Shares of Cephalon, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEPH) surged more than 30% after the company said that it received an unsolicited proposal from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., on March 18th to acquire the Company for $73 per share and a second unsolicited proposal on March 25th to either acquire the Company for $73 per share or to purchase Cephalon's non-oncology related assets for $2.8 billion. On March 29th, Valeant announced an unsolicited proposal to acquire all of the outstanding shares in the Company for $73 per share. The Company advised Valeant that it is working with its financial advisors to review and consider each proposal. In addition, the Company advised Valeant that its Board of Directors would be meeting to consider the proposals and planned to respond to Valeant during the week of April 4th.
Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) on Wednesday announced that it has entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory. The Molycorp-Ames effort will focus on developing new methods to create commercial-grade rare earth permanent magnets.
Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHN) on Wednesday announced positive top-line results from its on-going Phase 2a clinical trial of ACH-1625 dosed once daily in combination with Pegasys and Copegus, a current standard of care in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection.
After Tuesday's closing bell, Standard & Poor's annonced that BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) will replace Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ: GENZ) in the S&P 500 index after the close of trading on Friday, April 1, 2011.
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