Sponsored by Merck & Co.

(Reuters) - U.S. healthcare reform spawned a wave of lowered profit forecasts this week as drugmakers quantified the costs, but the pain should be manageable until the new law starts helping results in 2014.

U.S. stocks rose to a 19-month high on Friday as Merck eased concerns about the impact of healthcare reform, saying its costs will be relatively low.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday as news from Merck soothed worries about the corporate cost of healthcare reform and energy shares were boosted by higher oil prices.

The Dow and S&P 500 edged higher on Friday, led by gains in energy and healthcare stocks.

Stocks rose on Monday, helped by gains in the healthcare sector as passage of a bill to overhaul the system eased uncertainty for investors.

Two former top executives of drugmaker Schering-Plough Corp were named on Monday as new leaders of privately owned eye-care company Bausch & Lomb.

A federal court judge, Justice Christopher Jessup has ruled that the popular anti-arthritis drug Vioxx doubled the risk of heart attacks and was not fit for sale.

U.S. stocks lost gains and were trading little changed on Wednesday as the White House stepped up its efforts to overhaul healthcare and bank regulation, sparking concerns about the potential impact on profits in those sectors.

AstraZeneca Said on Monday it was exercising an option with Merck & Co to take back full rights to certain drugs marketed in the United States and would pay the U.S. group $647 million in April.

World stocks rose on Wednesday and the euro kept the previous day's sharp gains as strong earnings from both sides of the Atlantic shifted focus away from concerns about the euro zone debt crisis.

U.S. stocks posted their biggest daily percentage gain in three months on Tuesday after strong revenue from drugmaker Merck and regional manufacturing data instilled confidence in the economic outlook.

U.S. stocks jumped on Tuesday as commodity-related shares rose with a slump in the dollar and the latest batch of corporate earnings improved the profit outlook.

Stocks gained on Tuesday as corporate earnings and a solid jump in manufacturing data fueled investors' optimism on their return from a 3-day holiday.

Merck & Co posted quarterly revenue ahead of analysts' estimates on Tuesday, and stuck by its financial goals from its recently completed merger with rival drugmaker Schering-Plough Corp.

A report by the Geneva-based International Union Against Cancer (UICC) highlighted nine infections that can lead to cancer and urged health officials to drive home the importance of vaccines and lifestyle changes in fighting the disease.

British and U.S. researchers said they had grown a crystal that enabled them to see the structure of an enzyme called integrase, which is found in retroviruses like HIV and is a target for some of the newest HIV medicines.

Stocks rose broadly on Tuesday as investors scooped up healthcare shares on bets that a potential Republican victory in Massachusetts' Senate race could stall U.S. President Barack Obama's reforms and remove a threat to profits in the sector.

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as investors bet that a Senate race in Massachusetts could put President Obama's reform plans, especially those on healthcare, in jeopardy.

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as investors bet that a Senate race in Massachusetts could put President Obama's reform plans, especially those on healthcare, in jeopardy.

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday as investors bet on recently weakened technology and financial shares ahead of earnings from bellwethers Intel Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co , taking the Dow industrials to a fresh 15-month high.

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday as investors bought financial and technology shares ahead of earnings from bellwethers Intel Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co later this week.

Stocks extended gains on Wednesday as investors scooped up financial and technology shares, and Merck & Co benefited from a brokerage upgrade.

Stocks rose on Wednesday, shrugging off earlier losses, after Kraft raised its outlook and a brokerage upgraded Merck & Co. in welcome signs about future earnings.

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, lifted by a broker's upgrade of Merck & Co and a higher profit outlook from Kraft Foods Inc.

Sanofi-Aventis is to buy U.S. consumer healthcare group Chattem Inc for around $1.9 billion, in a deal which will give the French drugmaker over-the-counter presence in the huge United States market.

Women who took a commonly used class of osteoporosis drugs called bisphosphonates had significantly fewer invasive breast cancers than women not using the bone-strengthening pills, according to a new analysis of data from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI).

Heart risks from taking Merck & Co Inc's painkiller Vioxx could have been detected more than three years before the company withdrew the drug from the market in September 2004, had the data been openly available, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co Inc's $41.1 billion takeover of smaller rival Schering-Plough Corp won approval from European Union antitrust regulators on Friday.

Cost cuts helped drugmakers shore up profits in the third quarter, but concerns over sustainable revenue growth continues to worry investors.