AstraZeneca today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the orphan drug vandetanib for the treatment of medullary thyroid cancer that cannot be removed by surgery or that has spread to other parts of the body.

Sanofi-aventis (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY) has successfully completed its exchange offer for all outstanding shares of common stock of Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ).

Pfizer and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co L.P. (together with its affiliates, "KKR") have entered into an agreement whereby an affiliate of KKR will acquire Pfizer's Capsugel business for $2.375 billion in cash.

Boehringer Ingelheim announced the study outline for the pivotal Phase III clinical trials designed to evaluate BI 201335, its investigational once-daily oral protease inhibitor, in both treatment-naïve and -experienced patients with chronic genotype-1 hepatitis C virus (HCV), the most challenging genotype to treat.

GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) published a list of payments made during 2010 for clinical research studies led by U.S. healthcare professionals.

Pfizer Inc. released a report detailing the company's financial interactions with health care professionals and researchers in 2010.

Nycomed announced plans for an international phase III/IV study investigating the effect of Daxas® versus placebo on exacerbation rates in COPD patients who are concomitantly treated with fixed combination long-acting-ß2-agonists (LABA) and inhaled corticosteroids (ICS),