The Pfizer Foundation announced a new $5 million grant commitment to initiatives in low- and middle-income countries that provide family planning access and education for women and men at the same time children are routinely vaccinated. These new grants build on The Pfizer Foundation's existing grant program by providing a second round of funding to international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) in five African countries where different barriers exist for women to access family planning services, bringing the total program funding to $11.7 million to date.

The Amgen Foundation and Harvard University today announced plans to launch a free online science education platform uniquely designed to level the playing field for aspiring scientists. The LabXchange platform, which will launch with a focus in biology, will offer digital instruction and virtual lab experiences to high school and college students, enabling them to gain meaningful exposure to the scientific process.

Novartis announced today new real world evidence from the CHAMP-HF registry comparing Entresto® (sacubitril/valsartan) patients to patients not taking Entresto.[1] This pre-specified analysis of an interim data cut from the CHAMP-HF registry showed that chronic heart failure (HF) patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) taking Entresto reported early, statistically significant improvement in health status, as measured by the KCCQ-12 overall summary score (KCCQ-OS).

AstraZeneca and MedImmune, its global biologics research and development arm, head to the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, US, 1-5 June 2018, with an expanded portfolio in Oncology. Having achieved 16 regulatory approvals across major markets (US, EU, Japan and China), AstraZeneca will be sharing its R&D momentum at ASCO with seven "Best of ASCO" presentations and 14 oral presentations from a total of 91 accepted abstracts.

Boehringer Ingelheim announced data which add to the growing body of evidence that show Spiolto® (tiotropium/olodaterol) Respimat® enables greater physical activity in patients living with COPD. VESUTO® and OTIVATO® data were presented during the American Thoracic Society meeting (ATS) and PHYSACTO® data was recently published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) today announced that it has started a Phase 1/2 trial of its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine candidate in healthy adult volunteers. RSV is a common respiratory virus that affects the lungs and airways, with significant impact on young children and older adults. RSV affects 33 million children globally and leads to approximately 120,000 childhood deaths every year.

Novartis will present data from across its oncology portfolio at the upcoming 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) to be held June 1-5 in Chicago; and the 23rd Annual Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA), scheduled for June 14-17 in Stockholm.