A pharmaceutical firm that makes life saving medicines used to treat cancer and hepatitis has secured an injunction prohibiting picketing of its Co Cork-based manufacturing site.

Some 240 jobs were tonight axed at a pharmaceutical plant as fears grew over the future of a bathroom products maker.

Some 240 jobs are to go in Co. Wicklow, it emerged this afternoon, as veterinary product company Schering-Plough announced the closure of its plant in Bray.

MERCK, the drugmaker that has acquired Schering-Plough for $41.1 billion (€32.5bn), said both firms, which employ 2,000 people here, are “fully committed” to Ireland.

Pharmaceuticals group Merck today announced a $41.1bn (€32.5bn) takeover of Schering-Plough in a deal creating a new global drugs giant.

ERIC McNAMARA produced a brilliant training performance to win back-to-back Guinness Kerry Nationals with Ponmeoath at a packed Listowel yesterday.

Ponmeoath secured back-to-back successes for trainer Eric McNamara as he powered away with the Guinness Kerry National at Listowel.

US stocks managed to notch a modest gain today, with Wall Street cautious ahead of tomorrow’s jobs report but hopeful that the global financial system is on the mend.

Wall Street finished a back-and-forth session higher today as investors overcame some of their nervousness about the credit markets and uneven earnings and found solace in the technology sector.

PRIVATE investment of €1.5 million has been raised to launch an Irish private healthcare company in a market estimated to be worth €40m.

SCHERING-PLOUGH has signed a deal to buy Akzo Nobel’s drugs unit, Organon, for $14.4 billion (€10.92bn) in cash.

Wall Street rallied on a burst of optimism today as the multibillion-dollar buyout of HCA and upbeat earnings from drug manufacturers eased anxiety about an economic slowdown. The Dow Jones industrial average soared more than 180 points.

CORK-headquartered Zentek Engineering has expanded into the Asia-Pacific market through the opening of a new office in Singapore.

THE rate of heart attacks in Ireland has halved since the mid-1980s, it emerged yesterday.

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

Wall Street staged an impressive rally today after the nomination of top White House economist Ben Bernanke as the next Federal Reserve chief.

Global pharmaceutical company Pfizer said a review concluded Viagra did not increase patients’ risk of blindness, but that it was still working with US federal regulators to update the drug’s label to reflect rare reports of vision-loss.

Pharmaceutical group Schering-Plough has appointed a new general manager at their plant in Brinny in Co Cork.

THE managing director of Schering Plough’s West Cork production facility is to leave the company in a surprise move, it emerged last night.

PFIZER Inc’s 1,800 plus Irish workers are bracing themselves for possible job losses, when the company announces global cost cutting measures next week, which could result in the loss of 10,000 posts worldwide.

Eddie Cassidy

SCHERING-Plough’s 1,400-strong Irish workforce are bracing themselves for significant job losses today.

Shares in British engineer Invensys jumped ahead today after the group stuck by hopes for its financial year and said four of its divisions were performing well.

UK- based engineering group Invensys today posted a 39% fall in half-year profits, but insisted a shake-up had given it “a real sense of operational momentum”.

Stocks were mixed in a volatile session on Wall Street today, with blue chips weighed down by uncertainty over oil prices and a new investigation of the insurance industry.

Stocks were mixed in a volatile session on Wall Street today, with blue chips weighed down by uncertainty over oil prices and a new investigation of the insurance industry.

Merck & Co, the maker of the Zocor cholesterol medicine, said first-quarter profit rose 4.8% as the company cut costs.

Pharmaceutical giant Schering-Plough said today it had made a loss of $181m (€143.9m) in the fourth quarter, against profits of $313m (€248.9m), a year earlier.

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

THE loss of 170 jobs at a large pharmaceutical plant is being blamed on rationalisation and a major fall in sales of an anti-cancer drug.

Pharmaceutical giant Schering-Plough said today it plans to slash overall payroll expenses by at least 10%.

Stocks finished essentially flat in New York today in very light post-Thanksgiving trading, as the market struggled to find direction in an absence of economic news.

THE bulk of Schering-Plough’s 2,000-strong Irish workforce is expected to escape the impact of a major consolidation by the company after net income fell by 71% to €173 million.

The FTSE 100 Index ended another torrid week on the back foot today after financial stocks struggled in the face of more grim news.

Investors were in an edgy mood today as the FTSE 100 Index fell back ahead of crucial unemployment numbers in the United States.

THE threat to industry

Wall Street’s rally stalled today as investors cashed in some of their profits from two days of big gains. But the technology sector still managed to advance for a third day, an achievement not seen since early April.

Wall Street’s rally stalled today as investors cashed in some of their profits from two days of big gains. But the technology sector still managed to advance for a third day, an achievement not seen since early April.

Share prices posted slight gains on light volumes in early trade, with a lot of the buying interest concentrated in a few well-known names, with many market players absent ahead of the Christmas holidays, dealers said.