Foreign multinationals in the information and communications technology sector continue to dominate as the country’s largest exporters.

IN 2007 I was working with Mark E Smith, lead singer-songwriter of The Fall, on his autobiography Renegade. One afternoon he rang me up, asking if I could take his typewriter down to ‘our new office’ above a pub in Salford, England.

Simon Cowell has had a booster cushion and special lighting installed on the 'Britain's Got Talent' judging table - to make himself look taller and slimmer.

Cypriot leaders are to decide today on a newly drawn-up plan aimed at securing a bailout for the near-bankrupt eurozone member, after parliament rejected a controversial tax on savings.

“Modfather” Paul Weller is the latest act to be added to the bill for this year’s Isle of Wight Festival.

Ryanair will have to supply a detailed “remedy package” to the European Commission as part of the second phase of the EC’s investigation into its Aer Lingus takeover attempt.

The European Central Bank will meet in Frankfurt today, amid growing speculation that they will intervene in the Eurozone crisis.

Analysts are not backing Ryanair to succeed in its Aer Lingus bid.

A lot of fingers in one pie, is how analysts are describing the complex issues surrounding the attempted purchase of Aer Lingus by Ryanair.

Paddy Power’s pre-tax profits, announced this week, jumped from €67m in 2009 to €104m in 2010, driven by a strong online performance but also supported by expansion in Britain and a rise in traditional trade, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

IRISH drug development company Merrion Pharmaceuticals has announced a new collaboration agreement with Danish healthcare firm, Novo Nordisk, that will evaluate the capabilities of Merrion’s GIPET technology to improve the delivery of an unnamed compound.

THE two “dissident” directors at the heart of the recent boardroom dispute at Irish pharmaceutical firm Elan are to leave their posts — resolving the row.

THE number of instances of rare brain disease PML in users of Tysabri (the multiple sclerosis drug co-owned by Irish pharmaceutical company, Elan) increased by five last month.

SHARES in Irish pharmaceutical company Elan fell more than 2% yesterday on the news that the company looks set to have to pay more than $200 million (€155m) to settle an outstanding investigation into the marketing of an epilepsy treatment it disposed of six years ago.

UNITED Drug expects to acquire firms in Britain and the US over the coming year but expects to take a hit of up to €3 million this year following the Government imposed cut in medicine prices.

ELAN, the Irish pharmaceutical company, saw its share price slip by 4c yesterday on the back of seven more cases of a rare brain disease being reported amongst users of its multiple sclerosis treatment Tysabri.

MERRION Pharmaceuticals has slashed its annual losses and boosted its revenues by €5 million.

ELAN has ceased the two highest doses in clinical trials of one of its main Alzheimer’s treatments following the deaths of nine people, even though those deaths have not been directly linked to the trial.

ELAN’s drug delivery business, Elan Drug Technologies, is set to benefit from the first drug using its patented nanocrystal technology being approved for the Japanese market.

SHARES in Irish pharmaceutical firm Elan rose 20c, or nearly 4%, yesterday after it successfully fixed its Tysabri collaboration breach with Biogen Idec, by renegotiating its equity sale deal with Johnson & Johnson (J&J).

IRISH pharmaceutical firm Elan will have to restructure its €1 billion strategic development deal with US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) before the end of this month.

AN Elan subsidiary will make up to $30 million (€21m) over two years after a drug made using its trademarked NanoCrystal technology was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

PROFITS at Irish drug wholesale and health services group, United Drug, are now expected to be lower this year than last, on the back of a weakening sterling against the euro.

SHARES in Elan — the Dublin-headquartered pharmaceutical firm — fell by nearly 5% yesterday after it announced a significant amendment to trials of its leading test treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and analysts reduced their faith in the drug making it to market.

THE makers of the multiple sclerosis treatment, Tysabri — Irish drug firm, Elan and its US counterpart, Biogen Idec — have reiterated confidence in global patient numbers for the product rising from 35,500 to 100,000 in the next two years, even in the light of another death occurring among users.

WHEN the prosecution’s forensic expert Geraldine O’Neill recounted how she examined the hall-marked cocaine recovered from Dunlough Bay it was possible to make different calculations about the street value of the bales which had been floating in the Atlantic.

ELAN could publish Phase II trial data on its leading Alzheimer’s test treatment — currently going under the catalogue name, AAB-001 — as soon as next week.

The jury in Ireland’s biggest ever drugs trial were sent home until Monday and warned by the trial judge today to avoid reading media reports like the plague.

ELAN could be well-positioned to start profiting from its anti-Alzheimer’s products over the next decade, with two of its drugs for treating the degenerative disease potentially delivering combined annual sales of around $5 billion (€4.18bn) by 2015.

IRISH brokers reacted positively to the partial lifting of restrictions on Elan and Biogen's multiple sclerosis drug, Tysabri.

A SAFETY review of Elan's Tysabri drug to treat patients with Crohn's disease or rheumatoid arthritis has ended with no new cases of a potentially fatal brain disease, which led to the withdrawal of the drug from sale, being found.

ELAN is to make a fresh attempt to get its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri back on the market.

SHARES in Elan gained almost 20% yesterday after the company said a safety review of its multiple sclerosis drug had shown no new cause for concern.

ELAN tweaked its full-year sales target yesterday but stuck to its earnings forecast and said it continued to invest in its suspended Tysabri drug after posting a second-quarter loss in line with market expectations.

ELAN is to cut spending by $100m (€77m) this year, reducing cash-burn to $250m.

ELAN shareholders’ roller-coaster ride took a sharp up-turn as high as 25% yesterday after positive news on multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri boosted investor confidence.

ELAN shares staged a minor recovery yesterday, undoing some of the damage suffered by Thursday’s crash that cut their value in half.

ALLTRACEL shares surged 14% yesterday after the pharmaceutical company announced a major new product breakthrough.

A class action lawsuit has been taken in the United States against directors of Biogen Idec alleging insider dealing in the shares.

ELAN and Biogen’s new multiple sclerosis drug, Tysabri, will be priced 30% dearer than expectations lifting the prospects of Elan returning to profitability in 2006.

UNITED DRUG delivered results to pep up any shareholder yesterday as it reported a 21% increase in pre-tax profits.

LOSSES at Elan exceeded revenues in the three months to September the company revealed yesterday, but executives are confident of a return to profit in 2006.

ELAN is finally emerging from the confidence crisis that hit the company in 2002, resulting in a massive fall in its share price, with the announcement of a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

SHARES in Elan gained as much as 8% yesterday before the company dismissed weekend reports that it was in merger talks with an American drug firm.