Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited ("Takeda") and Pfizer Inc. ("Pfizer") announced that they have entered into an agreement under which Pfizer in China will co-promote Takeda's Actos® (pioglitazone HCl) with Tianjin Takeda Pharmaceuticals in China.

Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced today a definitive agreement to acquire STARLIMS Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: LIMS), a leading provider of laboratory information management systems, for approximately $123 million in cash. The acquisition strengthens Abbott's competitive position in the global diagnostics market, providing advanced web-based applications to help laboratories efficiently store, retrieve and analyze a significantly increasing volume of clinical, managerial and administrative data.

GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA (GSK) and Intercell announced an agreement to form a strategic alliance to accelerate the development and commercialisation of needle-free, patch-based vaccines. The agreement will include Intercell's candidate vaccine for travellers' diarrhoea (TD) and an investigational single application pandemic influenza vaccine, as well as the use of the patch technology for other vaccines in GSK's portfolio.

Pfizer will extend its MAINTAIN™ (Medicines Assistance for Those who Are in Need) patient assistance program for an additional year, through December 31, 2010. In addition to the more than 70 Pfizer primary care medicines currently available through MAINTAIN, Pfizer will extend the benefits of MAINTAIN to many legacy Wyeth medicines.

Pfizer announced today results of a survey the company recently sponsored that shows physicians are more likely to report side effects through an electronic health records (EHR) system, as compared to traditional paper methods.

In a large Phase III clinical trial, Tasigna® (nilotinib) demonstrated greater efficacy over Glivec® (imatinib)* in the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML) in chronic phase[1].

Facet Biotech Corporation (Nasdaq: FACT) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) announced that potentially promising data from a Phase I/II study of elotuzumab, an investigational humanized antibody being studied for the treatment of relapsed multiple myeloma (MM), were presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2009 Annual Meeting in New Orleans.