Abbott (NYSE: ABT) today announced that it has acquired control of Veropharm, a leading Russian pharmaceutical manufacturer. Abbott has had a presence in Russia for nearly 40 years and, in line with its long-term commitment to growing global healthcare markets and capabilities, the company is committed to providing a reliable supply of its healthcare products to Russian patients.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) announced today two strategic decisions to expand the company's rare disease research and development activities through the establishment of a gene therapy platform to investigate potential treatments for patients.

AstraZeneca today announced that a jury in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts returned a verdict in favour of AstraZeneca in a Multi-District antitrust case filed by various purchaser groups challenging the previous settlement of Nexium patent litigation with Ranbaxy.

The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation today announced nine new grants totaling more than $3.5 million to strengthen efforts in China and India in the fight against hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection by focusing on the most vulnerable, high-risk patient populations.

AstraZeneca and Amgen have announced that AMAGINE-2™, a pivotal, multi-arm Phase III trial evaluating two doses of brodalumab in more than 1,800 patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, met its primary endpoints when compared with both Stelara® (ustekinumab) and placebo at week 12.

First results from a small phase 1 trial published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine show that a GSK/NIH Ebola candidate vaccine was well-tolerated and produced an immunological response in each of the 20 healthy adult volunteers in the USA who received it.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) and Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:FPRX) have entered into an exclusive clinical collaboration agreement to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of combining Opdivo (nivolumab), Bristol-Myers Squibb's investigational PD-1 (programmed death-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor, with FPA008, Five Prime's monoclonal antibody that inhibits colony stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF1R).