Schering-Plough Corporation (SGP) is engaged in the development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products around the world. The company focuses on prescription drugs, animal health, foot-care and sun-care products. In November 2007 Schering-Plough closed acquired Organon Bio for $15 billion.Recent prescription flight of Vytorin/Zetia prompted management to implement an aggressive cost-cutting initiative. We expect sales of Vytorin and Zetia to continue to suffer.Significant near-term risks linger, but the addition of Organon and the new cost-cutting strategy should help EPS growth. We rate the shares a Hold with a $19 price target.Jason Napodano, CFA contributed to this report.Read the full analyst report on SGP "SGP" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OSIP), is a biotechnology company engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products for the treatment of oncology, diabetes, and obesity in the U.S.Tarceva sales continued to grow in both US and rest of the world in 3Q08 but at a declining rate. We believe Tarceva will achieve blockbuster status with over $1 billion in sales in 2008. We remain excited about the revenue from the company's DPP-IV estate. Additionally, the company's pipeline targets diseases like diabetes, obesity and cancer -- the very specific areas where OSI's strengths lie. We are happy to hear about the positive data from SATURN trial, but disappointed with the negative data from the BETA trial. We maintain our Hold rating for OSIP with a price target of $36.Read the full analyst report on OSIP ...

The two critical elements to watch in the pharmaceutical industry are product development and FDA approvals. If a company’s product development pipeline starts to get a bit thin, it will eventually lose revenue generating capacity as patents expire and competition moves in. If FDA approval isn’t obtained, the company is simply sunk in the US for that product.

As an investor, watching the product pipeline is the key. This is important not only for the company’s current and future profitability, but because other companies, which may not have the same product development strength, may become interested in acquiring it. In today’s pharmaceutical marketplace, this point is even more relevant as several larger pharmaceutical companies have exceedingly large pools of cash and pipeline/patent issues.

Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc., a pharmaceutical development company, works to develop pharmaceutical products directed at chronic disease and neuropathic diabetic pain. The company is best known for

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China Yongxin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is probably the most undervalued company we’ve ever written about. It isn’t everyday that you find a growing, profitable company with nearly 100 stores trading for such a discounted stock price.

The company is more than just a drug retailer as they also produce and distribute pharmaceutical products. The company’s products include Chinese traditional medicines, chemical pharmaceutical preparations, natural health products, healthy food, cosmetics, and medical equipment.

Just last month the company released its financial results for Q3 2008 which revealed that net income doubled year-over-year to $1.7 million, or $0.05 per diluted share. However, even with consistent growth and excellent expenditure management, the stock is trading at a P/E ratio of less than one! If the stock was trading at its peers’ P/E ratio, it would be over $2 a share.

According to a CEO letter released earlier this year, the company is preparing to take its

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Today, we are adding American Oriental Bioengineering Inc. to our China “One’s to Watch” list. Together with its subsidiaries, the company engages in the development, manufacture, and commercialization of a range of pharmaceutical and healthcare products. Based in Shenzhen, China, the company has a market capitalization of approximately $400 million.

The company provides more than 30 over-the-counter type drugs, and conducts its own research, development, production, and distribution of more than 40 pharmaceutical products. Currently all of their products are approved by the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA). In the pipeline, American Oriental has over 400 SFDA approved products that have yet to be commercially launched.

American Oriental is well positioned with $144.47 million in cash and only $10.78 million in debt. Historical sales have grown over 70% annually while earnings per share sustain a 40%+ growth rate. Analysts have shown strong support as four rate the stock a

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Sanofi-Aventis ADR (SNY), located in France, develops and manufactures pharmaceutical products, primarily for sale in the prescription drug market. The company, which has global operations, focuses on major therapeutic areas such as cardiovascular, central nervous system, oncology and internal medicine formulations. Combined, Sanofi-Aventis is the third largest pharmaceutical company in the world in terms of revenues. While valuation on the combined company is reasonable, we would like to see more visibility on the potenial longer-term impact of generics before we recommend buying the shares. We rate the shares a Hold with a $38 price target.Our biggest concern for Sanofi-Aventis is the high exposure to generic risk on many of its leading franchises. We see risk to Avapro, Allegra, Lovenox, Eloxatin, Delix, Plavix and Ambien all keeping a lid on shares over the next several quarters. Ambien IR sales continue to fall significantly quarter-after-quarter following ...

Perrigo Co. (PRGO) has been performing well in a down market, and analysts have been boosting forecasts. Fiscal full-year earnings estimates are up 2% in just the past week. The company announced record fiscal fourth-quarter results in mid-August.

Company Description

Perrigo is the nation's largest manufacturer of store brand over-the-counter (non-prescription) pharmaceutical products and it manufactures store brand nutritional products. Store brand products are sold by national and regional supermarket, drugstore and mass merchandise chains under their own labels and compete with nationally advertised brands. The Company's products include analgesics, cough and cold remedies, antacids, laxatives, feminine hygiene and smoking cessation products, and vitamins, nutritional supplements and nutritional drinks.

Recent Events

The company recently announced that it was dismissed from a patent infringement lawsuit. Earlier Johnson & JohnsonÂ’s (JNJ) McNeil unit tried sue Perrigo.

PRGO also recently acquired drug and nutritional products maker JB Laboratories

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John R. Plachetka, the chairman and chief executive officer of POZEN Incorporated (NASD: POZN), a pharmaceutical company committed to developing therapeutic advancements for diseases with unmet medical needs, presented earlier this week at the UBS Global Life Sciences Conference in New York, New York.

The company’s research and development efforts are focused primarily on the development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products for the treatment of acute and chronic pain and other pain-related conditions. The company focuses on providing therapeutic advancements that can improve efficacy, safety, and/or patient convenience. POZEN currently has development and commercialization alliances with GlaxoSmithKline for Treximet™, a treatment that was approved by the U.S. FDA for the acute relief of migraine attacks in adults. Under the terms of the agreement, POZEN will receive royalties based on net sales from GlaxoSmithKline.

At the conference, Dr. Plachetka commented, “We are currently making single-digit royalties on Treximet™ today, but beginning in 2010,

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Maxygen, Inc. (NASD: MAXY), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing improved versions of protein drugs, recently announced a global agreement with Astellas Pharma Inc., a pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. The agreement, in which Astellas will receive worldwide rights to commercialize MAXY-4 lead candidates for all autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection, represents a significant step.

MAXY-4 is Maxygen’s preclinical program to create a next-generation CTLA4-Ig protein for rheumatoid arthritis, transplant rejection and other autoimmune indications. The companies will co-develop MAXY-4 candidates for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, under the terms of the development agreement, and Astellas will exclusively develop MAXY-4 candidates for transplant rejection. Additionally, Astellas will manufacture the finished product using the active drug substance provided by Maxygen, and market and sell such product globally.

Maxygen will receive a $10-million initial payment from Astellas

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