Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:LGND) has announced that they have extended their research collaboration with Pfizer for JAK3 by one year. Both the companies had entered the research and license agreement in December 2006 with Wyeth provided for the initial three years research term. Under the extended collaboration agreement, Ligand Pharmaceuticals will receive US$3.1 million in research payments to continue the drug discovery and optimization of their lead candidate. Under the original agreement, Ligand Pharmaceutical was entitled to receive up to US$175 million as milestone payments for the successful development and commercialization of multiple products.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals is one of the growing companies that is into the discovery and development of new drugs that addresses critical unmet medical needs of patients with muscle wasting, hormone related diseases, osteoporosis, anemia, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Ligand’s drug discovery and development programs are based on advanced cell-based assays, gene expression tools and one of

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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 ...

Now that I own some Pfizer stock (due to the acquisition of Wyeth), I feel obligated to at least post on Pfizer's earnings. (a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pfizer-reports-26-higher-profit-but-lower-sales-2009-10-20"marketwatch/a) br /br /-The world's largest drug maker posted net income of $2.88 billion, or 43 cents a share, compared with $2.28 billion, or 34 cents a share, for the same quarter in 2008.br /br /-Excluding various items, Pfizer would have reported adjusted earnings of 51 cents a share, versus 62 cents. This year's quarter was also impacted by a higher tax rate, due largely to its merger with Wyeth.br /br /-Revenue in the period fell 3% to $11.62 billion, from $11.97 billion.br /br /-Pfizer was expected to report lower year-over-year sales, with the loss of patent protection for such former blockbusters as Norvasc and Zyrtec weighing heavily on its top line.br /br /-Still, Pfizer's sales results managed to top Wall Street's expectations. According to a ...

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) reported third quarter net income of 51 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 48 cents. The company’s net income was 62 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. Revenues for the quarter decreased 3% to $11.6 billion. Revenues for the quarter were unfavorably impacted by approximately 5% due to foreign exchange, and were favorably impacted by 2% due to an adjustment in the third quarter of 2008 for product returns. U.S. revenues, which accounted for 41% of total revenues in the quarter, came in at $4.8 billion, a decrease of 2% compared with the year-ago quarter. International revenues decreased 4% to $6.8 billion, reflecting 5% operational growth and a 9% unfavorable foreign exchange impact. Sales of Pfizer’s mega-blockbuster anti-cholesterol medicine Lipitor fell 9% globally to $2.85 billion in the third quarter. US sales of the drug fell 12%. ...

Companies featured in this edition of the newsletter: CHIP, ENZ, GERS, IWEB, OMCM, ONEZ, XSNX

Markets hit fresh highs for ‘09 yet again last week, as the first round of earnings helped to assuage investor concerns that operating results would underpin robust gains in equities this year. All told, the Dow gained 130 points to end the week at 9995 after briefly cracking the 10,000 mark, gaining 1.3% on the week and extending its gains to 13.9% on the year. The Nasdaq gained 0.8% on the week to close at 2156, up 36.8% on the year, while the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 gained 1.5% and 0.2% respectively, bringing their YTD totals to 20.4% and 23.4%.

Earnings stole the spotlight last week as things got off to a strong start early with JP Morgan handily beating expectations calling for $0.51 per share, reporting earnings of $0.82 per share. Citigroup

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Following the recent merger of Pfizer (PFE) and Wyeth, a U.S. court imposed a huge fine on the company’s subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn for fraudulent marketing of its painkiller Bextra (valdecoxib). The penalty of $1.195 billion was the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the U.S. In addition, a criminal forfeiture of $105 million was enforced on the company.   In September, Pfizer had agreed to pay an additional $1 billion along with interest to settle civil allegations related to fraudulent promotion of four drugs – Bextra, the anti-psychotic drug Geodon, the antibiotic Zyvox and the anti-epileptic drug Lyrica – as well as claims that the company paid kickbacks to physicians to prescribe these and nine other drugs.   In addition to the huge penalty, Pfizer had to agree to comply with the terms of a new and significantly expanded corporate compliance program. It seeks to ensure that ...

The deal between Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Wyeth was completed yesterday after the receipt of final regulatory approvals. Wyeth will cease to trade as an independent entity from today. Under the terms of the deal, Wyeth shareholders will receive $33 cash (without interest) and 0.985 Pfizer shares for every Wyeth share.   The cash-and-stock deal, which was valued at $68 billion when it was announced nine months ago, stood at about $66.9 billion based on Wednesday’s closing prices. Pfizer borrowed about $22.5 billion to this transaction. Pfizer expects the combined companies to realize synergies of about $4 billion by 2012. The deal is expected to be accretive to earnings by the second full-year following closing. Roughly one-half of the savings are expected to come from Selling General & Administrative costs with the balance coming from Research and Development. Pfizer intends to incrementally pay down the debt financing and ...

U.S. stocks stayed above the threshold reached yesterday as a late-session buying helped offset weakness in banking and technology shares.  Financials dragged on stocks through the early afternoon even as Goldman Sachs and Citigroup reported better-than-expected profit reports.   However, the final fifteen minutes witnessed much of the activity as higher oil prices sent energy stocks higher and, in turn, helped the broader market.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 10,000 level for the second-successive day, edging up 47 points, or 0.5%.  The S&P 500 index edged up 4 points, or 0.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ended the day virtually flat.  The gains in the Dow average were led by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) whose shares jumped 2.9%.  The Windows 7 is slated for release on October 22.

Among energy stocks, Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) shares climbed 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively, as crude prices jumped to their highest

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Cavitation Technologies, Inc. (CTI) (OTC Bulletin Board: CVAT) has signed Miura Engineering Co., Ltd. Tokyo, Japan (www.miura21.co.jp) as its new agent to serve markets in Japan for CTI’s Nano-Cavitation Process Systems. Miura is a leading Engineering Company specialized in Edible Oil Processing Plants in the Far East.

Home Properties (NYSE: HME) is starting to make the conversion from old, outdated, incandescent light bulbs to energy-efficient, longer lasting compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). The change began in

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Pfizer completed its $68 billion dollar acquisition of Wyeth today. It amounts to $33/share in cash and 0.985 shares of PFE per share of WYE. As a holder of WYE for a couple of years, I have some mixed emotions about the deal. Wyeth is a good company and could continue to provide solid returns for years to come, so in that respect, I'm disappointed. So now I have to find another stock to provide those returns on the capital I had invested. Can Pfizer provide that? That is what I need to figure out at this point. I'm typically not a fan of companies that grow through massive acquisitions. I'd prefer companies to buy smaller companies that you may not have to pay full value for. br /br /Wyeth shares cease trading at the bell today. I'll probably follow up on ...