GlaxoSmithKline Plc <GSK.L>, the world's second largest drugmaker, took a bold step into the branded generics marketplace on Wednesday via an alliance with South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare Holdings <APNJ.J>.

By Ben Hirschler

Shares of big drug makers fell Friday after a Citi Investment Research gave "Hold" ratings to most of the sector, assigning a top rating only to Merck & Co. and saying Pfizer may need to consider a breakup.

Drug company sales representatives will have to stop doling out coffee mugs and pens that push their products when they visit doctor's offices. But they can still sneak in the occasional free lunch.

New evidence of the power of the multi-billion dollar impotence drugs. A study just out in the peer-reviewed "British Medical Journal" says that the elderly are having sex more often, possibly due to the popular pills for erectile dysfunction.

Drug developer Eli Lilly will buy SGX Pharmaceuticals for about $64 million in cash in an effort to expand its drug discovery efforts, the companies said Tuesday.

A fight has erupted in Congress over the question of whether drug makers and other companies should be allowed to keep patents they obtained by misrepresentation or cheating, The New York Times reports.

Merck and Eli Lilly reported earnings today, and CNBC asked the pharmaceutical companies’ chief executives and an analyst to discuss the results and the sector as a whole.

Eli Lilly Monday posted lower-than-expected quarterly earnings, as disappointing sales of its Byetta diabetes drug overshadowed growing demand for its other medicines, sending shares 3.4 percent lower.

Pfizer Inc. and Nektar Therapeutics  said on Wednesday clinical trials of the inhaled insulin Exubera found increased cases of lung cancer, leading Nektar to end talks with potential partners to market the product.

Pfizer and Nektar Therapeutics said Wednesday clinical trials of the inhaled insulin Exubera found increased cases of lung cancer, leading Nektar to end talks with potential partners to market the product.

Ahead of the weekend, CNBC asks the experts where investors should place their bets.

The pharmaceutical sector faces the looming "patent cliff" -- but Credit Suisse's Catherine Arnold finds lots of opportunities in the sector for the careful investor.

The economy's worsening. So's inflation. And the stock market is tanking. What to do? CNBC asked market experts for their best investment advice. Here are some of their picks.