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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which released new guidelines for breast-cancer screening, has had to clarify the guidelines due to confusion. The group has said that women in their 40s did not need mammograms and women 50 to 74 only needed a mammogram every other year. Now it is saying that it never said that women should not get mammograms, nor not examine their breasts for cancer signs.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. is planning to spinoff its Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. in a deal that will be worth about $6.5 billion, as it seeks to focus on its main business, pharmaceuticals.

Gardasil, a vaccine that is used for the prevention of cervical cancer in women, and one that has previously been approved for that purpose, now has the green light to be used in the treatment of genital warts in boys. The United States Food and Drug Administration has declared the vaccine for use on males.

Marketing drugs in the United States for uses that have not been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration is prohibited for pharmaceutical companies, but allowed for doctors. Allergan Inc. has launched a lawsuit against the government, saying the rules violate its free-speech rights by not allowing it give information about off-label use of its Botox antiwrinkle drug and other medicines.

Pfizer Inc. is to enter a guilty plea to a charge of illegal marketing of Bextra, its painkiller. It will also pay $2.3 billion in settlement for illegally pushing the sale of Bextra and other drugs for non-approved uses.

Abbott Laboratories must pay $1.67 billion to Johnson & Johnson as a jury in Texas upheld J&J's patent on Remicade, an arthritis treatment. Johnson & Johnson alleged that Abbott's Humira infringed on its Remicade patent.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has requested all information and documents from Matrixx Initiatives Inc. regarding its nasal product Zicam, and concerning Food and Drug Administration warnings about the risk of sense of smell loss from using the product.

Medicare drug costs will be reduced by the pharmaceutical industry in advance of the planned overhaul of United states health policy, figuring that the cuts now will hold off more possibly-heavy reductions as a result of the plan.

The lawyers representing the plaintiffs on lawsuits filed against AstraZeneca PLC over the antipsychotic drug Seroquel say they will introduce documents that show the company executives discussed the unauthorized use of Seroquel on the elderly and children.

A secretive plan to fly one of the presidential jetliners over New York for new photographs caused a panic for about a half-hour as residents believed a 9/11-style terrorist attack might be occurring. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg chastised officials for not advising him of the plan.

Pfizer Inc.'s planned $68 billion deal to acquire Wyeth has some analysts in doubt. They say that problems such as the $12.4 billion annual revenue loss caused by the patent expiry on Pfizer's best-selling anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor will not be solved by the deal.