GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced that it expects to record a legal charge for the fourth quarter of 2010 of £2.2 billion ($3.4 billion) (equating to an after tax cost of £1.8 billion).

Sanofi-aventis (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY) announced that the European Commision has cleared sanofi-aventis' proposed acquisition of Genzyme Corporation unconditionally under EU merger control rules.

Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) announced a global agreement to jointly develop and commercialize a portfolio of diabetes compounds currently in mid- and late-stage development.

Sandoz announced that it has begun a phase II clinical trial in patients for biosimilar rituximab (Roche's Rituxan® / Mabthera®), a leading monoclonal antibody indicated in conditions including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and ChemoCentryx, Inc. announced that the first patient with Crohn's disease has initiated treatment in the initial pivotal induction study comparing Traficet-EN, now designated GSK1605786 ('786), to placebo.

The U.S. Innovation Center of Bayer HealthCare's pharmaceutical division has started its operations in San Francisco's Mission Bay life sciences hub. At the same time the company announced a master agreement for research collaborations with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and its educational arm - the American College of Endocrinology (ACE) - in partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), announced a new public health initiative for people with type 2 diabetes mellitus called The Type 2 Talk: