A round-up of today's other business news in brief ...
Alzheimer's programme at Wyeth secure
The $68 billion takeover of Wyeth by rival Pfizer should not undermine Wyeth's Alzheimer's disease programme, which is being conducted with Irish biotech group Elan.
The deal between Elan and Wyeth specifically provides for a change of ownership at either group. Elan chief executive Kelly Martin confirmed at the JP Morgan 27th Annual Healthcare Conference earlier this month that, as long as any new owner of Wyeth deemed the Alzheimer’s programme sufficiently important and funded it accordingly, it would simply “step into the shoes” of Wyeth.
Ireland improves broadband ranking
Ireland has moved from 12th to sixth on a respected European ranking of the regulatory environment for electronic communications but the research found that costs for essential services such as broadband are still amongst the highest in Europe.
The annual scorecard, produced by Ecta, a telecoms industry lobby group, gave Ireland a score of 302. Britain came out top of the ranking of 20 nations, with a score of 373. With broadband penetration of 19.5 per 100 inhabitants, an average monthly cost of €28.41 and a lowest cost of €12.75, Ecta scored Ireland 18.8 for its broadband environment. This is on a par with the Czech Republic, while Spain (16.5), Poland (11.8) and Turkey (4.7) are the only nations ranked lower.
Truck-building firm collapses
A Kilkenny truck-building firm that has been in business for about 50 years has gone bust with the loss of 25 jobs and a deficit of about €1 million. Looby Brothers, Johnstown, was put into liquidation at a creditors’ meeting yesterday after the company was unable to secure new orders this year.
