Valeant Pharmaceuticals chief executive Joe Papa says the drugmaker, which also owns Waterford’s Bausch + Lomb, has slimmed down enough for now and will focus on generating cash from its remaining businesses as it pays down a mountain of debt.

Global eye health company Bausch + Lomb’s base yesterday opened an €85m facility in Waterford, three years after the company was on the verge of closing its base and shedding 1,100 employees.

A COUPLE of years ago I wrote about a fuzzy-haired Czech professor with a head full of brains who had discovered a virus that could get into a human mind and make its owner reckless, writes Damien Enright

Sebastian Coe has received crucial backing to remain as IAAF president despite another damning report on athletics’ doping scandal and admitting that he leads a “failed organisation”.

Dublin-domiciled drug firm Perrigo is set to significantly strengthen its status as one of the world’s leading over-the-counter drugs makers by acquiring a selection of such brands from industry giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

IT’S not often myself and Il Papa are singing from the same hymn sheet but this week I’m happy to highfive the Bishop of Rome.

The Jim Bolger-trained Flight Risk sprang a 50/1 shock in the Group 3 Big Bad Bob Gladness Stakes, feature of yesterday’s action at the Curragh.

US-based Mylan yesterday offered to buy fellow drugmaker Perrigo whose headquarters are in Dublin for $28.9bn (€26.73bn), a deal that would create a powerhouse for generic medicine.

PlayStation Plus subscribers can download their free games for March right now. Check out the games that are free to download this month.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are to produce a TV sitcom.

WE’RE driving to Dublin Airport, and I have launched a private campaign not to respond with alarm to any statement beginning with oh my God I forgot, when uttered in connection to passports, keys, tickets, wallets, or anything else crucial to safe passage.

In a ceremony steeped in pageantry and symbolism, the Bishop of Rome was officially installed against the magnificent backdrop of St Peter’s Basilica.

There were no little old ladies dashing about with fresh cuts of altar flowers.

ONE is leader of the Blueshirts, the other is leader of a bunch of blue blobs, but it seems that Papa Smurf has a stronger moral compass than Enda Kenny and Co.

Kids' movies may be the most difficult cinematic mountains to climb.

STRANGE times in Belgium as the country enters its 55th week without a Government and one of its few cultural exports, The Smurfs, are outed as racists.

Portsmouth duo Papa Bouba Diop and Kanu have both signed new contracts at the Premier League club today.

Sasa Papac is rated doubtful for Rangers’ Clydesdale Bank Premier League game against Motherwell.

Madonna is so frightened boys may lead her 10-year-old daughter astray, she's banned dates until Lourdes is 18.

GERMANY’S popular press took a swipe at British counterparts yesterday for their coverage of Pope Benedict XVI’s election, declaring in a banner front-page headline that “the English are insulting our Pope!”

Germany’s popular press took a swipe at British counterparts today for their coverage of Pope Benedict XVI’s election, declaring in a banner front-page headline that “the English are insulting our pope!”

THE International Youth Centre founded by Pope John Paul II in the shadow of St Peter's has a few bare spots on its walls that a quarter of a million Irish people could help fill.

AT first they sang him a lullaby, then they tried rousing him with cheers.

Fulham 1 West Brom 0

HAVE the lunatics taken over the Assembly? The Northern elections have left us seeing through a glass darkly as regards the future shape of things on this island.