21.   The company learned of problems in the manufacturing of its popular asthma drug.

22.   The education program began with asthma management, and Merck does not make asthma drugs.

23.   The purchase of Fisons would give Rhone-Poulenc Rorer a range of respiratory products including the asthma drugs Intal and Tilade.

24.   Unlike many existing asthma drugs, the proposed treatment is neither a steroid nor a beta agonist, two popular forms of asthma medications.

25.   Until last year it had a joint venture with Fisons to market the Fisons asthma drugs in the United States.

26.   Under the agreement, Merck will fund further development and market the asthma drug under the Merck brand name.

27.   While Glaxo posted strong sales of new drugs, older drugs like Zantac, asthma drug Ventolin and Zovirax, a herpes treatment, posted declines.

28.   Zeneca Group Plc won approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market its product Accolate, the first in a new class of asthma drugs.

29.   Zyflo is the first in a new generation of asthma drugs, called anti-leukotriene medicines, that analysts expect could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual sales.

30.   A competing asthma drug, Accolate, also warns about the rare complication.