that terminally ill patients ask for the requisite drugs three times before they're actually dispensed.
Will U.K. watchdogs change their minds on Avastin in ovarian cancer?
The U.K.'s cost-effectiveness police have been arresting Roche's Avastin development efforts once again. As Cover magazine reports, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has nixed two proposed uses for the drug in ovarian cancer, one of the hardest-to-treat forms of the disease.
Warner Chilcott CEO up for $9.2M handshake after Actavis deal
As the dust settles around Actavis' announced buyout of Warner Chilcott, it's time to dig into some of the nitty-gritty details about "New Actavis." For instance, which of Warner's top people will stick around–and if they don't, how much severance might they collect on the way out? And just how big is the tax cut Actavis expects from making the deal?
Shire eyes takeover protection as bid rumors swirl, Mail says
Shire ($SHPG) is a perennial entry on everybody's favorite M&A target list. Now, according to the Daily Mail, Shire is putting its ducks in a row for a potential "special dividend" to counter any takeover interest. Word is, an £11 billion hostile bid is coming.
Ex-HGS director draws fire for plugging anthrax drug at Pentagon
According to a Los Angeles Times investigation, former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig talked up HGS' anthrax drug raxibacumab to his government contacts–at a time when he also served on the company's board.
Women want Apotex to pay for unwanted pregnancies
Forty-five women who had turned to Apotex for contraceptives to avoid having children are now looking to the Canadian drugmaker to help them pay for their babies, or their abortions, after they ended up pregnant.
JVs like Pfizer, Hisun hookup provide Chinese companies shot at Western markets
Joint ventures with Chinese companies have been seen as a way for Big Pharma to get better traction in the exploding China market. But it is not a one-way street. Chinese companies see the tie-ups as a way to build their own capabilities and begin to tap lucrative Western markets.
Actavis nabs Warner Chilcott in a $8.5B stock swap
Actavis and Warner Chilcott have struck a deal. And it's bigger than the $5 billion-or-so that was bandied about while the companies negotiated. About $3 billion bigger, in fact: According to Actavis, the company will acquire Warner in a stock swap worth $8.5 billion.
Australian judge kills Merck Vioxx class action settlement
A federal judge in Australia has put the kibosh on a half-million-dollar settlement over ill effects of Merck's ($MRK) painkiller Vioxx, a drug that has spawned billions of dollars in litigation.