Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved OCREVUS™ (ocrelizumab) as the first and only medicine for both relapsing and primary progressive forms of multiple sclerosis. The majority of people with MS have a relapsing form or primary progressive MS at diagnosis.

The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) and the Cancer Research Institute (CRI) today announced a multi-year clinical research collaboration to coordinate and rapidly initiate clinical Immuno-Oncology (I-O) studies across the Parker Institute and CRI networks. Bristol-Myers Squibb will work closely with leading Parker Institute and CRI scientists and researchers,

AstraZeneca, along with its global biologics research and development arm, MedImmune, will present the strength and depth of its translational science, which is expected to deliver the Company's next wave of innovative oncology medicines, at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Washington DC, US, 1-5 April 2017.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) announced today that the European Commission (EC) has approved XELJANZ® (tofacitinib citrate) 5 mg twice daily (BID) oral tablets in combination with methotrexate (MTX) for the treatment of moderate to severe active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in adult patients who have responded inadequately to, or who are intolerant to one or more disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

Bayer AG and its development partner Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have announced results from the EINSTEIN CHOICE study, which demonstrated that both 10 mg and 20 mg once-daily dosages of its oral Factor Xa inhibitor rivaroxaban (Xarelto®) significantly reduced the risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE) compared with aspirin 100 mg once daily (acetylsalicylic acid, ASA) in patients who had previously completed 6 to 12 months of anticoagulation therapy for pulmonary embolism (PE) or symptomatic deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Novartis has announced new data suggesting, for the first time, that Cosentyx® (secukinumab) may modify the course of moderate-to-severe psoriasis leading to long-term, treatment-free skin clearance[1]. Cosentyx is the first and only IL-17A inhibitor to have reported this potential of disease modification.

Merck, a leading science and technology company, announced today the new startups participating in its Accelerator programs in Darmstadt, Germany and Nairobi, Kenya. The two program locations accept startups from different fields within Merck's core specialisms: Darmstadt takes startups from the fields of healthcare, life sciences and performance materials, while Nairobi works exclusively on innovations in digital healthcare.