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.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS), excluding stock option expense and certain other expenses, of $1.12 for the first quarter of 2008, an increase of 4 percent compared to $1.08 for the first quarter of 2007. Adjusted net income, excluding stock option expense and certain other expenses, decreased 4 percent to $1,218 million in the first quarter of 2008 compared to $1,270 million in the first quarter of 2007.

Pfizer has entered into a collaboration agreement with four major research universities – University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB); Caltech; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and University of Massachusetts – and Entelos, a physiological modeling company, to re-examine the regulatory mechanisms of human energy metabolism.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency has recommended two medicines for marketing approval in the European Union (EU).

GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) and Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: SIRT) announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which GlaxoSmithKline will acquire Sirtris Pharmaceuticals for approximately USD720 million (or approx. GBP362 million) through a cash tender offer of USD22.50 (or approx. GBP11.33) per share.

Sales in the first quarter increased by 4 percent at CER, or 10 percent on an as reported basis. Sales in the US were up 5 percent; the inclusion of MedImmune sales in the quarter more than offset the decline in Toprol-XL™ sales in the US market.