> Eli Lilly agreed to settle, on confidential terms, lawsuits filed by seven states alleging the company improperly marketed its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa. Report
> AstraZeneca's MedImmune unit said the U.S. government has ordered an additional 29 million doses of its H1N1 vaccine, bringing the U.S. total to 42 million doses at a cost of about $453 million. Report
> Merck filed papers with regulators in the European Union officially seeking approval of its planned acquisition of Schering-Plough. Report
> Indian drugmaker Cipla plans to sell shares to institutional investors at 263.75 rupees each, near Tuesday's closing price, to raise up to $175 million, two sources told Reuters. Report
> Generic drugmaker Perrigo bought the application by KV Pharmaceuticals to market a copycat version of GlaxoSmithKline's acne treatment Duac for an upfront payment of $14 million. Report
> King Pharmaceuticals started shipping its abuse-resistant pain drug Embeda. Report
> Shire was upgraded to hold from underperform by Jeffries International, which cited the company's forecasted 20 percent-plus EPS growth from the second quarter of 2010. Report
Biotech News
> The Wall Street Journal assesses the race among three biotechs to develop a blockbuster new obesity drug. Article
> Oxford BioMedica had some promising data to report at a medical conference in Berlin, but investors may not have gotten the news. Article
> Shares of Nektar Therapeutics jumped on the news that the developer had struck a $1.5 billion licensing deal for two of its development programs with AstraZeneca. Article
> Adolor has plunked down $2 million upfront and committed to pay $70 million more in milestones for Eli Lilly's OpRA III, a clinical stage product being developed for opioid bowel dysfunction. Article
> A few life sciences companies in the Boston cluster have announced new M&A deals in the last month and the local newspaper responds by waving a checkered flag and declaring that the new mantra for biotechs is "buy or be bought." Article
Biotech Research News
> Regulatory T cells--a group of white-blood cells dubbed Tregs--were able to effectively treat acute lung injury in mice. And now researchers are pursuing a clinical approach that can use a revved up set of these immune cells to do the same in humans. Article
> Officials in Chicago are studying the puzzling death of a lab researcher earlier this month who had been infected by the plague bacteria he had been studying. Article
> Anxious to distinguish themselves from a slew of investigators making high-profile claims of unsubstantiated miracle cures, a group of bioethicists and researchers from Canada is proposing a charter to guide reputable scientists working on stem cell therapies. Article
And Finally... A peculiar use of capsaicin, the compound that makes chili peppers spicy, could dramatically reduce damage from heart attacks, according to a study in Circulation. Report