Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), together with its collaborator on the Alzheimer's Immunotherapy Program (AIP), Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy, and the Geoffrey Beene Gives Back® Alzheimer's Initiative introduced the Alzheimer's Challenge 2012 at the Care Innovations Summit in Washington, D.C.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) announced solid financial results for the fourth quarter of 2011. This concludes a year in which the Company received important new product approvals for YERVOY® and NULOJIX® in both the U.S. and Europe, and ELIQUIS® in Europe for the prevention of venous thromboembolic events.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Micromet, Inc. (NASDAQ:MITI) today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Amgen will acquire Micromet, a biotechnology company founded in Germany with its research and development (R&D) center in Munich and headquarters in Rockville, Md., for $11 per share in cash.

Novartis' net sales rose 4% (+5% cc) to USD 14.8 billion in the fourth quarter. The strengthening of the US dollar against most major currencies negatively impacted sales by 1 percentage point.

Abbott's worldwide sales increased 4.1 percent to $10.4 billion, including a favorable 0.2 percent effect of foreign exchange. Emerging markets sales were $2.5 billion, representing nearly 25 percent of total sales, with particularly strong growth in Nutritionals, Vascular and Diagnostics.

Novo Nordisk will establish a type 1 diabetes R&D center in Seattle, US. The new center will combine Novo Nordisk's history of innovation and leadership in diabetes treatment with the company's growing expertise in immunotherapy.

Roche announced a grant to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York City, which will be used for the establishment of a program to improve basic cancer care in Ethiopia. The grant funding comes from the Roche African Research Foundation.