ALSO NOTED: Pfizer's Lipitor patent request rejected; Spherix sells InfoSpherix; and much more...

> Pfizer's request for a reissued Lipitor patent was stamped "Rejected" by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office--but the decision is only preliminary, so the drug maker can still hope for extended exclusivity on the cholesterol drug. FiercePharma

> Spherix's shareholders approved the sale of the company's InfoSpherix subsidiary to The Active Network for $17 million in cash. Release

> They weren't dishonest, just incompetent--or so says an outside investigator who's been looking into Bayer's Trasylol snafu. FiercePharma

And Finally... Japanese stem cell scientist Shinya Yamanaka conducts his ground-breaking research on lean budget. FierceBioresearcher