Minister for Health Simon Harris yesterday appealed to the manufacturers of two cancer drugs to show “compassion” by continuing to provide the medicines, while they are under review, to patients who need them.

Patients suffering from skin cancer could be set to miss out on a groundbreaking blockbuster drug.

Pharmaceutical giant Shire, which is headquartered in Ireland for tax purposes, has agreed to buy US rare disease specialist Dyax Corp for about $5.9bn (€5.35bn), and potentially up to $6.5bn, while still pursuing a five- times larger unsolicited bid for biopharma firm Baxalta Inc.

IDA head Martin Shanahan talks to the Irish Examiner about his belief that recent investments will deliver significant economic benefits to regional towns.

More than 750 plaintiffs are suing Johns Hopkins University over its role in a series of medical experiments in Guatemala in the 1940s and 1950s during which subjects were deliberately infected with syphilis, gonorrhoea and other infections as part of study into sexually transmitted diseases (STD) without their consent.

Pfizer dampened investors’ expectations of a renewed bid for AstraZeneca yesterday by signing a major cancer drug deal with Germany’s Merck, reducing the US firm’s need for Astra’s products.

Up to 400 jobs are to be created with the expansion of a US pharmaceutical firm in Dublin.

The absolute importance of foreign investment in our economic recovery was underlined again yesterday when American pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that is to create up to 400 jobs in Dublin as part of a €720m investment in a new plant.

Shares in Shire hit a record high yesterday on expectations of a takeover as dealmaking sweeps the drugs sector, after Reuters reported the group had hired investment bank Citi as a defence adviser.

Up to 160 jobs are at risk at a US pharmaceutical firm which is to close one of its factories in Dublin by the end of 2015.

160 jobs are to go at a Dublin-based pharmaceutical company.

US stocks rose last night after a strong gain in retail spending suggested that consumers could be getting more confident about the US economy. Bank stocks rose broadly after Citigroup delivered a strong earnings report.

Pfizer has reported first-quarter profit fell 19% after revenue from cholesterol pill Lipitor declined because of generic competition.

Abbott Laboratories has reported earnings that beat analysts’ estimates and raised its 2012 forecast as sales jumped more than expected for its top product.

The head of organ transplantation at Beaumont Hospital has criticised the Irish Medicines Board for failing to tell the hospital that a solution for transplanting organs had been quarantined because it was contaminated.

A near-$30 billion (€22.8bn) bid for Shire could emerge as the standout deal in the European pharmaceutical sector this year, a highlight for bankers in a market otherwise likely to be dominated by bolt-on acquisitions.

Pfizer has reported earnings that beat analysts’ estimates as the company’s non-pharmaceutical units and cost-cutting overcame losses from generic competition to its best-seller Lipitor.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co failed to beat analysts’ fourth-quarter profit estimates as the company invested in new products and sales fell for Plavix and Avapro, top-selling pills that will face generic competition this year.

DUBLIN and Athlone- based pharmaceutical company Elan is hoping to conclude its ongoing strategic review in the near term, its chief executive said yesterday.

IRISH pharmaceutical firm Elan saw its share price jump by more than 9% in Dublin and 6% in New York yesterday, after healthcare giant Pfizer became the latest name to be linked with a potential takeover bid for the Dublin and Athlone-based company.

The world's biggest drinks can maker Rexam has snapped up an American plastic packaging firm for around $1.57bn (€1.18bn).

A US multinational is reportedly set to move €25bn worth of assets out of the country to avail of lower tax rates abroad.

Wall Street extended its losses today as investors awaited a stream of key economic data this week and were left disappointed by the collapse of several closely-watched acquisition deals.

ELI Lilly said yesterday fourth-quarter earnings fell, hurt by a charge for a settlement with users of its Zyprexa schizophrenia drug, and the company forecast 2007 earnings at the low end of Wall Street estimates.

HIV positive patients in the US will soon be able to take the first single-pill, once-a-day treatment.

A flurry of takeover speculation failed to keep the London market out of the red as investors continued to fret over higher interest rates today.

Renewed merger and acquisition speculation proved insufficient to keep the FTSE 100 Index in positive territory today.

The Dow Jones Industrial averages soared to a five-year high today.

THE IDA was cleared to give a €48.25 million grant to Johnson & Johnson’s new Cork plant, Centocor, by the European Commission yesterday.

Investor confidence in the United States raced ahead today as the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq composite index both reached four-year highs.

Telecoms giant BT today unveiled a “blockbuster” deal to supply network services to news group Reuters for around $3bn (€2.23bn).

Taking very high doses of a drug to push cholesterol to very low levels can help people with heart disease avoid strokes and heart attacks, research has revealed.

Tánaiste Mary Harney today officially opened the new Bristol-Myers Squibb pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Co Dublin.

Rising concern over violence in the Middle East gave US investors yet another reason to sell today, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 135 points despite another batch of solid earnings reports.

US investors today used the latest round of disappointing economic data as an excuse to gather profits and send stocks lower.

WEST CORK swallowed a bitter pill last week with the loss of 170 jobs at the Schering-Plough pharmaceutical plant in Brinny, Innishannon.

Stocks tumbled today, pulling the Dow Jones industrials down more than 170 points, after France said it was prepared to vote against the UN resolution on Iraq.

US stocks skidded at midday yesterday as a downgrade of General Motors, accounting questions at Bristol-Myers Squibb and an increase in new jobless claims trumped the improved guidance out of Wal-Mart Stores and Eastman Kodak.

The London market suffered another bloodbath today, plunging more than 4% to reach fresh five-year lows as investors suffered a deepening crisis of confidence.

The London market is gaining ground as tech and telecom shares recover from yesterday's sell-off.

Reassuring words from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan gave the US stock market a lift today but the rally fizzled after an analyst lowered earnings estimates for Cisco, prompting nervous investors to collect profits.

Trading opened flat on the Nasdaq composite and slightly lower on the DJIA.

US investors, attracted to Wall Street by cheaper prices, today set aside nagging pessimism about the economy and indulged in late-session buying.