PFIZER

Pharmaceutical companies are still struggling with a steep "patent cliff," as multiple blockbusters lose their patent protections.

Patent expiries mean annual sales of 15 different categories of heart drugs are set to fall by more than a quarter by 2017, from $83 billion in 2011 to $60 billion, according to consensus analyst forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters Pharma.

British cardiovascular expert Professor Sir Roy Collins dismissed fears raised by U.S. and U.K regulators that the cholesterol lowering drug causes dangerous side effects such as memory loss, depression and sexual dysfunction, saying the benefits far outweigh any potential complications.

Among the charges: Pfizer's China subsidiary was accused of offering a program where doctors could claim cell phones and other goodies based on how many prescriptions they doled out of the company's products.

InterContinental Hotels Group, Banco Santander, ASML Holding, Pluristem Therapeutics, Elan Corp, ICICI Bank, Health Care REIT, Pfizer Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co. are among the companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trading Tuesday.

Researchers found that of 101 heart patients with signs of depression, those who exercised for 90 minutes per week and those who started taking Zoloft both improved significantly compared to participants assigned to drug-free placebo pills.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), the world's largest drug developer by revenue, is expected to report a decline in second-quarter profits on declining sales of its top-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor and generic competition for its glaucoma pill Zalatan.

The second-quarter earnings season is in full swing and investors will hear next week from several more major players, including AIG, Kellogg, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, Pfizer, Mastercard and General Motors.

Based on analyst estimates, Merck & Co. will report earnings of $1.01 a share on sales of about $12.16 billion -- an increase of 0.1 percent from the year-earlier quarter. The company posts its second-quarter earnings on Friday, before the opening bell.

Baidu.com, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, NXP Semiconductors, Telecom Italia, Elan Corp, Infosys Ltd, Banco Santander and Barclays Plc. are among the companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trading Tuesday.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), the world's second-biggest health care company, is expected to report higher second-quarter profit as strong performance of new drugs help mitigate drags from generic competition and strings of recalls.

A new study offers a timeline of changes in spinal fluid, brain size, the appearance of brain plaques and other factors that precede the onset of Alzheimer's in people who are genetically predestined to develop the brain-wasting disease.

The Indian government has taken a major step toward its ambitious vision of achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by initiating a $5.4-billion plan that would allow the government sector doctors to prescribe generic drugs to the patients free of cost.

A consumer group said Pfizer partly based its claims that Centrum products promote breast and colon health on the presence of vitamin D in the products, despite inconsistent or inconclusive evidence of vitamin D's protective role against breast and colon cancer.

From city hospitals to tiny rural clinics, India's public doctors will soon be able to prescribe free generic drugs to all comers, vastly expanding access to medicine in a country where public spending on health was just $4.50 per person last year.

GSK targeted the antidepressant Paxil to patients under age 18 when it was approved for adults only, and it pushed the drug Wellbutrin for uses it was not approved for, including weight loss and treatment of sexual dysfunction, according to an investigation led by the U.S. Justice Department.

Gamification - turning boring, unpleasant but necessary tasks into an online game - is a new way of thinking that is gaining momentum among drugmakers and health campaigners.

Among the companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trading Tuesday are: Ceragon Networks, Renren, Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Telefonica, EzChip Semiconductor, Banco Santander, Siemens, Pfizer and Goodyear Tire & Rubber.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has agreed to settle a probe into sales of its antipsychotic drug Risperdal and other medications for as much as $2.2 billion, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The emergence of drug-resistant or superbug strains of gonorrhoea is caused by unregulated access to and overuse of antibiotics, which helps fuel natural genetic mutations within the bacteria.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade Tuesday are: Popular Inc, North American Energy Partners Inc, United States Steel Corporation, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, Pfizer Inc, Banco Santander S.A. and Facebook Inc.