Belgium's Galapagos says it's inked a deal with Merck in which Galapagos will use its SilenceSelect target discovery platform to identify inflammatory disease targets. Galapagos will receive an upfront fee of €2.5 million from Merck.

British pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline plc is close to acquiring privately-held Stiefel Laboratories, Inc. for about $3 billion. The companies are in late stage talks, with an announcement on the deal expected on Monday, although there is a chance that the deal could fall apart. There has been no official confirmation from both the companies on the deal.

Drugs and pharmaceutical exports are back on the growth path after showing a downward trend in October 2008.

Vyteris, Inc. announced that it has entered into an agreement with Zealand Pharma A/S, a Denmark-based biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative peptide-based drugs, to apply its technology to the controlled transdermal delivery of Zealand Pharma’s peptide optimization technology.