Roche's Annual General Meeting has approved all the Board of Directors' proposals. The 703 shareholders in attendance, representing 144,334,099, or 90.2% of a total of 160,000,000 bearer shares, approved the 2008 Annual Report and financial statements. They also authorised a +9% increase in the dividend to 5.00 Swiss francs per share and non-voting equity.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) and Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP) announced that their Boards of Directors have unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which Merck and Schering-Plough will combine, under the name Merck, in a stock and cash transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, Schering-Plough shareholders will receive 0.5767 shares and $10.50 in cash for each share of Schering-Plough.

Roche (SWX: ROG.VX; RO.S) has increased its offer price for all outstanding publicly-held shares of Genentech (NYSE: DNA) to US$ 93 per share and extended the offer to 12:00 midnight, New York City time, on Friday, March 20, 2009. All other terms and conditions of the tender offer remain unchanged.

Lundbeck has presented annual accounts in which all of the financial results meet the financial guidance announced by the company in March 2008. For the first time ever, revenue exceeded DKK 11 billion in 2008, and Lundbeck's management considers the results highly satisfactory.

Results from a study published today in the Journal of Sexual Medicine show that a new, easy to use five-question diagnostic tool can significantly reduce the time it takes to diagnose the most common form of female sexual dysfunction (FSD), generalised, acquired Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder* (HSDD).

Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) announced today that it has entered into a series of agreements with Aurobindo Pharma Ltd., a pharmaceutical company based in India, to commercialize medicines that are no longer patent protected, and have lost market exclusivity in the United States and Europe, further progressing its Established Products Business Unit strategy.

AstraZeneca and MAP Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have announced an exclusive worldwide agreement to develop and commercialise Unit Dose Budesonide (UDB), MAP Pharmaceuticals' proprietary nebulised formulation of budesonide. UDB is being developed by MAP Pharmaceuticals as a potential treatment for paediatric asthma and is currently in Phase III clinical development.