Akcea Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKCA), a majority-owned affiliate of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IONS) and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), today announced that the companies have entered into a worldwide exclusive licensing agreement for AKCEA-ANGPTL3-LRx, an investigational antisense therapy being developed to treat patients with certain cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

Novartis announced an important step in reimagining medicine by founding the Novartis AI innovation lab and by selecting Microsoft as its strategic AI and data-science partner for this effort. The new lab aims to bolster Novartis AI capabilities from research through commercialization and help accelerate the discovery and development of transformative medicines for patients worldwide.

AstraZeneca has agreed to sell the global commercial rights, excluding China, Japan, the US and Mexico, for Losec (omeprazole) and associated brands to Cheplapharm Arzneimittel GmbH (Cheplapharm). The divestment includes medicines containing omeprazole marketed by AstraZeneca or its collaborators under the Acimax, Antra, Mepral, Mopral, Omepral and Zoltum medicine names.

Following its regularly scheduled meeting, the Board of Directors of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) today announced that Executive Chairman of the Board Ian C. Read has chosen to retire on December 31, 2019, and that it has unanimously elected Pfizer's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Albert Bourla, to succeed him as Chairman of the Board of Directors effective January 1, 2020. Bourla will also retain the CEO role.

New data from TWILIGHT, a Phase IV independent trial (funded by AstraZeneca), showed that in patients at high-bleeding risk who underwent PCI and completed 3 months of dual antiplatelet therapy, Brilinta (ticagrelor) monotherapy (90mg twice daily) reduced the risk of BARC (Bleeding Academic Research Consortium) type 2, 3 or 5 bleeding compared to Brilinta plus low-dose aspirin after 12 months.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) today announced that the results of a prespecified interim analysis of an open-label, randomized, controlled global multicenter Phase 3 trial (20120215) showed that the primary endpoint of event-free survival was met. The study evaluated the efficacy, safety and tolerability of BLINCYTO® (blinatumomab) compared to conventional consolidation chemotherapy in pediatric patients with

Bayer and Partners HealthCare's founding members Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) today announced the launch of a joint lab to research new drug candidates to treat chronic lung diseases. The joint lab will host scientists from all three parties and Bayer is investing more than USD 30 million to fund joint research projects over the next five years.