Novartis is buying back the rights to a schizophrenia pill that it sold to another company years ago after it decided the drug wasn't worth pursuing.

The number-one H1N1 flu concern among U.S. businesses is the availability of a vaccine for employees, according to a new survey by the Business Roundtable.

Iin light of evidence that some drug makers have gone to great lengths to turn scientific articles into marketing vehicles for their products, some influential medical editors are cracking down on industry-financed ghostwriting. And they are getting help from some members of Congress.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the new swine flu vaccine Tuesday, a long-anticipated step as the government works to get vaccinations under way next month.

Drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co says it will eliminate thousands of jobs and reorganize into five business units in an effort to slash costs and speed up development of potential new drugs.

After a summer of setbacks, President Barack Obama summoned Congress to enact sweeping health care legislation, declaring the "time for bickering is over" and the moment has arrived to help millions who have insurance and many more without it.

G20 policymakers will this weekend promise to keep economic support packages in place until recovery is certain and seek to reassure financial markets they have credible plans to withdraw the stimulus when appropriate.

Chinese technology company Shanda Interactive Entertainment is planning to spin off its video game unit and raise as much as $800 million in a initial public offering in the United States, looking to follow in the footsteps of rival Sohu.com.

Japan's Daiwa Securities Group plans to buy out Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group from their investment banking joint venture, a source familiar with the matter said.

Virtually every large pharmaceutical company seems to have discovered cancer, and a substantial portion of the smaller biotechnology companies are focused on it as well. Together, the companies are pouring billions of dollars into developing cancer drugs.

Merck announced plans Monday for a reorganization once its acquisition of Schering-Plough closes later this year, including naming leaders for five main divisions.

A growing body of evidence suggests that doctors at some of the nation’s top medical schools have been attaching their names and lending their reputations to scientific papers that were drafted by ghostwriters working for drug companies - articles that were carefully calibrated to help the manufacturers sell more products.

It sounds like a simple idea for improving health care: draw up guidelines on how best to treat a particular illness and then pay doctors to follow them. That strategy, which some insurers and health plans already employ, has been embraced during the health care debate by some lawmakers in Congress who want to extend it more broadly.

Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion.

A new survey of doctors may show why drugmaker Merck could be having a tough time growing sales of its controversial vaccine for sexually transmitted disease and cervical cancer.