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LONDON (MarketWatch) -- AstraZeneca said it's won a temporary restraining order by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey halting sales by Teva Pharmaceutical of a generic version of its Pulmicort Respules asthma product. AstraZeneca on Wednesday disclosed that the Food and Drug Administration gave approval to the generic drug. The restraining order freezes supply of Teva's product to prevent any future sales and requires Teva to send a letter to its customers requesting they comply with the terms of the court's order. AstraZeneca and partner Par Pharmaceuticals now have to suspend their own distribution of an authorized generic and send a similar letter to customers. The pharmaceutical still sees core earnings between $4.90 and $5.05 a share for the year but said actual performance is dependent on developments in the Pulmicort decision as well as the outcome of a preliminary injuction hearing on Nov. 25.

Edited Press Release LONDON (MarketWatch) -- AstraZeneca said Thursday it and its partner Par Pharmaceuticals are to suspend distribution of AstraZeneca's own authorised generic version of Pulmicort. The move follows granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, halting sales of Teva's budesonide inhalation suspension product, a generic version of AstraZeneca's Pulmicort respules treatment. The TRO freezes supply of Teva's product to prevent any future sales and requires Teva to send a letter to its customers, along with a copy of the TRO, requesting that they comply with the terms of the Court's Order.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Elan Corp., the Dublin biotech firm, named Carlos Paya president, with responsibility for for leading the company's scientific, clinical and medical initiatives, as well as its commercial and marketing functions. Paya, a medical doctor, joins Elan from Eli Lilly & Co., the Indianapolis drugmaker, where he'd been vice president of Lilly Research Laboratories and global leader of the company's diabetes and endocrine platform. Paya also spent 16 years with the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., including six years as a professor and vice dean of the Clinical Investigation program at the medical school there.

GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) cervical cancer vaccine, Cervarix, was today confirmed by the Netherlands Vaccine Institute (NVI) as the cervical cancer vaccine for the Dutch National Immunisation Programme (... [WebWire - Thursday, november 20, 2008]

Following an unprecedented year of advances in the field of endovascular aortic repair (EVAR), Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT), will showcase at the international VEITHsymposiumT its recently-expanded por... [WebWire - Thursday, november 20, 2008]

U.S. stock market futures dropped Thursday as fears over the financial and automotive sectors continued and jobless figures showed another sharp rise.

AstraZeneca has today announced proposed changes to its global manufacturing and supply chain operations as part of its ongoing programme to improve efficiency across the business. The introduction of... [WebWire - Thursday, november 20, 2008]

NIH Funds International network in Search of Biological Clues - - The adult children of people diagnosed with inherited Alzheimer's disease are the focus of a new study to better understand the biology... [WebWire - Thursday, november 20, 2008]

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- GlaxoSmithKline said Thursday it has agreed to buy a number of over-the-counter medicines from AstraZeneca for 146 million pounds ($217 million). The medicines are predominantly sold in Sweden and include the analgesic Alvedon as well as decongestant brands Nezeril and Nasin.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with AstraZeneca to acquire a number of leading over-the-counter (OTC) medicines predominantly sold in Sweden, including Alv... [WebWire - Thursday, november 20, 2008]