pharma stocks

On Monday, Pfizer announced it would sell its Capsugel business to private-equity firm KKR for $2.375 billion. If the hints the drugmaker has been giving lately are true, the move could be the start of two years of major asset sales. Here's what's ahead for the world's biggest pharmaceutical company.

When Merck halted a late-stage study of its potential clot-preventing drug vorapaxar in stroke victims last week, it didn't explain why. Now, the company has confirmed it stopped the study after concerns that the drug increased the risk of bleeding in some patients.

Mergers, acquisitions and major restructurings made Big Pharma a much smaller and leaner sector, with some 54,000 jobs lost. At least that's better than 2009's 61,000 layoffs.

Paris-based pharma Sanofi-Aventis has pushed back its offer deadline for Massachusetts-based biotech Genzyme by six weeks. All other terms, including the $69 per share bid, remain unchanged. So far, very few shareholders have responded.

At a recent life-sciences conference in Stockholm, execs of several U.S. and foreign biotechs clashed with Big Pharma in a lively debate on the merits of their respective goals and products. The result, however, was a stand-off.

While a new report from Goldman Sachs says health care is in a state of flux that most of the sector's companies haven't adjusted to yet, it also pinpoints four that have plenty of cash that could be put to good use for investors.

It's a busy day at the FDA today as panels meet to discuss two new drugs -- one to help weight loss and the other to combat drug addiction -- and decide whether to approve AstraZeneca's new blood thinner medication.

Drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb plans to buy ZymoGenetics, its partner in developing a hepatitis C treatment, for $885 million. The move is part of a trend of pharmaceutical acquisitions as several big patents face expiration soon.

Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis is unwilling to pay more than $70 a share in its bid to buy biotech firm Genzyme, media outlets reported Wednesday. If a deal can't be reached, the French drugmaker may consider alternative takeover targets.

Bristol-Myers Squibb reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings on Thursday, driven in part by higher sales for some of its virology blood-thinner drugs, cost controls and a favorable tax rate.