Through its local organizations in countries throughout the region, Novartis is providing the equivalent of over USD 2.5 million in immediate emergency aid for victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. The support includes both direct financial aid to relief agencies working in Haiti as well as donations of essential medicines, including antibiotic and pain relieving drugs.

Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) announced that the company will donate $2 million to Haiti relief efforts. Amgen staff are being encouraged to be generous and that effort should also generate meaningful additional support.

Abbott (NYSE: ABT) and its philanthropic foundation the Abbott Fund have committed to provide $1 million in initial humanitarian aid in response to the earthquake in Haiti. This support includes grant funding and donations of critical pharmaceutical and nutritional products to strengthen the ability of humanitarian aid organizations to respond to immediate health needs in Haiti.

Novo Nordisk has initiated its first phase 1 clinical trial with a long-acting oral GLP-1 analogue (NN9924). This milestone releases a 2 million dollar payment to Emisphere Technologies, Inc., whose proprietary Eligen® Technology is used in the formulation of NN9924.

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced that the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ACTEMRA (tocilizumab, RoACTEMRA in the European Union) for the treatment of adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have had an inadequate response to one or more tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonist therapies.

Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ: GENZ) reported that preliminary fourth-quarter revenue was $1.08 billion, compared with $1.17 billion in the same period in 2008. For the year, revenue was $4.5 billion compared with $4.6 billion in 2008. Excluding the Genetic Disease business, which was affected by a product supply interruption, fourth-quarter revenue grew 24 percent compared with the same period in 2008 and full-year revenue grew 15 percent.

Novartis announced that Fanapt(TM) (iloperidone) tablets are now available for use across the US for the acute treatment of schizophrenia in adults. Fanapt is a twice-daily, oral antipsychotic, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2009.