The Bayer Group had a strong start to 2015 and once again expanded sales in the first quarter. Sales of the Bayer Group moved ahead in the first quarter of 2015 by 14.8 percent to EUR 12,117 million (Q1 2014: EUR 10,555 million).

AstraZeneca today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) and granted Priority Review for BRILINTA® (ticagrelor) tablets for patients with a history of heart attack.

With numerous marketing authorisations for medicines and product launches in 2014, the research-driven pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim is now positioned for future growth.

AstraZeneca and MedImmune, the Company's global biologics research and development arm, have entered into a collaboration to accelerate and broaden the development of Innate Pharma SA's proprietary anti-NKG2A antibody, IPH2201, including in combination with MEDI4736, an anti-PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor developed by MedImmune.

The Roche Group posted strong sales growth in the first three months in both divisions, with demand for oncology and immunology medicines driving growth in Pharmaceuticals, and immunodiagnostics products driving growth in Diagnostics.

Novo Nordisk today announced that Saxenda® (liraglutide 3 mg) is now available in the United States (US). Saxenda® is the first glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist for weight management, approved in the US, EU and Canada.

GSK is further strengthening and expanding its vaccines presence in the US by establishing a new global centre for vaccines research and development (R&D) in Rockville, Maryland. The site will become one of three global vaccines R&D centres for GSK, complementing the company's existing global R&D centres in Rixensart, Belgium and in Siena, Italy, a site which GSK recently acquired from Novartis in March 2015.