Abbott in $2.8B deal for eye-device maker; Elan stock falls on dealmaking denial;

> Abbott inked a deal to buy ophthalmic device maker Advanced Medical Optics for $2.8 billion, or $22 per share, a 150 percent premium on AMO's closing price last week. Release [1]

> Elan, Ireland's largest drugmaker, fell in Dublin trading after denying it was in talks with Pfizer Inc. or another drugmaker to sell the company. Report [2]

> Biovail, Canada's largest publicly traded drug maker, has paid $6.5 million to Ontario's securities regulator over allegations of accounting misconduct. Report [3]

> Akrimax Pharmaceuticals, which entered the contract manufacturing sector via the purchase of a Wyeth facility in New York a year ago, has signed its first third-party agreement with an unnamed healthcare customer. Report [4]

> Azur Pharma, the Irish pharmaceutical company founded by former Élan executive Seamus Mulligan, has licensed the exclusive U.S. marketing rights for four CNS drugs from UCB. Report [5]

> U.K.-based Sinclair Pharma has signed an agreement to sell the U.S. distribution rights pertaining to Atopiclair cream and lotion, a non-steriodal treatment for atopic dermatits, to its U.S. marketing partner Graceway. Report [6]

> Abraxis BioScience has selected Innovex, a unit of Quintiles Transnational, to provide the sales force and commercial services for its cancer treatment Abraxane in the European Union. Report [7]

> Dr. Julie L. Gerberding has resigned as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and will be replaced on an interim basis by a deputy as of Jan. 20, the day President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated. Report [8]

> Bristol-Myers Squibb has appointed Howard Feldman as its new vice president and therapeutic area head of global clinical research, neuroscience. Report [9]

> Criticism by a national accreditation group over a lung cancer study that failed to disclose an author's financial conflicts has led The New England Journal of Medicine to change its procedures. Report [10]

> It looks like Merck is making good on its promise to hunt for deals in 2009 [11]. It announced today that its signed a diabetes and obesity drug deal with Galapagos worth up to $233 million. Report [12]

> Animal drug supplier Dechra expects an increase of 23 percent in overall first half revenue and a 9.5 percent hike on a like for like basis, which excludes last year's acquisition of VetXX. Report [13]

> Array Biopharma released a statement today confirming rumors that the company laid off 10 percent of its staff. In addition to the 40 employees cut from research and support positions, Array announced it will be scaling back its R&D over the next 2 years. Report [14]

> Medimetriks Pharmaceuticals launched its first prescription topical therapies: Pacnex Wash, a topical treatment for acne; Sumaxin Cleansing Pads, a topical treatment for acne, rosacea and seborrheic dermatitis; and Uramaxin Nail Gel, a treatment for diseased and damaged nails. Release [15]

> Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceutica is teaming up with Tennessee's Vanderbilt University to discover and develop new schizophrenia treatments. Report [16]

> In a study of 165 patients over a period of three years, researchers found that antipsychotics doubled the risk of death in Alzheimer's patients. Report [17]

> San Diego-based Orexigen Therapeutics has announced positive results from the first of four Phase III trials for its obesity drug Contrave. Report [18]

> Despite all the talk drug developers conducting trials overseas has garnered, just 212 trials--two percent of the worldwide total--were being conducted in India in 2007, according to research group RNCOS. However, that number is expected to surge to 5 percent by 2012. Report [19]

> Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Cubist Pharmaceuticals will work together to develop and commercialize Alnylam's RNAI-based ALN-RSV program. Report [20]

Expert Advice: Five R&D mistakes to avoid [21]

Emerging Drug Developer: Forma Therapeutics [22]

And Finally... There are so many parents in Ashland, OR who won't get their kids vaccinated that federal researchers are paying money just to hear their side of things. Report [23]