AstraZeneca today announced that MedImmune, its global biologics research and development arm, has acquired Spirogen, a privately-held biotech company focused on antibody-drug conjugate technology for use in oncology. MedImmune has also entered into a collaboration agreement with ADC Therapeutics to jointly develop two of ADC Therapeutics' antibody-drug conjugate programmes in preclinical development.

AstraZeneca today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals K. K. in Japan to co-promote abiraterone acetate, an innovative oral therapy for the treatment of patients with prostate cancer. Currently the main treatment option available to patients in Japan is medical castration, however prostate cancer can still progress in many patients because androgens are produced in other tissues.

Today, Novartis further embraces the worldwide vision impairment community by supporting World Sight Day with the launch of a new Facebook 'Retina App'. The app simulates retinal disease by illustrating the user's journey by showing a highly realistic view of what the impact of vision loss on their daily life could look like.

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) and Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE) inaugurated the Translational and Clinical Research Center (TCRC) at the prestigious Alexandria Center for Life Science in Manhattan's East Side Medical Corridor by hosting New York officials and dignitaries as well as life science leaders from institutions across the U.S.

Following the recent commercial introduction of five new drugs to address the medical needs of patients with various diseases, Bayer is now accelerating the development of further five promising drug candidates which are currently undergoing phase I and II clinical studies. The company plans to progress these five new highly innovative drug candidates in the areas of oncology, cardiology, and women's health into phase III clinical studies by 2015.

Anticoagulants are an indispensable treatment to prevent dangerous blood clots that can cause devastating ischaemic strokes in patients with atrial fibrillation or life-threatening pulmonary embolism in patients with venous thromboembolism.(1,2) An increased risk of bleeding is a known possible complication of all anticoagulant therapies.(3)

Novartis announced results from the head-to-head Phase III FIXTURE study showing secukinumab (AIN457), an interleukin-17A (IL-17A) inhibitor, was significantly superior to Enbrel®* (etanercept) in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis[1]. Enbrel is a current standard-of-care anti-TNF medication approved to treat moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.