Bayer HealthCare Company Ltd and Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, are expanding their joint research partnership relating to the Bayer-Tsinghua Joint Research Center for Innovative Drug Discovery (BTC). This week, both partners signed a new strategic agreement to collaborate in the area of biomedical sciences over the next 3 years.

Sanofi (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) presented data from two Phase 2 trials with SAR236553/REGN727, an investigational, high-affinity, subcutaneously administered, fully-human antibody targeting PCSK9 (proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9)

The US District Court for the District of Columbia issued an opinion and order in AstraZeneca's lawsuit against the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding final marketing approval of generic quetiapine. The Court denied the company's request for a preliminary injunction and dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice.

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced results from the Phase III HannaH study in women with HER2-positive early breast cancer (eBC) showing for the first time that a new way of giving Herceptin (trastuzumab) by subcutaneous (SC) injection leads to comparable efficacy (based on pathological complete response (pCR);

AstraZeneca announced that the High Court in the UK has rendered its opinion on the formulation patent protecting SEROQUEL XR® (quetiapine fumarate) prolonged-release tablets currently pending in the UK court. The court found the formulation patent protecting SEROQUEL XR (marketed as SEROQUEL XL in the UK) to be invalid.

Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced that AbbVie [pronounced Abb-vee] will be the name of the new, independent research-based pharmaceutical company it expects to launch by the end of 2012. The naming of the new company is the latest milestone in the process that began in October 2011,

AstraZeneca and Targacept, Inc. announced top-line results from the remaining Phase III studies investigating efficacy, tolerability and safety of TC-5214 as an adjunct therapy to an antidepressant in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who did not respond adequately to initial antidepressant treatment.