GlaxoSmithKline announced Wednesday that it has made a tender offer to acquire Human Genome Sciences for $13 per share.

The offer represents an 81 percent premium over HGS' closing share price on April 17, which was the last day of trading before HGS publicly disclosed GSK's private offer for the company.

GSK's original unsolicited offer to buy HGS for $2.59 billion was rejected.

HGS has since begun what it calls a strategic alternatives review process, which GSK said Wednesday it will not participate in.

GSK and Human Genome collaborated on the lupus drug Benlysta, and they've partnered on two experimental medicines for diabetes and preventing heart attacks that are in the late stages of clinical trials.

"The reason why we're interested in the deal with Human Genome is to simplify our relationship on Benlysta, to drive the performance of Benlysta for the benefit of our shareholders and to take efficiency opportunities that we believe exist, " GSK CEO Andrew Witty said last month.

GSK has about 3,800 workers at its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park and 600 at its manufacturing plant in Zebulon.

Chapel Hill drug company Pozen reported a wider net loss in the first quarter as revenues totaled $1.3 million, down from $4.5 million in the first quarter of 2011.

That beat the consensus of three Wall Street analysts who cover the company, who had forecast $1.26 million.

Pozen reported a net loss of $8.4 million, or 28 cents per share, for the quarter, compared to $5.7 million, or 19 cents per share, during the same period a year ago.

The company attributed the larger loss to lower royalty payments from its Treximet, a migraine medication sold by GlaxoSmithKline. Most of Pozen's revenue comes from Treximet and its Vimovo arthritis pain reliever, sold by AstraZeneca.

Pozen also said in a statement that it continues to be optimistic about positive test results for the easier-to-stomach aspirin that it is developing.

The experimental drug, PA32540, combines aspirin and a gastrointestinal medicine. The drug is aimed at helping to prevent heart disease and stroke in patients who are susceptible to aspirin-induced ulcers.

The Food and Drug Administration has suggested Pozen also seek approval for a lower dose of the product.

Pozen shares, which opened Tuesday at $6.66, were down about 8 percent in early trading Tuesday. The stock is up 57 percent this year.

GlaxoSmithKline has joined an international effort to help eliminate sleeping sickness, leprosy, elephantiasis, blind trachoma and guinea worm in developing countries.

Those diseases and five others have been designated as neglected tropical diseases by the World Health Organization. The international group says they affect more than 1 billion people and have targeted them for elimination or control.

The next time Andrew Witty visits GlaxoSmithKline's Triangle headquarters be sure to call him Sir Andrew.

GSK's CEO was one of 984 people on the Queen's New Year's Honors List,  reports The Telegraph of London.

Witty received his knighthood for services to the economy and the United Kingdom's pharmaceutical industry. GSK is based in England. Industry and economy were the reasons given for honoring 12 percent of those on the list, according to the newspaper.

Witty became CEO of the pharma giant in 2008.

The honor caps a tough year for Witty as CEO. GSK had to pay out more than $3 billion in the United States over its marketing of the diabetes drug Avandia and another $1.6 billion to settle lawsuits over the drug which was linked to heart disease.

The BBC in noting the award pointed out that GSK had cut the amount it charges for vaccines around the world and that Witty has been "a keen promoter of GSK's work in developing a possible malaria vaccine."

Chapel Hill drug company Pozen's stock is up 40 percent in early trading today on news that the company has sold the U.S. royalty rights to one of its drugs for $75 million.

Pozen announced in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it has an agreement to sell the rights to MT 400, an experimental migraine drug, to CPPIB Credit Investments, a Canadian investment firm.

Pozen previously licensed the U.S. rights to MT 400 to GlaxoSmithKline, which markets a different dose of the drug as Treximet.
 

GlaxoSmithKline announced today that it has reached a $3 billion settlement agreement with the federal government, which had been investigating the company's marketing of its diabetes drug Avandia.

GSK announced back in January that it was taking a $3.5 billion charge to cover expenses linked to investigations and suits over Avandia.

The British company, which has its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park, has set aside more than $6 billion for legal costs tied to the drug, which has been linked to increased risk of heart attacks.

European regulators ordered Avandia off the market more than a year ago, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration restricted its use in the United States.
 

Chapel Hill drug company Pozen reported a narrower loss in the third quarter thanks to increased revenues from its migraine medicine Treximet.

Pozen reported a loss for the quarter of 7.1. million, or 24 cents per share, compared to $8.6 million, or 29 cents per share, during the same period a year ago.

That equalled the consensus among analysts who cover the company.

Revenue for the third quarter was $4.9 million, compared to $4.3 million during the same period a year ago.

Most of Pozen's revenue comes from its Treximet migraine medicine, which is sold by larger partner GlaxoSmithKline, and its Vimovo arthritis pain reliever, sold by AstraZeneca. Pozen receives royalties from the sales.
 

GlaxoSmithKline got more good news about its malaria vaccine today.

Results published online by the New England Journal of Medicine show that the vaccine has provided significant protection to young African children.

Earlier trials involving the vaccine, RTS, S, had focused more on safety than effectiveness.

The results are from a phase III trial, one of the final stages the vaccine must go through before GSK files to get the drug approved by regulators.

GSK, which is based in Britain but has its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park, has spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing a malaria vaccine over the past two decades.
 

Current and former GlaxoSmithKline employees said good-bye yesterday to the company's Elion-Hitchings Building, one of Research Triangle Park's most iconic landmarks.

About 350 people came out for the event, which encouraged employees to share memories of the building and allowed them to take unlimited pictures inside and out. Employees previously needed permission from security for photos, said GlaxoSmithKline spokesman Robert Sutton.

GlaxoSmithKline’s North Carolina employees will soon have the option to participate in a pilot health care program designed to reduce costs and improve results through more coordinated care.

The public-private partnership, called First in Health, will allow GSK’s 10,000 employees and dependents to access a system that has been used by the state to serve Medicaid recipients for the past decade.

That system uses a “medical home” approach that relies on a patient’s primary care physician to coordinate care among various other health providers.

The system, which was created by Community Care of North Carolina, has drawn national attention for its ability to save nearly $1.5 billion in health care costs over the last three years.