Health Care

 
Cardinal Health profit growth exceeds expectations
 Profit growth comes in well ahead of expectations for the drug distributor's third quarter thanks to repricing of large retail accounts and the renewal of anti-diversion efforts, and the Dublin, Ohio-based company holds fast on full-year earnings projection.

• CVS Caremark's first-quarter profit jumps 83%
 
Vital Signs
Confronting inequities
 As health-care costs rise, middle-
class Americans are grappling with a growing sense of unfairness about the share they pay for what they get..
  
How to stay ahead
of your doctor
 Make a list of your symptoms and questions before your doctor's visit to get he most out of your physician's expertise.
Merck setback on cholesterol drug
 FDA turns down Cordaptive, but blue-chip drugmaker vows to submit additional data to secure approval. Merck affirms 2008 financial outlook, but shares take a beating.

Bristol-Myers Squibb holds firm on 2008
 Lower quarterly profit comes amid restructuring charges, but Plavix rebound bolsters top-line performance. Management affirms confidence in ability to hit full-year earnings target. 

• AstraZeneca plays defense over generics
 • Key drugs Avonex and Rituxan shine for Biogen Idec
• Signs of life at Schering-Plough
• GlaxoSmithKline fends with growing threat of generic competition
• Wyeth shows precious little evidence of growth in March quarter
• Genzyme's profit can't keep pace with 25% revenue growth
• Eli Lilly's first-quarter profit doubles
 • Novartis profit tops forecasts

Genentech earnings rise 47% on strong sales of anti-cancer drug
BY DAN GALLAGHER
Genentech Inc. posts an earnings jump of 47% for the fourth quarter on strong sales of its line of anti-cancer drugs.

Abbott Labs to acquire Advanced Medical Optics for $2.8 billion
BY CHRISTOPHER HINTON
Abbott Labs agrees to purchase Advanced Medical Optics in a $2.8 billion deal, including assumed debt, representing a fat acquisition premium, as it expands its medical-product services to meet new demand overseas.

Wasatch fund manager plays defense with stocks, cash
BY JONATHAN BURTON
“Go anywhere” mutual funds have a certain appeal. Independent-minded managers get to think outside the box and aren’t locked into a specific type of stock or sector.

Wanted: A surgeon general who can cut to the chase on health
BY KRISTEN GERENCHER
The U.S. Surgeon General may be best known for cigarette warnings that helped to cut the percentage of American smokers in half over 40 years.

Health coverage takes big bite out of unemployment checks
BY KRISTEN GERENCHER
For most newly unemployed workers, maintaining family health coverage through an extension of workplace benefits is a prohibitively expensive proposition, a new study suggests.

Fourth-quarter earnings 'disaster' sets 2009 up for mild recovery
BY LAURA MANDARO
For any company not tied to consumer must-haves like health care and groceries, earnings in the fourth quarter likely made the same swan dive as the broader economy.

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