Selected News from Today's FirstWord

Sanofi-aventis CEO meets Genzyme shareholders to discuss offer
by Matthew Dennis

According to sources, sanofi-aventis offered Genzyme $71 per share in exchange for the opportunity to begin "partial due diligence" on the company. However, the sources noted that the "modest" bump would be unlikely to persuade Genzyme to disclose this information and that the drugmaker is waiting for an offer in the range of $74 to $75 per share. The sources said that the offer was made by phone prior to sanofi-aventis CEO Chris Viehbacher's meetings with Genzyme shareholders to discuss the French drugmaker's $18.5 billion acquisition proposal that was rejected last month by the biotechnology company. Full story

• GlaxoSmithKline says CFO to retire in 2011, names successor - (Ref. Bloomberg; Financial Times; FOX Business; London South East; NASDAQ; Stock Markets Review; GlaxoSmithKline)
• Report: Wyeth paid ghostwriters to promote HRT in medical journals - (Ref. AHN; Forexyard; PLoS Medicine; Nature)
• Elan defends itself against investor claims, shareholders propose new board members - (Ref. Business World; Financial Times; FinanzNachrichten; Forexyard; Independent.ie; Elan)
• GlaxoSmithKline enters biopharmaceutical manufacturing deal with Lonza - (Ref. Canadian Business; Forexpros; The Wall Street Journal; GlaxoSmithKline)
• Onyx gives Ono Pharmaceuticals rights to develop, commercialise two oncology compounds in Japan - (Ref. ABC News; Stock Markets Review; TheStreet.com; Xconomy; Onyx Pharmaceuticals)

Your Products, Companies, Markets in the News

• Products:
• No news relating to your monitored products today.

• Companies:
• Biogen Idec,
• BMS,
• Merck,
• Pfizer,
• Shire

• Markets:
• US

Most Read Stories in the Past Week

• Roche announces launch of cost-cutting programme
• Study: Osteoporosis drugs may increase risk of oesophageal cancer
• Report: Sanofi-aventis may raise its takeover bid for Genzyme
• UK regulatory agency says Avandia "no longer has a place on the market"
• Novartis moves forward with sale of ophthalmic drug to Bausch & Lomb