Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY), announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the supplemental biologics license application (sBLA) for licensure of its four-strain influenza vaccine, Fluzone Quadrivalent vaccine. Fluzone Quadrivalent vaccine is the newest addition to the Fluzone family of influenza vaccines.

AstraZeneca announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Pearl Therapeutics, a privately held company based in Redwood City, California, focused on the development of inhaled small-molecule therapeutics for respiratory disease.

Boehringer Ingelheim has signed with Zhangjiang Biotech & Pharmaceutical Base Development Company in Pudong, Shanghai a strategic alliance agreement and contract to build a cGMP biopharmaceuticals facility. The new site will provide full range of development and clinical services to Chinese and multi-national customers.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted and granted a Priority Review designation for the Biologics License Application (BLA) for metreleptin, an investigational agent for the treatment of metabolic disorders associated with inherited or acquired lipodystrophy (LD), a rare disease estimated to affect a few thousand people around the world, often with an early age of onset.

Sanofi (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY) today announced topline results of two Phase 3 clinical studies of its investigational compounds iniparib and otamixaban respectively.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), the world's largest independent biotechnology company, and Astellas Pharma Inc. (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 4503, "Astellas"), a leading Tokyo-based global pharmaceutical company, announced the companies have entered into a strategic alliance to provide new medicines to help address serious unmet medical needs of Japanese patients.

Today Novartis is joining the global multiple sclerosis (MS) community in celebration of World MS Day by launching a new campaign and participating in initiatives that encourage information and experience exchange around MS. Novartis is committed to supporting the MS community through these initiatives, in addition to delivering and researching innovative treatments to help address the high unmet medical needs of people with MS at every stage of the disease.