Merck total revenues increase 3.2% to € 2.6 billion
The Merck Group's first-quarter 2012 total revenues rose 3.2% to € 2,645 million compared to € 2,564 million in the first quarter of 2011. Sales for the Group increased 3.5% to € 2,564 million in first quarter compared to € 2,478 million in the year-ago quarter. This performance reflected organic sales growth of 1.2%, a 1.7% positive benefit from changes in foreign exchange rates and a 0.6% boost from acquisitions and divestments. The Group’s organic sales growth was entirely driven by the Merck Serono and Merck Millipore divisions during the quarter. 
Abbott (NYSE: ABT) today announced that the XIENCE PRIME™ and the XIENCE V® Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent Systems have received CE Mark in Europe for the use of dual anti-platelet therapy (DAPT) for at least three months after stent implantation in patients with coronary artery disease. This is the shortest duration of DAPT for any major drug eluting stent (DES) in Europe. 
GSK issued the following statement in response to the BBC Panorama programme related to Corporation Tax payments in the UK and Luxembourg broadcast tonight, Monday 14 May 2012. "GSK is very disappointed with this programme which was extremely misleading and lacking in context. Specifically, the programme's selective use of facts led to a misrepresentation of GSK's actions and a failure to recognize GSK's significant UK tax contribution. 
Novartis announced that the European Commission has approved Signifor® (pasireotide) for the treatment of adult patients with Cushing's disease for whom surgery is not an option or for whom surgery has failed[1]. Signifor is the first medicine to be approved in the European Union (EU) targeting Cushing's disease. The approval is based on data from the largest randomized Phase III study to evaluate a medical therapy in patients with Cushing's disease, a disorder caused by excess cortisol in the body due to the presence of a non-cancerous pituitary tumor[1],[2],[3]. 
Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), the world's largest biotechnology company, and Mustafa Nevzat Pharmaceuticals (MN) today announced an agreement under which Amgen will acquire 95.6 percent of shares in MN, a privately held Turkish pharmaceutical company, for an amount that values MN at US $700 million. The all-cash transaction will significantly expand Amgen's presence in Turkey and the surrounding region, which are large, fast-growing, priority markets for Amgen. 
AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended the approval of FORXIGA (dapagliflozin) tablets for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, as an adjunct to diet and exercise, in combination with other glucose-lowering medicinal products including insulin, and as a monotherapy in metformin intolerant patients.