Fitch Sees Pharmaceutical Industry Maintaining Targeted M&A (MRK) (IDIX) (PFE)

Pfizer, Inc. (PFE) Reports 10 Abstracts Accepted by EULAR

Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced that over 10 abstracts have been accepted for presentation at the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) 2014 Annual Meeting (June 11-14, Paris, France), seven of which are focused on further characterizing the safety profile of XELJANZ (tofacitinib citrate) in treating moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis. Notably, an abstract titled, Integrated safety analysis of tofacitinib in rheumatoid arthritis clinical trials with a cumulative exposure of 12,664 patient-years, will be presented as an oral abstract session (OP0154) on June 13, 2014 at 11:30 a.m. CEST. This analysis describes safety data for XELJANZ in patients from the integrated... More

Merck's (MRK) Acquisition of Idenix Pharma (IDIX) is Credit-Negative Event - Moody's

Moody's Investors Service commented that the acquisition of Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDIX) by Merck and Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) for $3.85 billion is credit negative. However, there is no effect on Merck's current ratings including the A1 senior unsecured long-term... More

More Details on Idenix Pharma (IDIX), Merck (MRK) Merger

On June 8, 2014, Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Delaware corporation (Nasdaq: IDIX), entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the Merger Agreement), among the Company, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK), a New Jersey corporation (Parent) and Imperial Blue Corporation, a Delaware corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Parent (Merger Sub).

Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, and upon the terms and subject to the conditions thereof, Merger Sub will commence a tender offer (the Offer) to purchase all of the issued and outstanding shares (the Shares) of common stock, par value $0.001 per... More