Swiss drug manufacturer Novartis AG made an open offer to purchase an additional equity stake of 39% in its Indian arm Novartis India Ltd. for a total value of up to Rs 440 crore.

The parent company would buy back the shares from public shareholders at INR351 a share.

After the successful completion of this offer, Novartis will hold 90% stake in the Indian arm from the current 50.9%.

Novartis AG made the offer at a premium of 27% to Novartis India’s closing price of Rs 275.6 on March 24.

The country's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has managed to get Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certificates from the concerned departments in the UK and Australia for its Paonta Sahib plant.

The authorities from both countries investigated the utility as per respective principles and guidelines of GMP in 2006 and finally gave nod to drug manufacturing after re-examining the plant in 2008.

Multinational pharmaceutical firms including Roche, Pfizer and Astra Zeneca are waiting for the official approval to conduct clinical trails in India. DCGI received 100 applications for conducting such trials in 2005 this grew to 350 in 2008. Experts estimate that during the next three years, the clinical research industry in India will be worth about two billion dollars. Different experts have different opinion about this boom in clinical research industry.

Some attribute this to financial profits due to low cost while other believes this is due to growing interest of pharma majors in emerging markets like India.

Basel, Switzerland  - Roche, the Swiss drug manufacturer, has struck a deal to buy out Genentech, a United States based biotech group, the two companies announced Thursday.

The move would cost Roche approximately 46.8 billion dollars for the 44-per-cent stake it does not already have in the biotech firm.

Under the agreement, the Swiss group would pay 95 dollars a share. It was only reached after months of negotiations, which at one point led Roche to go directly to shareholders with an offer that Genentech urged them not accept. Analysts felt the San Francisco company was holding out for a better price, as it was insisting on 112 dollars a share, far above market value.

India’s Aurobindo Pharma has notified that it has secured tentative approval from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for marketing generic lopinavir/ritonavir tablets.

It should be noted that the drug are generic equivalent of Abbott Laboratories' (ABT) Kaletra tablets and falls under anti-retrovial (ARV) segment.

The drugs are prescribed for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults and children above the age of two years. The tablets are used together with other anti-retroviral agents.

New York  - Drug maker Merck & Co will merge with rival Schering-Plough Corp in a deal valued at 41.1 billion dollars, the companies announced Monday.

The deal would double the number of medicines under the final stages of development by Merck to 18 and create the second-largest US pharmaceutical firm.

Under the agreement, Schering-Plough shareholders will receive 0.6 shares of Merck and 10.50 dollars for each share, amounting to a total of 23.61 dollars per share.