Novartis has entered into a global collaboration with Amgen to commercialize and develop pioneering neuroscience treatments. The companies will partner in the development and commercialization of a BACE inhibitor program in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Novartis' oral therapy CNP520 will be the lead molecule and further compounds from both company's pre-clinical BACE inhibitor programs may be considered as follow-on molecules.

AstraZeneca has entered into a collaboration agreement with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. under which it will grant an exclusive license for Valeant to develop and commercialise brodalumab. Brodalumab is an IL-17 receptor monoclonal antibody in development for patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

Novo Nordisk plans to invest an estimated 2 billion US dollars over the next five years in new production facilities in Clayton, North Carolina, US and Måløv, Denmark. The expansions will help Novo Nordisk meet the increasing worldwide demand for its diabetes medicines.

AstraZeneca today announced that it has entered into a clinical trial collaboration with Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Peregrine's investigational phosphatidylserine (PS)-signalling pathway inhibitor, bavituximab, in combination with AstraZeneca's investigational anti-PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, durvalumab (MEDI4736).

Novartis announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire all remaining rights to Ofatumumab from GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK). Ofatumumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody which targets CD20, is being developed for relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and other autoimmune indications.

Sanofi has entered a research collaboration and license agreement with Evotec and Apeiron Biologics to discover and develop first-in-class small molecule-based immuno-oncology therapies to treat solid and hematological cancers by enhancing the anti-tumor activity of the human immune system.

Boehringer Ingelheim and Circuit Therapeutics have announced a second collaboration using Circuit's proprietary optogenetics technology platform. This new three-year collaboration will focus on investigating metabolic disorders with the aim of developing novel medicines to improve the treatment of obesity and associated diseases.