Two of Japan's largest pharmaceutical companies, Tanabe Seiyaku and Taisho Pharmaceutical, are merging in response to hard times in the Japanese pharma industry. Their union, which will take at least a year to complete, will create a combined company with $4.3 billion in sales, ranking it third in Japan in revenues. The move won't solve both companies' weak pipeline problems, but it will increase their total R&D budget and give them more sales clout in the domestic market. And as many Japanese pharma companies struggle for survival, analysts believe more merger activity is inevitable.

The RNA drug’s accelerated approval brings Sarepta’s exon-skipping market share to nearly 30%.

Limiting interactions to two-dimensional settings will hinder collaboration, innovation and the mentoring of younger employees, Merck & Co. CEO Kenneth Frazier says. Frazier, who will retire in June, is looking forward to returning to public service but says "politics with a capital P is not my thing."