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DEERFIELD, Ill. — Patients who have enrolled in the new healthcare insurance marketplaces but haven't received an identification number from their insurers can receive up to a 30-day supply of prescription drugs at no upfront cost at Walgreens, the retail pharmacy chain said.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Food and Drug Administration has declined to approve a drug made by Genzyme Corp. for certain forms of multiple sclerosis, the company said Monday.

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. — Drug maker Merck is starting a new business designed to provide weight-management intervention services to employers, patients and healthcare professionals, the company said.

FOSTER CITY, Calif. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved an HIV pill made by Gilead Sciences for patients who are switching from other therapy regimens, the company said.

Gilead said the FDA approved its single-pill regimen, Complera (emtricitabine; rilpivirine; tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) for use in adult patients who have suppressed their infections on stable antiretroviral regimens and are replacing their current regimens. The FDA originally approved the drug in 2011.

DUBLIN — Drug maker Shire is extending the deadline for its offer to buy Exton, Pa.-based ViroPharma for $4.2 billion, Shire said Friday.

The company said it had extended the expiration date of its tender offer for ViroPharma until Jan. 9. The offer had previously been planned to expire on Thursday. Shire announced the $50-per-share offer last month.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — The Food and Drug Administration has postponed the time it will decide whether or not to approve an experimental treatment under development by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. for ulcerative colitis, the company said.

DUBLIN — The Food and Drug Administration declined to approve an experimental contraceptive patch developed by Actavis, the drug maker said Tuesday.

Actavis said the FDA sent it a complete response letter for its progestin-only transdermal contraceptive patch. A complete response letter means that the agency has finished reviewing a drug-approval application, but questions remain that preclude final approval.

Earlier this year, the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, the research wing of the healthcare industry analysis firm IMS Health, dropped a bombshell when it showed that U.S. spending on drugs fell in 2012, the first time that had happened in 55 years. But according to IMS’ latest figures, it was not the start of a trend.