Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) and Foundation Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ: FMI) have entered into a definitive merger agreement for Roche to acquire the outstanding shares of FMI's common stock not already owned by Roche and its affiliates at a price of US$ 137.00 per share in cash. This corresponds to a total transaction value of US$ 2.4 billion on a fully diluted basis, and a total company value of US$ 5.3 billion on a fully diluted basis.

Among women in China, rates of breast cancer rose around 3.5% each year between 2000 and 2013. In comparison, breast cancer among American women decreased by about 0.4% a year over the same timeframe. China's rapid urbanisation and development of multiple 'megacities' - a city with 10 million or more inhabitants - reveals higher rates of breast cancer in urban areas, and in more densely-populated areas.

Kallyope, Inc and Novo Nordisk A/S today announced that they have entered into a research collaboration and option agreement to discover novel peptide therapeutics to treat obesity and diabetes. Kallyope will receive an upfront payment and research support for activities conducted in the collaboration. Under the terms of the agreement, Novo Nordisk has an option to license exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialise up to six products discovered in the collaboration.

Alcon, the global leader in eye care and a division of Novartis, unveils new data showing significantly improved near and intermediate distance vision with the AcrySof IQ PanOptix intraocular lens (IOL) compared to the ZEISS AT LISA®* tri 839MP IOL. These findings further strengthen the value of the PanOptix IOL ENLIGHTENTM optical technology, to provide enhanced image quality and more comfortable near to intermediate vision setting the AcrySof IQ PanOptix IOL apart from other trifocal IOLs.

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) today announced data from the final analysis of the CLL11 study evaluating Gazyva®/Gazyvaro® (obinutuzumab)-based treatment in previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) which will be presented during the Presidential Symposium at the 23rd European Hematology Association (EHA) Annual Congress, 14 - 17 June, in Stockholm.

Pfizer Inc. will extend its donation of the antibiotic Zithromax® (azithromycin) to the International Trachoma Initiative through 2025, building on the company's 20-years of work to help eliminate the world's leading infectious cause of blindness. Approximately 163 million people are at risk of developing the disease and this recommitment ensures that Pfizer, through the International Trachoma Initiative (ITI), will continue to provide trachoma endemic countries with donated antibiotics that are a critical component of the global strategy to eliminate this neglected tropical disease (NTD).

AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) are discontinuing the global Phase III clinical trials of lanabecestat, an oral beta secretase cleaving enzyme (BACE) inhibitor, for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The decision is based on recommendations by an independent data monitoring committee (IDMC), which concluded that both the AMARANTH trial, in early Alzheimer's disease, and the DAYBREAK-ALZ trial, in mild Alzheimer's disease dementia, were not likely to meet their primary endpoints upon completion and therefore should be stopped for futility.