Roche today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Avastin (bevacizumab) plus interferon alpha for people with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer.

Nycomed agreed with Sanofi-Aventis and Zentiva to purchase 20 branded generic products in several Central and Eastern European countries. The agreement will notably strengthen Nycomed's market position in particular in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved ONGLYZA (saxagliptin) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus in adults.

Sales in the second quarter increased by 9 percent at CER, but were flat on an actual basis as a result of the negative impact of exchange rate movements. Sales benefited from strong growth of the Toprol-XL franchise in the US as a result of the market withdrawal by two generic competitors; adjusting for this, global sales increased by 6 percent.

The pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim again posted gratifying growth in local currency (+8.3 percent) over the previous year in the first six months of 2009. Consolidated in euro, this reflected growth of + 15.7 percent thanks to the positive exchange rates, with net sales of EUR 6,388 million compared with EUR 5,522 million in the first six months of the previous year.

Pfizer has announced a joint initiative with the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences (SIBS) to support fundamental research in China. As part of the initiative, Pfizer China will provide US$500,000 each year over three years to fund health-related fundamental research projects at SIBS and its application to drug discovery and development programs in the country.

Abbott announced a definitive agreement to acquire the nutrition businesses of Wockhardt Limited, Carol Info Services Limited, and certain Wockhardt subsidiaries and group companies for consideration totaling approximately US$130 million in cash.