Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced today the launch of its Vaccines Division's Centers of Excellence Network, a global program of collaborations with academic institutions to conduct real-world epidemiologic research to accurately identify and measure the burden of specific vaccine-preventable diseases and potentially evaluate vaccine effectiveness affecting adults.

The Amgen Foundation and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University (Harvard FAS) today announced the global launch of LabXchange™, a free online science education platform that provides users with access to personalized instruction, virtual lab experiences and networking opportunities across the global scientific community.

AstraZeneca's Imfinzi (durvalumab) and tremelimumab, an anti-CTLA4 antibody and potential new medicine, have both been granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) in the US for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grants ODD to medicines intended for the treatment, diagnosis or prevention of rare diseases or disorders that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the US.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted its supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for Opdivo (nivolumab) in combination with Yervoy (ipilimumab) for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations.

AstraZeneca and MSD Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., US (MSD: known as Merck & Co., Inc. inside the US and Canada) announced that a supplemental New Drug Application for Lynparza (olaparib) in combination with bevacizumab has been accepted and granted Priority Review in the US for the maintenance treatment of patients with advanced ovarian cancer who are in complete or partial response to 1st-line platinum-based chemotherapy with bevacizumab.

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) has entered into a 15-year, non-exclusive partnership with Illumina to broaden the adoption of distributable next-generation sequencing (NGS) based testing in oncology. As the understanding of the genomic drivers of cancer evolves, NGS has the potential to transform cancer risk prediction, detection, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring.

Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) today announced strategic collaborations with leading diagnostic companies Guardant Health, Inc. and QIAGEN N.V. to develop blood- and tissue-based companion diagnostics (CDx), respectively, for investigational cancer treatment AMG 510. AMG 510 is the first KRASG12C inhibitor to advance to the clinic for