For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 14, 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: American International Group (AIG), Morgan Stanley (MS), Elan Corporation (ELN), Biogen Idec (BIIB) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

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Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

AIG to Sell Taiwan Life Unit

American International Group (AIG) said on Monday that it has decided to sell its stake of almost 98% in Taiwan life insurance unit Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. for about $2.2 billion to a group led by Hong Kong-based

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Elan Corporation (ELN) recently received a subpoena from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the company’s disclosure of two brain disorder cases (in July 2008), often fatal, tied to the use of its drug Tysabri for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Elan has a marketing agreement with Biogen Idec (BIIB) for Tysabri. In addition, the subpoena asked for detailed information regarding clinical trial data on bapineuzumab, a drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Recently, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) paid $885 million for an 18.4% stake in Elan in addition to $500 million for a majority stake in the company’s Alzheimer's disease pipeline. As a reminder, in July last year, both Elan and Biogen announced the occurrence of two cases of brain infection, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), in patients taking the drug. Meanwhile, 11 such cases have been reported by the companies ...

Highlights include Pfizer Inc. (PFE), Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd. (TEVA), Medivation, Inc. (MDVN), Wyeth (WYE) and Elan Corp. (ELN).Spending on the research and development of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) treatment and prevention has grown significantly over the last 20 years. The aging baby-boom generation has resulted in a larger population of people at risk for developing the disease.This, coupled with recent advances in developing drugs that address the underlying cause of the disease versus just treating its symptoms, have been the catalysts for the recent accelerated interest in AD research. Pfizer Inc. (PFE), through partnering arrangements, has been one of the leaders of these efforts.Pfizer, along with partner Eisai Co., co-promote Aricept (donepezil), the leading drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease, which should post approximately $3 billion in sales in 2009. Aricept is a reversible acetylcholinesterase inhibitor that ...

Ceregene Inc. concentrates on the delivery of nervous system growth factors to treat neurodegenerative disorders using gene delivery. Specifically, the company created CERE-110 for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, which affects millions of people in the United States.

The company today announced the University of California, San Diego, has received a $5.4 million grant from the National Institute of Aging at the National Institutes of Health to support Ceregene’s phase II clinical study of CERE-100.

“We are pleased to be involved in evaluating CERE-110 which we believe may be a promising therapy for Alzheimer’s disease,” Paul Aisen, M.D., principal investigator of the planned phase 2 trial and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study at University of California, San Diego, stated in a press release. “Over five million people in the U.S. are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease — a disease which is devastating to patients and their families —

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