While You Were Contemplating Pfizer/Wyeth [UPDATED]

Sorry about the lazy imagery; thanks to the speed at which things evolved this weekend we didn't have time to mock up a version of "Christina's World" with Pfizer HQ in the background as planned. We still can't quite wrap our heads around this deal's logic--as we pointed out on Friday, there are plenty of arguments against the mega-merger--but we'll be all over it with coverage in IN VIVO, The Pink Sheet (and its DAILY), all the way down to your lowly IN VIVO Blog. Our first longer-form take is in today's Pink Sheet.

Any Pfizer or Wyeth employees out there? Good deal? Bad deal? Smart deal? Dumb deal? Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments.

• The Wall Street Journal, whose reporters broke the Pfizer/Wyeth story on Friday, fills in a few more details and suggests the price tag will come in between $65 and $70 billion, or about $50/share at a roughly 30% premium to the pre-rumor shareprice. Says the WSJ: "Pfizer plans to pay for about two-thirds of the total cost in cash and use its stock for the remainder, the people say. It has raised about $25 billion in bank financing and will tap its cash reserves for the rest." [[UPDATE: WSJ now saying the magic number is $68bb--$50.19/share. That story is here. The NYT's coverage is here.]] [[UPDATE II: at 6:30am it's official. Here's the Pfizer release.]]
  
• While we're talking Wy-Pfi (a genius name pointed out by a commenter at WSJ's Health Blog) we should also link over to Derek Lowe's post at The Atlantic's new business page.
• The knock-on has begun. Crucell said today that Wyeth has pulled out of talks to acquire the vaccines company.
  
• GSK's Alli hits the shelves in Europe. Will it take off or, er, hit the skids? The Times takes a long look at orlistat.
  
• Another reason to drink lotsa coffee (besides the caffeine, wonderful aroma, and the glorious, glorious taste): results of a 21-year observational study by Scandinavian researchers suggest it might be good for your mental health, according to the New York Times. The scientists "found that the subjects who had reported drinking three to five cups of coffee daily were 65 percent less likely to have developed dementia, compared with those who drank two cups or less."