Biomagnetics Diagnostics Corp. is an advanced medical device and biotechnology company with a revolutionary diagnostics system and test kit testing technology for HIV, Hepatitis, H-Pylori, HPV, Tuberculosis and many other viruses, bacterium’s, toxins and diseases. The company focuses on real-time testing for the actual presence of the virus/ toxin/ disease itself, instead of the antibodies produced by the body’s immune system which may take anywhere from weeks to months to appear.

The company intends to follow the lead of established Western drugmakers and biotechs Merck & Co. (MRK), Wyeth (WYE), Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY), Schering-Plough (SGP), Novartis (NVS), Sanofi-Aventis (SNY), Genentech (DNA), Bristol Meyers Squibb (BMYS) and many others that are ramping up investments in China, India and Singapore. The company is currently working to establish a separate Chinese operating company that it intends to apply for listing on the Shenzhen or Hong Kong stock exchange.

Biomagnetics is also currently

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The pharmaceutical industry has witnessed major changes in 2009. Performance has been affected by factors like sluggish prescription trends, intensifying generic competition and limited phase III catalysts. The next five years are expected to reflect a significant imbalance between new product introductions and patent losses. According to IMS Health (RX), this is the main reason why global pharmaceutical market growth will be restricted to the mid-single digits through 2013. Over the next five years, products that currently generate about $137 billion in sales are expected to face generic competition, including Lipitor, Plavix and Seretide. At the same time, new products are not expected to generate the same level of sales as the products losing patent protection have. With most of the big pharma companies already facing patent challenges for their blockbuster products or likely to face them going forward, the companies have been looking toward mergers ...

Recently, Merck (MRK) and Schering-Plough (SGP) received approval from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Swiss Competition Commission and the Canadian Competition Bureau for their proposed merger. However, the transaction has yet to receive approval from other regulators, including China and Mexico. The deal was approved by the European Union antitrust regulators last week. Shareholders of both the companies have already approved the deal in August. Merck expects to close the proposed merger by year end. The FTC approval has come with the condition that both companies will sell some assets. As a result, Schering-Plough has agreed to sell its rolapitant drug, meant to be used for the treatment for nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy patients to Opko Health Inc. In addition, Merck agreed to sell its interest in Merial Ltd, an animal health joint venture, to its French partner, Sanofi-Aventis ...

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) posted a loss of 83 cents per share in the third quarter, 3 cents wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 80 cents. The company posted a loss of 92 cents per share in the year ago period. The wider than expected loss was mainly due to a significant increase in costs and lower revenues.

Revenues declined to $24.9 million in the reported quarter from $31.6 million in the year ago period. Revenues consist of royalty revenues and collaborative and other research and development revenues. Lower revenues were primarily due to a decrease in collaborative revenues.

Expenses increased mainly due to the increased size of the company’s workforce, increased spending on late-stage clinical programs and increased stock-based compensation expenses. Research and development (R&D) expenses increased to $132.1 million, up from $131.7 million in the year-ago period, mainly due to investments supporting the company’s hepatitis C virus

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Recently, the European Union (EU) approved the proposed $41.1 billion merger between Schering-Plough (SGP) and Merck & Co. (MRK). The deal is awaiting approval from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. While approving the merger, the EU clarified that the tie-up will not hinder effective competition significantly in Europe, even though both participants in the merger operate in the field of prescription pharmaceuticals. While checking for overlaps in Europe, particularly in the fields of asthma and allergic rhinitis, the European body did not find the products to be close competitors. Consequently, the merger would not be considered to hog the market and choke other companies. As a reminder, Merck filed for EU approval last month after the completion of the sale of its 50% interest in animal health company Merial Limited (Merial) to ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 23, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Wal-Mart (WMT), Capital One (COF), Merck (MRK), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Schering Plough (SGP).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Thursday’s AnalystBlog:

New Jobless Claims Up

This long-term unemployment is an insidious problem for the economy. People who are out of work for just a few weeks really don't have to cut back on their consumption that much, especially if they feel confident that they will have a new job in a short time.

People

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Merck’s (MRK) earnings for the third quarter came in at 90 cents per share, which was ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 82 cents, driven by continued growth of its key products and strict cost management. The company reported revenues of $6 billion, up 2% from the same period in 2008. Revenue would have higher, but for the unfavorable foreign exchange movement, which affected global sales by 3%. Weaker-than-expected sales of Gardasil were offset by significantly stronger-than-anticipated Singulair revenues. Although the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked for additional precautions regarding the risks associated with the use of Merck’s lead product Singulair (as well as other leukotriene inhibitors), including suicide and depression, the drug recorded an increase of 5% compared to the third quarter of 2008. Gardasil, Merck’s cervical cancer vaccine, recorded yet another quarter of lower sales. The company recorded $311 million in ...

Weak global economic conditions and a downgrade of Well Fargo by prominent banking analyst Richard Bove spooked investors even as Morgan Stanley and Yahoo reported better-than-expected earnings.  The Dow Jones industrial average slipped below the 10,000 level yesterday as markets pulled back in the final hour of trading.

Bove of Rochdale Securities said earnings at Well Fargo (NYSE:WFC) were helped by mortgage-servicing fees rather than improving business trends, and trimmed his rating on the bank to “sell" from “hold."  However, Well Fargo and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), which reported its first quarterly profit in a year, were behind the market’s strength earlier in the session.  Bove also cited accelerating loan losses at the firm for the downgrade.  After Bove’s cut, FBR slashed its rating on the firm to "underperform," questioning Well Fargo's earnings quality.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell below the psychologically important 10,000 level, declining 92.12 points, or

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The existing alliance between Merck (MRK) and Belgian biotech company Galapagos over metabolic diseases was recently expanded to develop new therapies for atherosclerosis, or hardening of arteries due to cholesterol build-up.

Following the deal, Galapagos will be eligible to receive potential milestone payments exceeding €400 million (approx $597 million). Additionally, the company will receive royalties on commercialization of the products.

Merck and Galapagos entered into a diabetes and obesity drug alliance in January this year. Galapagos was eligible to receive an upfront payment of €1.5 million (approx $2.23 million) and potential milestone payments totaling €170 million (approx $253 million).

Earlier, in October last year, Merck decided to terminate its late-stage obesity drug taranabant after determining that the drug was effective in high doses, which in turn triggered side effects.

Merck entered into another deal with Galapagos in April 2009, under which Galapagos will be using its Silence Select target discovery platform to

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Today, Dainippon Sumitomo and Sepracor (SEPR) have announced the successful completion of the initial share offering period, where almost 78.2% of Sepracor’s shares were tendered. The offer period has been extended to Oct 19, 2009, to enable other shareholders to tender their shares as well.  As a reminder, in September, the Japanese pharmaceutical company Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co had announced a deal to acquire Sepracor at $23 per share or $2.6 billion. However, soon after the announcement, shareholders of Sepracor filed a suit in a Delaware court against the company, citing the offered price as inadequate. They were seeking the court’s intervention to stop the deal and pay damages.  Additionally, certain aspects of the deal were against the interest of Sepracor’s shareholders. The deal included a $77.4 million termination fee and a “no solicitation" provision. Apart from restricting the possibility of any superior proposal, these provisions ...