The American Medical Association has urged Americans to stop using electronic cigarettes of any sort until scientists have a better handle on the cause of 450 lung illnesses and at least five deaths related to the use of the products.

Elan today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the company’s pain treatment PRIALT(R).

Elan is set to invest €35m at its facility in Athlone in a move which will create 120 jobs in the next five years.

A spate of disappointments in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors triggered a broad sell-off on Wall Street today, sending the Dow Jones industrials, Nasdaq composite and Standard & Poor’s 500 indexes to their lowest closes of the year.