Alcon, the global leader in eye care and a division of Novartis, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Transcend Medical, Inc., a privately-held, US-based company focused on developing minimally-invasive surgical devices to treat glaucoma.

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for the investigational medicine ocrelizumab (OCREVUSTM) for the treatment of people with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS).

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute today announced that they have entered into a research collaboration agreement as part of the Immuno-Oncology Rare Population Malignancy (I-O RPM) program in the U.S.

UCB and Baylor College of Medicine announced that they have started a strategic research alliance, led at Baylor by Professor Huda Zoghbi, that aims to discover new therapeutics to treat neurodegenerative disease.

Sandoz, a Novartis company and the global leader in biosimilars, announced today that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has accepted their Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for its biosimilar to Amgen's EU-licensed Neulasta®* (pegfilgrastim) - a long-acting recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF).

With Grants4Indications™ Bayer has launched its fifth global crowdsourcing initiative. This latest web-based grant program promotes the exploration of new indications with the aim to discover novel potential therapeutic areas for Bayer compounds.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) today announced the executive leadership team for the combined Pfizer and Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN) business following the close of the proposed transaction.