Corporate Notes

Pharmaceutical company profits are back. The anything-goes days of pharmaceutical industry funding are gone. But if industry reps say budgets for funding meetings are shrinking, it sure isn't because of profitability. Take a gander at these third- quarter income numbers: Merck & Co. up 16 percent; Johnson & Johnson up 20 percent on a 14 percent sales increase; and Schering-Plough Corporation up 15 percent. The amazing part, according to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal, is