A candidate Ebola vaccine could be given to healthy volunteers in the UK, The Gambia and Mali as early as September, as part of a series of safety trials of potential vaccines aimed at preventing the disease that has killed more than 1,400 people in the current outbreak in west Africa.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, through a subsidiary, announced today that they have entered into an agreement to explore the therapeutic potential of the combination of Pfizer's crizotinib (XALKORI®) with Merck's investigational anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab,

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) and InterMune, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) have entered into a definitive merger agreement for Roche to fully acquire InterMune at a price of US$ 74.00 per share in an all-cash transaction. This corresponds to a total transaction value of US$ 8.3 billion on a fully diluted basis.

Novartis has signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) for compounds to fight tuberculosis (TB) that have been discovered at the Novartis Institutes for Tropical Diseases (NITD).

AstraZeneca today announced that it has received confirmation from the United States Department of Justice that it is closing its investigation into PLATO, a clinical trial with Brilinta (ticagrelor). The government is not planning any further action.

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Avastin® (bevacizumab) in combination with paclitaxel and cisplatin or paclitaxel and topotecan for the treatment of women with persistent, recurrent or metastatic carcinoma of the cervix.(1)

Sanofi (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY) and MannKind Corporation (Nasdaq: MNKD) have entered into a worldwide exclusive licensing agreement for development and commercialization of Afrezza® (insulin human) Inhalation Powder, a new rapid-acting inhaled insulin therapy for adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.