GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) announced that Fountain Acquisition Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of GSK, is commencing a cash tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of common stock of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: SIRT) (Sirtris), for $22.50 in cash without interest and less any required withholding taxes.

Abbott and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited have concluded their TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc. (TAP) joint venture. The closing of the agreement to evenly divide the value of the more than 30-year-old joint venture marks the conclusion of one of the most successful joint ventures in the history of American business.

Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company formed to focus on the discovery and development of compounds to treat cardiovascular and metabolic disease, today announced that it has been launched as a privately held, independent enterprise.

H. Lundbeck A/S and Neurim Pharmaceuticals Ltd. announced that Lundbeck has obtained expanded exclusive rights to commercialize Circadin® in Asia, Latin America and other major markets such as Australia and Turkey. Following regulatory filing and approval Lundbeck expects to market Circadin® in the first markets outside of Europe in 2009.

AstraZeneca today announced submission of a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to seek approval of a new indication for SYMBICORT® (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate) Inhalation Aerosol for the treatment of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Novo Nordisk will donate a licence to its small molecule compound library to the National Center for Drug Screening (NCDS) affiliated to Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The centre will use the library – both the actual compounds and an associated database – for screening activities to identify new drug candidates for infectious tropical diseases that affect people in poor countries.

The European Commission has extended the marketing authorization for Zevalin® ([90Y]-ibritumomab tiuxetan) in Europe. Zevalin can now be used in the course of a first-line therapy after remission induction in previously untreated patients with follicular lymphoma. The aim of such a consolidation therapy is the improvement of the effect of an initial induction therapy.