Celgene Corporation (Nasdaq: CELG) and Pharmion Corporation (Nasdaq: PHRM) jointly announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Celgene has agreed to acquire Pharmion. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Celgene will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Pharmion common stock for $72.00 per share payable in a combination of cash and shares of Celgene common stock. The transaction is expected to be slightly dilutive to earnings in 2008 and accretive in 2009 and beyond.

PLIVA d.d. announced that its German subsidiary AWD.pharma GmbH & Co. KG. ("AWD") has signed an agreement to acquire O.R.C.A.pharm GmbH ("ORCApharm"), a privately owned specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the oncology market in Germany. Upon closing of the transaction, AWD will pay a fixed purchase price of EUR 21m and up to an additional EUR 13m based on the achievement of profitability milestones for 2007 and 2008.

Meda announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire all shares in MedPointe. This strategic acquisition has now been completed and consolidation of MedPointe starts immediately. Meda plans to give further information on the acquisition and its impact on Meda in the interim report for the third quarter - to be released on 30 October 2007.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) today announced financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2007 and provided a business update. The Company sold its commercial oncology product line in October 2006 and sold the AVINZA(R) product line in February 2007.