Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPG) has announced that it will expand its operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts, establishing a rare disease innovation hub and increasing its footprint in the heart of Kendall Square. Shire and BioMed Realty have signed a lease for a 343,000-square-foot building at 500 Kendall Street. Shire’s lease begins in Q3, 2018, with occupancy anticipated for Q1, 2019.

Novartis today announced it has acquired Selexys Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a company specializing in development of therapeutics in certain hematologic and inflammatory disorders. Novartis exercised its right to acquire Selexys following receipt of results of the SUSTAIN study, a Phase II trial evaluating the use of SelG1, an anti-P-selectin antibody, in the reduction of vaso-occlusive pain crises in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD).

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) has launched the global cancer immunotherapy Centers of Research Excellence (imCORE™) Network. This network brings together many of the world's leading scientific and clinical experts in cancer immunotherapy to collaborate in investigating the most promising new treatment approaches.

Novartis today announced positive topline results from the global Phase III STRIVE study, evaluating the efficacy and safety of the fully human monoclonal antibody AMG 334 (erenumab) in episodic migraine prevention. Once-monthly subcutaneous AMG 334 was evaluated at 70mg and 140mg doses, with both doses meeting the study's primary endpoint, demonstrating a statistically significant reduction from baseline in mean monthly migraine days at six months versus placebo.

Today, Novo Nordisk announced a four-year extension of its Changing Diabetes® in Children programme which provides access to diabetes care and free insulin to children with type 1 diabetes in developing countries. The expansion sees five new countries join the programme; Cambodia, Ivory Coast, Myanmar, Senegal and Sudan. By 2020, more than 20,000 children over the course of 11 years will have benefited from the programme.

Merck, a leading science and technology company, received a prestigious R&D 100 Award for its Sanger Arrayed Lentiviral CRISPR Libraries - the first of its kind CRISPR libraries. R&D Magazine announced the awards at its 54th Annual R&D 100 Awards Dinner on Nov. 3 in Washington D.C.

Bayer has announced the submission of applications to extend the marketing authorization for its oral multi-kinase inhibitor regorafenib in the U.S., Japan and Europe, for the second line treatment of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Regorafenib is already approved under the brand name Stivarga® in many countries to treat metastatic colorectal cancer and metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors.