It may seem a long way from West Cork to the giddy heights of corporate HQ in New Jersey, but Fergal O’Dowd doesn’t see it that way.

Merck & Co’s decision to suspend sales of its Zilmax cattle feed additive has caused such a surge in demand for rival Eli Lilly & Co’s Optaflexx that Lilly is telling some new customers it cannot immediately supply them, some US-based customers have told Reuters.

The US stock market posted its biggest loss this year yesterday after news that Federal Reserve officials suggested the central bank scale back its effort to keep borrowing costs low.

Chiefs executive of dozens of the most powerful US companies have banded together to demand the government urgently reduce the country’s debt and deficit, less than two weeks ahead of the presidential election.

Merck & Co, the second-largest US drugmaker, reported fourth-quarter profit that topped analyst estimates on higher sales of the Januvia diabetes drug. The company forecast 2012 earnings that matched estimates.

Singer Morrissey’s libel action over an article about his attitude to immigration can go ahead, the High Court ruled today.

A CORK priest has questioned the safety of the cervical cancer vaccine due to be rolled out here next month and said parents should instead be extolling the virtues of chastity.

Pharmaceuticals firm Merck Sharp & Dohme has announced an additional €20m investment as part of the first phase of construction for the company’s new vaccines and biologics facility in Carlow.

Morrissey has mysteriously split with his management company after just three months.

Two hundred jobs are to be created in two separate investments, it was revealed tonight.

A promising experimental Aids vaccine failed to work in a large international test, leading the US-based developer to halt the study, it has been revealed.

A NEW cervical cancer jab may prevent more cancers than one available in Ireland since last November.

US painkiller Vioxx contributed to an Idaho postal worker’s heart attack, a jury in Atlantic City has ruled, reversing the verdict in the man’s first trial and hitting Merck with a total of $47.5m (€36m) in damages.

It is disconcerting that for the past seven years nearly 2,000 drug trials have taken place latently here, but even more so is the fact that the Government has virtually ignored an EU directive requiring new standards.

A US pharmaceutical company has announced plans to create 120 jobs over the next three years at its plant in Co Tipperary.

A sharp drop in oil prices helped Wall Street extend its rally for a third straight session today, with strong earnings from Hewlett-Packard also giving stocks a modest lift.

The first vaccine against cervical cancer will be available in the US to girls as young as nine later this month.

A vaccine with the potential to slash worldwide deaths from cervical cancer deemed safe and effective by US advisers is now just one step from approval.

A JURY yesterday awarded $9 million (€7.4m) in punitive damages to a man who blamed his heart attack on Vioxx, finding that manufacturer Merck failed to warn about the risks of its arthritis drug and misrepresented the risks to physicians.

BAYER look set to win the bid for drugmaker Schering, at €16.3 billion, after rival Merck pulled out of the race for top spot in Germany’s drugs industry.

A JUDGE declared a mistrial yesterday in the first federal lawsuit over the once-popular painkiller Vioxx after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

A judge declared a mistrial today in the first federal lawsuit over the once-popular painkiller Vioxx.

MERCK won a major victory in the battle over its Vioxx painkiller yesterday when a New Jersey state jury found that the drug maker properly warned consumers about the risks of the medication.

THE judge in the second Vioxx product liability trial delivered a stunning blow to Merck & Co yesterday when she struck the testimony of its first defence witness from the record.

MEP Kathy Sinnott today welcomed the decision by a Co Tipperary-based drug firm to co-operate with a new inquiry into animal health problems on a local farm.

The number of Irish patients seeking compensation from the US drugs company Merck over its controversial painkiller Vioxx has doubled in a week, it emerged tonight.

SHARES in the embattled pharmaceutical company Merck eased back by just over 2% yesterday, the first day of trading since a US court awarded the family of a man who died from taking its flagship drug Vioxx, €207 million in damages.

Kristen Hays, Angleton

A Texas jury found pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co liable for the death of a man who took the once-popular painkiller Vioxx.

IRISH drugs group Elan and its partner Biogen have withdrawn sales of its multiple sclerosis drugs after a patient died from the rare and often fatal central nervous system disease, sending shares of both drug makers tumbling.

THE fast-tracking of Tysabri to help the one-million sufferers of multiple sclerosis in the US needs to be questioned, said a leading stockbroker last night.

COMPLAINTS received by the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) about the controversial arthritis drug Vioxx are only the tip of the iceberg, an Irish law firm has maintained.

PFIZER chief executive Hank McKinnell yesterday said doctors should be made aware of the health risks in prescribing Celebrex to their patients, but the company does not plan to recall its popular arthritis drug.

QUICK thinking by the State’s drug policing body has ensured that Ireland does not run short of flu vaccine this winter.

Wall Street closed out a dismal third quarter with a mixed performance Thursday after Merck & Co. said it would be forced to remove its best-selling Vioxx arthritis drug from the market.

US investors, uneasy following downbeat earnings from Merck and Lexmark International, sold off stocks today to lock in profits from Friday’s rally. Prices on Wall Street fell sharply.

Music icon Morrissey has finally landed a new record deal and is to immediately start work on his first album for six years, it was announced today.

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.

The stock market struggled to find a direction today despite the Federal Reserve’s 11th interest rate cut of the year and a bullish forecast from Nokia.

Wall Street has made an expected retreat sending technology and blue chip stocks sliding on a mix of profit-taking and earnings warnings.