Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) and UCB (Euronext Brussels: UCB) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved EVENITY™ (romosozumab-aqqg) for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women at high risk for fracture. EVENITY is the first and only bone builder with a unique dual effect that both increases bone formation and to a lesser extent reduces bone resorption (or bone loss) to rapidly reduce the risk of fracture.

Novartis today completed the spin-off of the Alcon eye care devices business through a dividend-in-kind distribution to holders of Novartis shares and ADRs (American Depositary Receipts), with each holder receiving 1 Alcon share for every 5 Novartis shares or ADRs held on April 8, 2019, at the close of business.

Sanofi and Alnylam have agreed to conclude the research and option phase of the companies' 2014 RNAi therapeutics alliance in rare genetic diseases. The material collaboration terms for patisiran, vutrisiran (ALN-TTRsc02) and fitusiran, as previously announced, will continue unchanged.

Boehringer Ingelheim announced that it acquired ICD Therapeutics. The acquisition includes rights to ICD's innovative MacroDel biologics-delivery platform. Boehringer Ingelheim will employ this platform for the development of novel therapeutics in collaboration with nanoPET Pharma GmbH, a former shareholder of ICD Therapeutics.

Novartis announced that it is adding to its broad portfolio of immunomodulatory medicines with the planned acquisition of IFM Tre, a subsidiary of IFM Therapeutics LLC focused on developing anti-inflammatory medicines targeting the NLRP3 inflammasome.

AstraZeneca and MSD, Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, US (MSD: known as Merck & Co., Inc. inside the US and Canada) today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) for the MEK 1/2 inhibitor and potential new medicine selumetinib.

AveXis, a Novartis company, today announced it signed an agreement to purchase an advanced biologics therapy manufacturing campus in Longmont, Colorado, further expanding AveXis' production capacity as it prepares to launch Zolgensma® (onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi[1]) an investigational gene therapy awaiting global regulatory approvals for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) Type 1 and for future gene therapy treatments in development.