Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation Announces Six New Grants
The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation today announced six new grants totaling more than $900,000 that focus on improving cancer awareness, prevention and care by developing cancer nursing skills and building nurse-community partnerships in Hungary, Poland, Romania and Russia. The funding is a result of the 2011 request for proposals issued by Bridging Cancer Care™, an umbrella program for the Foundation's efforts to help reduce cancer disparities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Organizations receiving funding are: 
Boehringer Ingelheim and Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) have entered into a licensing agreement, under which Boehringer Ingelheim has granted Gilead exclusive worldwide rights for the research, development and commercialization of its novel non-catalytic site integrase inhibitors (NCINIs) for HIV. This includes the lead compound BI 224436, which has been evaluated in a Phase 1a dose-escalation study to assess bioavailability and pharmacokinetics in healthy volunteers. 
Sanofi (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY) and its subsidiary Genzyme announced the publication of the pivotal Phase III TEMSO study with investigational once-daily oral medication teriflunomide in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Results showed that teriflunomide at the 14mg dosage significantly reduced the annual relapse rate, reduced disability progressions and improved several magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of disease activity, including new or worsening brain lesions. Teriflunomide has a well-characterized safety profile, with a similar proportion of trial participants reporting adverse events compared to placebo. 
AstraZeneca today announced that the German reimbursement body, the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), has published the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Healthcare (IQWiG) preliminary assessment report regarding the medical benefit of BRILIQUE (ticagrelor). AstraZeneca is pleased with this preliminary assessment as we seek to help ensure ACS patients continue to have access to this innovative medicine in Germany. 
Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) has been awarded an exclusive contract by Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, to provide a diagnostic tool for primary screening of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in Swedish women. This is the first major public tender in Europe to screen women using Roche's HPV test for high risk virus types which potentially can cause cervical cancer. The screening program is expected to serve as a pilot for implementation of HPV primary screening nationwide in Sweden and will start in November 2011. 
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) announced that the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued a positive opinion for the use of ALIMTA® (pemetrexed for injection) as continuation maintenance therapy in patients with advanced nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Positive opinions from the CHMP are reviewed by the European Commission, which then decides on whether to approve the indication in Europe.