1.   The drugs giant has been rocked by talk that it could be expelled from the FTSE because of the way it pays dividends.

2.   Amgen Inc. would consider buying another company to boost its drug pipeline, said Kevin Sharer, president of the biotechnology drug giant.

3.   Analysts cite Novartis and Glaxo Wellcome as drug giants with major investments in biotechology that should produce clear benefits to earnings in the next few years.

4.   A combination of the two British drug giants would have been the largest merger ever.

5.   A deal between the two British drug giants would be the largest in a string of mergers among pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and other health care providers.

6.   But Nancy Pekarek, a spokeswoman for GlaxoSmithKline, said that the British drug giant was not planning a similar move.

7.   But the patent to Cipro belongs to Bayer, a German drug giant.

8.   Drug giants also are jumping into the gene therapy field, which ultimately could generate billions of dollars from new cures and treatments.

9.   For days, he heard nothing from the government or Centeon, a unit of Rhone-Poulenc, the French drug giant.