Bayer is today announcing that it plans to acquire HiDoc Technologies GmbH in the first quarter of 2025 and to start commercialization of the digital health application, Cara Care®. Cara Care® is the first prescribed digital health application for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and offers a novel, holistic therapeutic approach for patients with IBS.(1)

Patients with irritable bowel syndrome have generally already been through a lot by the time they receive a formal diagnosis, and they face numerous daily challenges and obstacles associated with their symptoms that impair their quality of life.

GSK plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) announced that the World Health Organization (WHO) has awarded prequalification to tafenoquine, the first single-dose medicine for the prevention of relapse of Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) malaria. Tafenoquine, co-administered with chloroquine, is now also included in WHO's updated Guidelines for malaria, in South America, marking the first time the medicine has been recommended by WHO. This milestone is a significant step toward closing the treatment gap for P. vivax malaria.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced that after a comprehensive internal and external selection process, the company is appointing Chris Boshoff, M.D., PhD, as Chief Scientific Officer and President, Research & Development effective January 1, 2025. Dr. Boshoff, who most recently served as Chief Oncology Officer and Executive Vice President, will succeed Dr. Mikael Dolsten whose departure from Pfizer was announced earlier this year. In his new role, Dr. Boshoff will remain a member of Pfizer's Executive Leadership Team reporting to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Albert Bourla, and he will oversee all functions of Research & Development across all therapeutic areas.

AstraZeneca has announced $3.5 billion of capital investment in the United States focused on expanding the Company's research and manufacturing footprint by the end of 2026. This includes $2 billion of new investment creating more than a thousand new, high-skilled jobs contributing to the growth of the US economy.

Professor Meritxell Huch receives this year's Otto Bayer Award. The Otto Bayer Award is presented alternating with the Hansen Family Award every second year. The award recognizes leading scientists working in German-speaking countries for ground-breaking research in chemistry or biochemistry. The award with a prize money of EUR 75,000 was generously established in 1984 by a provision in the will of Professor Otto Bayer, a former Director of Research at Bayer AG.

GSK plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) and Chimagen Biosciences (Chimagen), a privately held biotechnology company, announced an agreement for GSK to acquire CMG1A46, a clinical-stage dual CD19 and CD20-targeted T cell-engager (TCE), from Chimagen for $300 million upfront. GSK plans to develop and commercialise CMG1A46 with a focus on B cell-driven autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and lupus nephritis (LN), with potential to expand into related autoimmune diseases.

Bayer has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Dewpoint Therapeutics, Inc. for a heart disease program to treat dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients, who are characterized through carrying specific mutations. This is the first option exercise under the research collaboration between Bayer and Dewpoint Therapeutics, Inc., which began in November 2019. It leverages Dewpoint's proprietary platform for biomolecular condensates and Bayer's small molecule R&D capabilities to develop new treatments for cardiovascular and renal diseases.