Paulson & Co. Files 13F: Holds Pfizer Steady -- No Merck; Ups Mylan Holdings

By far, Paulson & Co.'s largest holdings in Q3 2010 were bank stocks (and warrants on them) -- Citigroup, B of A and to a lesser extent, JP Morgan-Chase (holding well over a billion shares and warrants on financial stocks) -- all as reported to the SEC on its Schedule 13F, filed overnight.

That said, among healthcare, pharma, and bioscience companies, Mylan Labs -- a generics manufacturer -- is now his largest holding, and Pfizer is next. Paulson hasn't held any Merck for several quarters now. Importantly, in the device space, it continues to hold 80 million shares of Boston Scientific, the beaten-down coronary stent maker (actually his largest healthcare related holding). Here's the core pharma rundown:

. . . .Mylan Inc. | 30,000,000 common shares | (No change). . . .

Pfizer Inc. | 22,800,000 common shares | (No change). . . .

Talecris Biotherapeutics | 10,000,000 common shares | (Doubled its holdings, from 5,000,000 in Q2). . . .

Zymogentics Inc. | 8,000,000 common shares | (New position in Q3; completed takeover play). . . .

Genzyme Corp. | 1,901,200 common shares | (New position in Q3; a takeover play). . . .

Talecris supplies recombinant (genetically-engineered), and plasma-derived blood factors and proteins (and is also an antihemophilic blood factor VIII supplier) -- it competes with larger rivals like Baxter and Australia's CSL. I'll take a look into Zymogentics and report anything I find of interest, to the readership. This was also a Q3 2010 takeover play (like Genzyme, still unfolding), for Paulson -- Bristol-Myers Squibb closed the purchase of Zymogenetics on October 12, 2010.