Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) has signed agreements with private investors Care Capital and NovaQuest Capital to establish BioCritica Inc., a newly-formed and privately-held biotechnology company.

Sanofi (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY) announced that data from eight compounds in the company's robust oncology portfolio will be showcased in more than 100 abstracts at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago, June 3-7, 2011.

Pfizer Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved SUTENT® (sunitinib malate) as the first anti-VEGF therapy to treat progressive, well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NET) in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic disease.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited ("Takeda", TSE: 4502) and Nycomed A/S ("Nycomed") jointly announced today that Takeda has reached an agreement with the shareholders of Nycomed in which Takeda will acquire the Zurich-headquartered company for 9.6 billion Euro on a cash-free, debt-free basis.

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced that data showing new personalised therapeutic approaches for people with skin and lung cancer, plus new data with Avastin (bevacizumab) in ovarian cancer, will be presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire Advanced BioHealing, Inc.

Pfizer Inc. will present more than 30 abstracts, including data from investigational compounds, axitinib,(1) crizotinib,(2) and bosutinib,(3) as well as data evaluating Sutent® (sunitinib malate), across multiple tumor types,(4,5) at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago from June 3-7.