our next speaker is hervÉ hoppenot who's president of novartis encology.and maybe you could talk about some specific demonstrations. >> yeah, i can do that. i wanted to make a point on, you know, the subject of the conference which is innovation and reimbursement system. and i think there is one aspect that was not touched. i mean, i agree with some of them, but there is one aspect that was not touched is realizing that the progress we make in medicine on the hiv is a very good example, in fact. the one you were speaking about earlier where there is sort of an asymmetric situation between where you informs and where you save. -- invest and where you save. most of the investment is viable costs, and most of the saving is fixed costs. i will take the example of cancer. my company, what i'm in charge of at novartis is the encology group, and today in the u.s. the american cancer society numbers show that 17% of the cost of cancer is coming from drugs. and 83% is coming from are hospitalization, everything you can think of. now, every time a new drug is introd

administration advisory panel is scheduled to talk about new uses for cancer medicines from pfizer and novartis. those shares were split. merck gained 1%. it has a hepatitis c treatment that is scheduled for f.d.a. action next month. and that's tonight's market focus. >> susie: the securities and exchange commission is considering whether to ease rules on private companies issuing shares. one issue that's being reviewed: the 500 shareholder threshold meant to mark the transition to public ownership. that's gotten more attention recently as wall street banks and electronic markets offer investors a chance to buy and actively trade stakes in tech firms like facebook and twitter before they go public. >> tom: here's what we're watching for next week: monday, alcoa kicks off earnings season. c.e.o. klaus kleinfeld joins us with the results. later in the week, we'll also see earnings from big banks including j.p. morgan chase and bank of america. as april 18 draws near our tax expert kevin mccormally is back. monday, if you're running way behind, tips on filing your 2007 return before it's too late.

our next speaker is hervÉ hoppenot who's president of novartis encology.and maybe you could talk about some specific demonstrations. >> yeah, i can do that. i wanted to make a point on, you know, the subject of the conference which is innovation and reimbursement system. and i think there is one aspect that was not touched. i mean, i agree with some of them, but there is one aspect that was not touched is realizing that the progress we make in medicine on the hiv is a very good example, in fact. the one you were speaking about earlier where there is sort of an asymmetric situation between where you informs and where you save. -- invest and where you save. most of the investment is viable costs, and most of the saving is fixed costs. i will take the example of cancer. my company, what i'm in charge of at novartis is the encology group, and today in the u.s. the american cancer society numbers show that 17% of the cost of cancer is coming from drugs. and 83% is coming from are hospitalization, everything you can think of. now, every time a new drug is introd