As a shortage of epinephrine pens continues to grip the U.K., authorities have agreed to extend the expiration date on a second injector to help ease the situation.

Drugmakers in the EU are warning of drug supply chaos if the U.K. and European Commission can't strike a specific deal covering the approval of medicines before their governmental divorce.

Bayer - already struggling with falling consumer health sales - is also contending with a recall. It has been retrieving more than a million cartons of its Alka-Seltzer Original.

A global shortage of hepatitis B vaccine has developed as both Merck & Co. and GlaxoSmithKline deal with manufacturing issues, leading health agencies in England to ration use to those most at risk.

With sales of its respiratory drugs doing well, GlaxoSmithKline has been spending hundreds of millions of dollars to expand manufacturing of several kinds of inhalers. But a glitch at one of its Ventolin inhaler plants has resulted in recalling nearly 600,000 units in the U.S.

A recall of potentially malfunctioning EpiPens that Mylan first announced for Europe, Japan and Asia has now gone global, including the U.S., with the company retrieving tens of thousands more. Mylan, however, says it has plenty of replacements to avoid any interruptions in supply.

More than two years after buying Merck's OTC unit and local player Dihon, bringing together three separate consumer care businesses in China remains a challenge, Bayer said.

Chinese companies now account for more than 50 percent of the global active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) market. It has more than 500 companies registered to sell in the U.S. and 10 times that many serving its own market. But many of those continue to struggle to meet international standards.