By Bill Berkrot

(Reuters) – Human Genome Sciences Inc (HGSI.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which rebuffed an unsolicited $2.6 billion takeover bid by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said on Tuesday it was reviewing strategic alternatives, including the sale of the company.

Human Genome said it would not comment on the process, but reiterated that Glaxo’s $13 per share offer was not sufficient and failed to account for the inherent value of the company’s pharmaceutical assets.

By Bill Berkrot

(Reuters) – Illumina Inc (ILMN.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which has fended off a hostile takeover bid by Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding (ROG.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for now, on Monday reported a higher-than-expected first-quarter profit and maintained its full-year forecast.

Illumina management said it was very pleased with the first-quarter results “in view of the potential distraction from the Roche tender offer.”

April 23 (Reuters) – Illumina Inc, which has fended
off a hostile takeover bid by Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding
for now, on Monday reported a higher-than-expected
first-quarter profit and maintained its full-year forecast.

Illumina management said it was very pleased with the
first-quarter results “in view of the potential distraction from
the Roche tender offer.”

By Bill Berkrot

(Reuters) – A combination of experimental hepatitis C drugs from Gilead Science Inc and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co showed impressive results in new clinical trial data released on Thursday, helping fuel a 16 percent rise in Gilead shares.

In the mid-stage trial, Gilead’s GS-7977, acquired with its $11 billion purchase of Pharmasset, was combined with Bristol’s daclatasvir and received very strong response rates from previously untreated patients.

April 17 (Reuters) – Intuitive Surgical Inc
reported higher-than-expected first-quarter profit on Tuesday on
increased sales of its high-priced da Vinci surgical robots and
a rise in procedures using the systems and its shares rose
nearly 6 percent.

Based on the first quarter performance, the company slightly
raised its full-year forecast for revenue and procedure growth.

By Bill Berkrot

(Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG, in a letter to Illumina Inc shareholders, called its sweetened $51-a-share offer for the maker of genetic analysis equipment “a more than reasonable starting point for negotiations.”

The latest salvo in Roche’s repeatedly rebuffed efforts to buy Illumina comes a week ahead of Illumina’s shareholder meeting and suggests Roche is willing to raise its offer.

By Bill Berkrot

(Reuters) – A combination of experimental oral hepatitis C treatments being developed by Abbott Laboratories led to cure rates higher than 90 percent in previously untreated patients, according to data from a small mid-stage study.

The data, to be presented at a major European liver meeting later this month, puts Abbott firmly in the crowded race to produce a short duration, interferon-free treatment regimen for the serious liver disease.

By Bill Berkrot

(Reuters) – Amgen Inc and British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc announced on Monday a major collaboration deal to jointly develop and sell five biotech drugs currently in Amgen’s developmental pipeline.

Under terms of the deal, Astra will make an up-front payment of $50 million to the world’s largest biotechnology company and the companies will share costs and profits on the drugs for a variety of autoimmune, inflammatory and respiratory diseases.

By Bill Berkrot

(Reuters) – U.S. health regulators will add warnings to the labels of widely used cholesterol lowering drugs, such as Lipitor, to indicate that they may raise levels of blood sugar and could cause memory loss.

The Food and Drug administration announced the changes to the safety information on the labels of statins such as Pfizer Inc’s Lipitor, AstraZeneca’s Crestor and Merck & Co’s Zocor.

By Bill Berkrot

(Reuters) – Many patients taking a widely prescribed class of oral cancer drugs are also using a variety of medications that could reduce the effectiveness of the cancer treatment or increase its toxic side effects, according to research by Medco Health Solutions Inc.

For example, 43 percent of patients taking the highly effective leukemia drug Gleevec were also on another medicine that could diminish its efficacy, while 68 percent were taking something that could potentially raise the toxicity level, the study found.