AstraZeneca today announced a strategic partnership with Peking University 3rd Hospital to open its first Clinical Pharmacology Unit (CPU) in China. The unit aims to enhance local clinical research capabilities and speed up access to new medicines to benefit Chinese patients. 
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited ("Takeda") announced that its investigational compound TAK-536 has entered into Phase 2 clinical stage in Japan. TAK-536 is an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) discovered by Takeda and its mechanism of action is to lower blood pressure by inhibiting action of a vasopressor hormone Angiotensin II. 
Patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or angioplasty, experienced nearly 50 percent less bleeding at 30 days and comparable mortality at one-year when treated with Angiox(R) (bivalirudin) alone compared to unfractionated heparin or enoxaparin plus a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor (GPI), according to data from the ACUITY trial. 
Journalists Gabriela Navarra from Argentina and Michael Kefalogiannis from Greece won the Novo Nordisk Media Prize 2007 for the best article in lay press and the best TV feature about diabetes, respectively. The awards were presented by the president and CEO of Novo Nordisk, Lars Rebien Sørensen, during a ceremony held on 28 August in Copenhagen.