WSJ praises Valeant CEO's pay; Bayer to invest $1.4B in green initiatives;

> Germany's Bayer plans to invest $1.4 billion in green initiatives such as climate-related research, development and other projects in Asia by 2010, a senior company executive told the Korea TimesReport

> Daiichi Sankyo's Ranbaxy Laboratories has received FDA approval to market peptic ulcer treatment Glycopyrrolate, a generic version of Sciele Pharma's Robinul, which brings in $26 million annually. Ranbaxy said it will launch the drug in December. Report

> The European Commission granted Swiss drugmaker Novartis for asthma drug Xolair as an add-on therapy for children aged 6 to 11 years suffering from severe persistent allergic asthma. Report

> The FDA has banned print advertisements for Allergan 's Aczone, an acne treatment. In a letter to the company, the agency said the ads were misleading as they overstate the drug's effectiveness and omit risk factors. Report

> A federal appeals court has agreed to reconsider its decision in April to toss out a $65 million ruling for Ariad Pharmaceuticals in a patent dispute with Eli Lilly over Lilly's osteoporosis drug Evista and its sepsis drug Xigris. Report

> Silicon Valley's Pharma sector saw jobs increase by 32 percent between 2001 and 2008, a new report shows. Report

Biotech News

> While today's P&G deal underscores that big leveraged buyouts may be returning to favor, Dow Jones went looking for the sweet spot in biotech takeovers. And they landed in the rich field of developers with promising late-stage products in the pipeline that can fetch a bid of $1 billion to $2 billion. Report

> Complete Genomics has snared a $45 million round to finance development of new, and radically cheaper, sequencing services. Report

> Shares of Switzerland's Santhera Pharmaceuticals got a boost this morning after the developer announced a $192 million licensing pact with Biovail for its experimental drug for dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease. Report

Biotech IT News

> Pfizer is working with Private Access, a privacy-enhanced search technology company, to recruit clinical trial subjects. Report

> In completing its acquisition of the interactive voice and web response services business of Covance last week, Phase Forward has completed two acquisitions, launched a product and issued two new software releases in the past four months. Story

> Two online forums--on biobanking and stem cells--have launched on the iBridge Network. "We hope to create discussion spaces for researchers and industry experts to deep dive into specific topics and provide a way for people to collaborate." says Lesa Mitchell, director of the iBridge Network, in an announcement. Report

> Regulatory document management via web interface is available from newcomer Moonbay Technology. The PIPELINE EDM software as a service offering helps manage documentation through electronic submissions. Piece

Special Report: Fierce Cloud Services for Biopharma R&D. List

And Finally... Valeant Pharmaceuticals has won rare praise for designing a pay package for its CEO that rewards long-term success. Ironically, the company reported a key failure in a mid-stage trial the same day the Wall Street Journal echoed some high-profile kudos for the way the developer is compensating its CEO. Report