News

Shire Plc expects to increase its spending on research and development this year, even as it prepares to commit €428 million to complete its latest acquisition- an all-cash offer for Movetis NV of Belgium.

Wilex AG has announced the successful completion of a rights issue which has raised €10 million in new money. The proceeds will be used to finance the ongoing clinical development of the company’s oncology portfolio.

With a debt restructuring completed and its core products booking substantial revenue gains in the first half, UCB SA has confirmed its forecast for 2010 revenue of €3 billion and a profit of €700 million.

Shire Plc has announced a tender offer for the recently-listed Belgian company, Movetis NV, which has a product for chronic constipation on markets in the European Union. Shire is offering €19 per share in cash for Movetis, representing a premium of 74% to Movetis’s closing price on NYSE Euronext Brussels on 2 August 2010.

Sanofi-Aventis SA has reportedly offered between $67 and $70 per share for Genzyme Corp in what amounts to a friendly acquisition proposal, according to a report in the 3 August 2010 edition of the Wall Street Journal.

Geron Corporation said it has received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to proceed with a human trial of an embryonic stem cell-based therapy in patients with acute spinal cord injury.

NicOx SA will be seeking a meeting with the Food and Drug Administration to discuss the agency’s refusal to approve its lead product, naproxcinod, for marketing, the company’s chief executive, Michele Garufi, told analysts in a conference call on 30 July.

The management of Wilex AG is asking shareholders not to accept an offer for the company from dievini Hopp BioTech holding GmbH. The venture capital firm was obliged to make the offer after its stake in Wilex moved above 30%.

Sanofi-Aventis managed to offset the impact of generic competition for some of its major products in the quarter and half year ended June 2010. However, it changed its guidance for profit per share at constant exchange rates.

For the second time this year, AstraZeneca Plc has raised its guidance for earnings per share in 2010 even as it anticipates a slight decline in revenue and downward pressure on prices in Europe from healthcare reforms. The Anglo-Swedish multinational also said that it is raising its target for the repurchase of its shares on the market to $2 billion, up from $1 billion, and will be paying an interim dividend of $0.70 per share.