December 5, 2005 -- Boston Scientific considerably confused the impending merger between Guidant and Johnson/Johnson by offering to buy Guidant for $72 per share, a 14% premium to the offer from JNJ; separately, Boston Scientific issued another recall notice for one of its products; Merck completed its application for Gardasil, the vaccine that protects against four types of human papilomavirus; Halozyme Therapeutics won FDA approval for Hylenex, which will be used as an absorption/dispersal agent for injected drugs; Schering-Plough is looking at strategic alternatives for its radiopharmaceutical business; Compugen, an Israeli firm that develops protein-based drugs and diagnostic biomarkers, will lay off 25% of its staff; and Nymox said its treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia passed its third interim review of safety data. In a weak market, the Centient Biotech 200™ traded 15 points higher to 3995.59, a gain of .37%. More details...
