ALSO NOTED: Novo Nordisk creating 400 NJ jobs; Schering to sell off animal products;

> GlaxoSmithKline is acquiring Cambridge, MA-based Sirtris Pharmaceuticals for $720 million. GSK will pay $22.50 per share for the company. Report

> Novo Nordisk plans to expand its North American headquarters in New jersey, adding 400 jobs. Report

> Schering-Plough is selling 12 animal health products, including several vaccines, to Pfizer and the French animal health firm Virbac. Release

> Bayer's net income dropped by 73 percent for the first quarter--but before you have a heart attack, realize that last year's figure was inflated by the company's sale of its diagnostic business. Income from continuing operations rose 16 percent, to $1.2 billion, on $13.4 billion in revenues. Report

> ImClone Systems boosted revenues by 15 percent during the first quarter, to $162.6 million, on a 36 percent hike in Erbitux sales, but an $84 million charge took the bottom line into the red by $55.9 million. Report

> Fresenius Kabi offered to buy an additional 20 percent of the family-controlled Indian drug company Dabur Pharma; already Fresenius had agreed to buy the Burman family's 73.3 percent stake. Report

> Nicholas Piramal India saw fourth-quarter profits soar on a 19 percent increase in revenues. Report

> Theravance announced that it is cutting 40 percent of its workforce now that it has finished work on its antibiotic telavancin. Report

> The U.K.'s Acambis has won a $425 million contract to supply the CDC with its smallpox vaccine for 10 years. Report

And Finally... DTC advertising is poised for growth this year, just as regulators and activists are considering reforms. Report