(AFX UK Focus) 2010-03-23 08:50 Merck KGaA to issue bonds regularly -CFO in paper
FRANKFURT, March 23 (Reuters) – German pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA expects to raise funds on the bond market on a regular basis, its chief financial officer said in a newspaper interview. “Under our (bond) programme we will regularly act as an issuer on the bond market,” Michael Becker told Boersen-Zeitung in an interview published on Tuesday. Last week, Merck issued a 3.2 billion euro ($4 …

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Ageing: Much ado about ageing
Questions about a laboratory assay are making Sirtris, a high-profile biotechnology company, the talking point of the ageing field. Heidi Ledford investigates.

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Big Pharma Wins Big in Health Care Reform
The Republicans look a sour lot this morning, but the pharmaceutical industry, which helps foot the campaign bills of a sizeable chunk of members of both parties, is delighted with the legislation, and with its Democratic friends in the White House and on the Hill.

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State Tax Credit Bill Sets Off Confusion
Fred V. Carstensen didn’t hold back when he implored lawmakers to move ahead with a jobs plan that he said would speed the state’s economic recovery dramatically.

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Solazyme, Inc. – Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare – Deals And Alliances Profile – New Report Published
Solazyme, Inc. is a biotech company. The company is engaged in the development of wide range solutions for the renewable energy, industrial chemical and cosmetic, nutritional and pharmaceutical markets.

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New rules on generics seen as mixed blessing
A small piece of the new health care law provides a way for drug manufacturers to eventually create generic versions of brand-name biologic drugs. But some say the provision that allows biotechnology companies to hold on to their data exclusively for 12 years… Health care – Biologic – Drug Manufacturers – Major – United States – Law

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Drug lobby’s health care win
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chalk one up for the pharmaceutical lobby. The U.S. drug industry fended off price curbs and other hefty restrictions in President Barack Obama’s health care law even as it prepares for plenty of new business when an estimated 32 million uninsured Americans gain health coverage.

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THE INFLUENCE GAME: Drug lobby’s health care win
Chalk one up for the pharmaceutical lobby. The U.S. drug industry fended off price curbs and other hefty restrictions in President Barack Obama’s health care law even as it prepares for plenty of new business when an estimated 32 million uninsured Americans gain health coverage.

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Humira Replaces Enbrel as the Therapy Perceived by Dermatologists to be the Most Efficacious for the Treatment of …
WALTHAM, Mass., March 23 /PRNewswire/ — Decision Resources, one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that surveyed dermatologists view Abbott/Eisai’s Humira as the most efficacious therapy for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis.

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Drug ETFs Likely Winners of Health Law
Exchange-traded funds with drugmakers as holdings likely will reap benefits from the passage of U.S. health care reform.

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