Roche (SWX: ROG.VX; RO.S) has increased its offer price for all outstanding publicly-held shares of Genentech (NYSE: DNA) to US$ 93 per share and extended the offer to 12:00 midnight, New York City time, on Friday, March 20, 2009. All other terms and conditions of the tender offer remain unchanged.

Lundbeck has presented annual accounts in which all of the financial results meet the financial guidance announced by the company in March 2008. For the first time ever, revenue exceeded DKK 11 billion in 2008, and Lundbeck's management considers the results highly satisfactory.

Results from a study published today in the Journal of Sexual Medicine show that a new, easy to use five-question diagnostic tool can significantly reduce the time it takes to diagnose the most common form of female sexual dysfunction (FSD), generalised, acquired Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder* (HSDD).

Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) announced today that it has entered into a series of agreements with Aurobindo Pharma Ltd., a pharmaceutical company based in India, to commercialize medicines that are no longer patent protected, and have lost market exclusivity in the United States and Europe, further progressing its Established Products Business Unit strategy.

AstraZeneca and MAP Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have announced an exclusive worldwide agreement to develop and commercialise Unit Dose Budesonide (UDB), MAP Pharmaceuticals' proprietary nebulised formulation of budesonide. UDB is being developed by MAP Pharmaceuticals as a potential treatment for paediatric asthma and is currently in Phase III clinical development.

Bayer HealthCare and the Association of German Medical Journalists (VDMJ) have jointly announced the 2009 Advances in Renal Cancer Journalists’ Award Europe, which will honor journalists who have dealt with the issue of renal cancer in a critical and objective manner. The award, endowed with EUR 7,500, is donated by Bayer HealthCare. Eligible for the award are printed media, radio, television and film reports.

Novartis shareholders have followed the Board of Directors' recommendations for all proposed resolutions at the Group's Annual General Meeting. These included a 25% increase in the dividend payment for 2008, the rejection of the introduction of a consultative vote on the remuneration report and the election of William Brody, M.D., Ph.D. as a new Board member.