GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced that this week, approximately half a million people will have received its pandemic H1N1 vaccine, Pandemrix™, as part of Government initiated vaccination programmes across Europe, which commenced earlier this month. GSK also announced new results from a clinical trial assessing the use of Pandemrix in adults aged 18 to 85 years of age.

Boehringer Ingelheim, a global pharmaceutical group of companies, together with its U.S. animal health business Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., has closed its deal with Pfizer to acquire a significant portion of the Fort Dodge Animal Health business.

Novartis maintained the strong underlying momentum of 2009 as third-quarter net sales grew 7% in local currencies, while reported net sales rose 3% to USD 11.1 billion as four percentage points of growth were lost to adverse currency movements.

Merck KGaA announced that Group total revenues rose 2.7% in the third quarter to € 1,944 million from € 1,893 million in the year-ago quarter as the Pharmaceuticals divisions continued to grow and the Chemicals divisions continued to recover from the economic crisis. Royalty income declined 9.7% to € 82 million.

Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, announces that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), following a thorough administrative review of governing statutory and regulatory standards and public comments, has affirmed its prior decision to grant five-year New Chemical Entity (NCE) exclusivity to lisdexamfetamine dimesylate

Sanofi-aventis (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY) and Wellstat Therapeutics Corporation announced a global licensing agreement on PN2034, a novel oral first-in-class, insulin sensitizer, for the treatment of Type II Diabetes. As a sensitizer, PN2034 is expected to normalize and therefore enhance insulin action in the liver of diabetic patients. The compound is currently in Phase II clinical testing.

Bayer HealthCare AG and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the companies have begun enrolling patients in an international Phase III trial to evaluate Nexavar® (sorafenib) tablets for the treatment of patients with radioactive iodine-refractory, locally advanced or metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer.