AstraZeneca announced that the High Court in the UK has rendered its opinion on the formulation patent protecting SEROQUEL XR® (quetiapine fumarate) prolonged-release tablets currently pending in the UK court. The court found the formulation patent protecting SEROQUEL XR (marketed as SEROQUEL XL in the UK) to be invalid.

Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced that AbbVie [pronounced Abb-vee] will be the name of the new, independent research-based pharmaceutical company it expects to launch by the end of 2012. The naming of the new company is the latest milestone in the process that began in October 2011,

AstraZeneca and Targacept, Inc. announced top-line results from the remaining Phase III studies investigating efficacy, tolerability and safety of TC-5214 as an adjunct therapy to an antidepressant in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who did not respond adequately to initial antidepressant treatment.

Sanofi (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY) and Pluromed Inc. have entered into a definitive agreement under which Sanofi is to acquire Pluromed Inc., a medical device company based in Woburn, Massachusetts. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.

In February 2011, GSK announced its intention to divest non-core Consumer Healthcare over-the-counter (OTC) products predominantly in the United States and Europe with aggregate sales of approximately £500 million.

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) has received a request for additional information, often referred to as a "second request," from the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") in connection with Roche's proposed acquisition of Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN)

AstraZeneca filed a lawsuit against the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to overturn the FDA's denial on 7 March 2012 of Citizen Petitions filed by AstraZeneca with regard to SEROQUEL® (quetiapine fumarate) tablets and SEROQUEL XR® (quetiapine fumarate) extended release tablets.