The Bayer Group continued to grow sales in the second quarter of 2015 and significantly increased earnings. Sales of HealthCare increased by 28.0 percent (Fx & portfolio adj. 8.3 percent) to EUR 5,908 million in the second quarter (Q2 2014: EUR 4,615 million).

AstraZeneca today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Genzyme to divest Caprelsa® (vandetanib), a rare disease medicine. Caprelsa was granted Orphan Drug Designation by the US FDA in 2005 and is currently available in 28 countries for the treatment of aggressive and symptomatic medullary thyroid carcinoma, with global product sales of $48 million in 2014.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorization for Repatha™ (evolocumab), the first proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitor to be approved in the world, for the treatment of patients with uncontrolled cholesterol who require additional intensive low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) reduction.

AstraZeneca has completed its agreement with Tillotts Pharma AG (Tillotts), part of the Zeria Group, for the divestment of global rights, outside the US, to Entocort ® (budesonide), a gastroenterology medicine for patients with mild to moderate Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Novartis antimalarial medicine Coartem® 80/480mg has received World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification, making it the first and only high strength (80/480mg) Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) antimalarial treatment available for public sector procurement.

AstraZeneca announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved IRESSA (gefitinib) tablets, 250mg once daily, for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumours have epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 19 deletions or exon 21 (L858R) substitution mutations, as detected by an FDA-approved test.

Pfizer's Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) and the Jeffrey Modell Foundation (JMF) announced a collaboration agreement to conduct research in the field of immunological diseases. CTI and JMF will identify and co-fund translational research projects with leading academic medical centers within the CTI network.