GSK's full year trading update
Total Group turnover for the year declined 1% to £28.4 billion, with pharmaceutical turnover down 2% to £23.4 billion and Consumer Healthcare sales up 5% to £5.0 billion. Excluding pandemic products, Valtrex and Avandia, Group sales were up 4.5% for the year. Europe pharmaceuticals sales declined 6% to £6.5 billion, primarily due to the impact of a significant reduction in sales of pandemic related products, generic competition to Valtrex and lower sales of Avandia. Excluding these products, sales were flat, reflecting the impact of government austerity measures. 
Group sales were stable in local currencies at 47.5 billion Swiss francs (–3% in Swiss francs; 1% in US dollars). The good underlying growth of both divisions compensated for the expected decline in Tamiflu sales and the impacts of healthcare reforms and austerity measures. Excluding Tamiflu, sales increased by 5% in local currencies. The Pharmaceuticals Division represented 78% of Group sales and the Diagnostics Division contributed 22%. 
AstraZeneca announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorisation to FLUENZ Influenza Vaccine (Live Attenuated, Nasal), a nasally administered live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV), for prevention of seasonal influenza for children 24 months to less than 18 years of age. This decision follows the positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) on 22nd October 2010 and is applicable to the 27 Member States and the 3 European Economic Area countries of the European Union. 
Bayer HealthCare has presented a number of measures to implement the initiatives for more innovation and growth announced in November 2010. The Bayer subgroup plans to streamline its administration functions in Germany and the United States. This measure and the consolidation of the U.S. sites at the East Coast will shorten decision-making paths, reduce complexity and generate synergies at the sites in Leverkusen and Berlin in particular. 
Net sales rose 14% (+14% cc) to USD 50.6 billion driven by strong growth in all businesses, including USD 2.4 billion from the consolidation of Alcon, Inc. (Alcon). Recently launched products provided USD 10.4 billion of net sales in the 2010 period, representing 21% of net sales compared to 16% in the 2009 period (excluding Alcon). Pharmaceuticals sales expanded 7% (+6% cc) to USD 30.6 billion driven by 8 percentage points of volume expansion. 
Denmark's Minster for Science, Technology and Innovation Charlotte Sahl-Madsen presented scholarships worth more than 2.5 million Danish kroner to 44 of the country's most talented students within pharmaceutical and biotechnological sciences. Novo Nordisk and Novozymes will provide a supplementary income to the students of up to 84,000 kroner, meaning that they won't have to take paid work while completing their studies.