Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) has agreed to acquire Trophos, a privately held biotechnology company based in Marseille, France. Trophos's proprietary screening platform generated olesoxime (TRO19622), which is being developed for SMA - a rare and debilitating genetic neuromuscular disease that is most commonly diagnosed in children.

Novartis Pharmaceuticals has announced the establishment of a joint investment company with Qualcomm Ventures to target early stage companies who offer technologies, products or services that "go beyond the pill" to benefit physicians and patients.

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) and Foundation Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ: FMI) announced today that they will enter into a broad strategic collaboration to further advance FMI's market-leading position in molecular information and genomic analysis while providing Roche a unique opportunity to optimize the identification and development of novel treatment options for cancer patients.

AstraZeneca today announced that MedImmune, its global biologics research and development arm, has entered into a licensing agreement with Omnis Pharmaceuticals (Omnis), a privately-held biotechnology company focused on the development of oncolytic viruses.

Pfizer Inc. has acquired a controlling interest in Redvax GmbH, a spin-off from Redbiotec AG, a privately held Swiss biopharmaceutical company, based in Zurich-Schlieren. This transaction provides access to a preclinical human cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine candidate, as well as intellectual property and a technology platform related to a second, undisclosed vaccine program.

Novartis announced today that it has signed collaboration and licensing agreements with Intellia Therapeutics for the discovery and development of new medicines using CRISPR genome editing technology and Caribou Biosciences for the development of drug discovery tools. Intellia and Caribou are two of the leading biotechnology companies developing this novel technology.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) and the California Institute for Biomedical Research (Calibr) announced today they have entered into a worldwide research collaboration to develop novel small molecule anti-fibrotic therapies, and an exclusive license agreement that allows Bristol-Myers Squibb to develop, manufacture and commercialize Calibr's preclinical compounds resulting from the collaboration.