Shares of Aventis SA, France’s No.1 drug maker, rose as much as 2.6% on optimism the government won’t oppose an effort by Switzerland’s Novartis AG to top Sanofi- Synthelabo SA’s €45.8 billion ($55 billion) hostile offer.

Evelyn Ring

Two specific batches of a rabies vaccine have been recalled from the Irish market as part of a worldwide recall by French company Aventis Pasteur MSD Limited.

Novartis AG, considering an offer for Aventis SA, has formed a US partnership to make a cheap version of the French company’s anti-clot treatment Lovenox.

A CORK drug research company will complete its journey from UCC start-up to the London Stock Exchange early next month.

Share prices were higher in midday trading, lifted by a tentative round of bargain hunting after heavy selling seen last Thursday and Friday, although Axa underperformed as investors fear a recent string of capital increases by European insurers could signal similar moves for the rest of the sector, dealers said.

Jean-Marie Messier, the much-maligned chairman of Vivendi Universal, has been formally removed from his post and replaced by Jean-Rene Fourtou, of the pharmaceutical giant Aventis.

A pharmaceutical factory in Nenagh, Co Tipperary is to close at the end of July with the loss of 230 jobs.

Birmingham Children's Hospital has admitted giving organs from living children to a drugs company for money.