755*IN VIVO Blog picked up on a few news items you may have missed over this fine summer weekend.
- The irony. Foot and mouth disease is back in Britain--though so far confined to a small area near the twin Pirbright laboratories of the UK's Institute for Animal Health and Merial Animal Health (a veterinary JV between Merck & Co. and Sanofi-Aventis).
- The agony. Mannkind is having trouble licensing its inhaled insulin product, the company's CEO said on Friday. The company's shares fell like they were whacked over the head with an Exubera bong. Wait, they were?
- The ecstacy! OK maybe not ecstacy, because we couldn't find anything resembling such excitement. But spending $16 billion (or selling out for $16 billion) must feel pretty good. The WSJ is reporting this morning ($ sub. reqd.) that Akzo Nobel is spending its Organon cash as ICI will accept a sweetened takeover offer.
(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
I don't know how good spending $16 billion feels, but I don't think I'd mind selling out for that much. This bid should keep Dow Chem out of the way (another party interested in ICI). Actually, I'm kind of surprised that a "sweetened takeover offer" was necessary considering some of the connections I've read between people at either company (see Newsvisual: http://www.newsvisual.com/newsvisual/2007/08/akzo-moves-clos.html).
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