AstraZeneca and MRC Technology, the commercialisation company for the UK's Medical Research Council, announced a new strategic collaboration to share access to their collections of compounds to aid the search for potential new treatments for serious diseases.

As part of its commitment to further transform the company's approach to diseases that disproportionately affect the world's poorest people, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is creating a new operating unit dedicated to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs*).

Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited ("Daiichi Sankyo") and Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited ("Ranbaxy") announced that Ranbaxy's New Drug Discovery Research ("NDDR") has been transferred to Daiichi Sankyo India Pharma Private Limited as part of the strategy to strengthen the global Research and Development (R&D) structure of the Daiichi Sankyo Group.

Sanofi-aventis (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY ) and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) announced a unique partnership to develop therapeutic treatments for people with type 1 diabetes at different stages of the disease - both those living with the disease and the newly diagnosed - as well as preventing diabetes in those at risk.

Novartis announced that results of a Phase III study show Afinitor® (everolimus) tablets plus best supportive care (BSC) more than doubled progression-free survival, or time without tumor growth, versus placebo plus BSC in patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NET).

Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, announced its purchase of the Lexington Technology Park campus in Lexington, Massachusetts.

MSD announced findings from a follow-up study to the pivotal Engage Phase III trial. Treatment with a single corifollitropin alfa injection had comparable live birth rates with daily recombinant follicle stimulating hormone (rFSH) injections for the first week of stimulation.