Merck KGaA announced that its Merck Serono division and Fast Forward, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American National Multiple Sclerosis Society, have entered a collaborative partnership to evaluate and fund promising multiple sclerosis (MS) research projects. Proposals will be jointly developed by Merck Serono and Fast Forward. Merck will provide up to $19 million in funding.

Pfizer Inc announced that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has granted reissue patent RE40667, relating to Lipitor. The company had applied for the reissue patent in January 2007, in order to correct a technical defect in the '995 enantiomer patent for atorvastatin calcium, the salt form of atorvastatin sold as Lipitor.

Roche has signed a definite agreement under which Roche will acquire 100% of innovatis, a privately held company based in Bielefeld, Germany. innovatis is a leading provider of automated cell analysis solutions, especially focussing on cell counting, viability testing, and cell function analysis in research, as well as bioproduction. The purchase price for this transaction is 15 million Euros.

A comprehensive analysis published today in The Lancet, one of the world's leading medical journals, from the ABSORB clinical trial demonstrated that Abbott's bioabsorbable drug eluting stent, currently in development, successfully treated coronary artery disease and was absorbed into the walls of treated arteries within two years.

Sanofi-aventis (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY), has announced the signing of an agreement with the Mexican authorities to build a € 100 million facility to manufacture influenza vaccine in Mexico. The announcement was made during a ceremony attended by Felipe Calderon, President of Mexico, and Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France, who was in Mexico City for a State visit.

Roche's Annual General Meeting has approved all the Board of Directors' proposals. The 703 shareholders in attendance, representing 144,334,099, or 90.2% of a total of 160,000,000 bearer shares, approved the 2008 Annual Report and financial statements. They also authorised a +9% increase in the dividend to 5.00 Swiss francs per share and non-voting equity.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) and Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP) announced that their Boards of Directors have unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which Merck and Schering-Plough will combine, under the name Merck, in a stock and cash transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, Schering-Plough shareholders will receive 0.5767 shares and $10.50 in cash for each share of Schering-Plough.