World Pharma News proudly presents the top 20 most popular breaking news from 2018. Have a wonderful 2019 New(s) Year filled with health, happiness, and spectacular success!

AstraZeneca and Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., US (Merck: known as MSD outside the US and Canada) announced positive results from the randomised, open-label, controlled, Phase III SOLO-3 trial of Lynparza (olaparib) tablets in 266 patients with relapsed ovarian cancer after two or more lines of treatment.

Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced it has evolved its agreement with Intrexon Corporation (NASDAQ: XON) for the development of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies, genetically engineered T-cells with synthetic receptors that recognize a specific antigen expressed on tumor cells.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) and LabCentral today announced that Kernal Biologics and PanTher Therapeutics have each won the Amgen Golden Ticket at LabCentral. The two Golden Ticket winners were chosen by an Amgen internal committee and live audience members at a "Quick Pitch" event hosted by Amgen at its Cambridge, Mass. facility on Dec. 11, 2018.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY), and Boston Medical Center, a private, not-for-profit, academic medical center, today announced a multi-year joint research study to identify and analyze potential sensitivity and resistance markers in patients treated with standard-of-care checkpoint inhibitors.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has adopted a positive opinion, recommending marketing authorization for ZIRABEV™ (bevacizumab), a potential biosimilar to Avastin (bevacizumab).

Novartis today announced that the European Commission (EC) has approved Xolair® (omalizumab) prefilled syringe (PFS) for self-administration, allowing patients with severe allergic asthma (SAA) and chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) to administer their own treatment. With this approval, Xolair is the first and only biologic to offer the option of self-administration for SAA and CSU.