Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) has been awarded an exclusive contract by the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) in South Africa for the support of the Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) Programme.

Sanofi (EURONEXT : SAN ; NYSE : SNY) announced the appointment of Greg Irace, currently President and CEO of Sanofi's US operations, to the newly created role of Senior Vice President, Global Services.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) and Amira Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced today that the companies have signed a definitive agreement under which Bristol-Myers Squibb will acquire privately held Amira Pharmaceuticals, a small-molecule pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and early development of new drugs to treat inflammatory and fibrotic diseases.

AstraZeneca announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved BRILINTA (ticagrelor) tablets to reduce the rate of heart attack (myocardial infarction [MI]) and cardiovascular (CV) death in adult patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), compared to clopidogrel.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Icagen, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICGN) have entered into a definitive merger agreement. Pfizer, which currently owns approximately 11% of Icagen's fully diluted shares, will acquire the remaining 8.3 million shares at a price of $6.00 per share.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) reported the outcome of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting on the New Drug Application for the investigational compound dapagliflozin.

Novartis' net sales rose 27% (+19% cc) to USD 14.9 billion. Currency benefited sales by 8% as the US dollar weakened against most currencies. Recently launched products grew 46% over the previous-year quarter, contributing USD 3.8 billion to total net sales for the Group.