5:46 am Glencore Intl plc reaches agreement to indirectly acquire through wholly owned subsidiaries in Brazil the advanced high-grade Glencore Araguaia nickel project; total acquisition cost $8 mln (GLNCY) : Co announces that it has reached agreement to indirectly acquire through wholly owned subsidiaries in Brazil the advanced high-grade Glencore Araguaia nickel project in north central Brazil. Glencore Araguaia combined with Horizonte's 100% owned high-grade Araguaia nickel project creates one of the world's largest nickel saprolite projects in terms of size and grade, in a premier mining jurisdiction that has a defined path to feasibility.Highlights Include: Upfront consideration on closing of $2 mln to be satisfied through issue of HZM shares; Total acquisition cost $8 mln. Placing of new shares to raise GBP 1.55M through existing cornerstone shareholder 5:44 am Suzuki to sell all of its stake in Volkswagen (VLKAY) (SZKMY) : Suzuki Motor Corporation (SZKMY) hereby announces that, it has executed an agreement on 25th September, 2015 to sell all of the ordinary shares of Volkswagen (VLKAY) it owned, to Porsche Automobil Holding (POAHY). Reason for sales of shares - In accordance with execution of comprehensive partnership between Suzuki and Volkswagen AG in December, 2009, the two companies mutually acquired shares in the other company. As Volkswagen AG had disposed of the shares in Suzuki in compliance to the award ofarbitration received on 29th August 2015 and also according to Suzuki's intentions, Suzuki also disposed of all its shares mentioned above, in line with the intention of Volkswagen AG. Future outlook - As the result of above sales of investment securities, an extraordinary profit of JPY36.7 bln will be posted in the 2nd quarter consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 2016. 5:28 am Cabot Micro to acquire NexPlanar Corporation for ~$142 mln (CCMP) : NexPlanar Corporation is a privately-held, U.S. based company that specializes in the development, manufacture and sale of advanced CMP pad solutions for the semiconductor industry. Under the acquisition agreement, Cabot Microelectronics will purchase 100% of the stock of NexPlanar for a purchase price of approximately $142 million, plus up to an additional $2.3 million depending upon treatment of certain unvested stock options held by NexPlanar security holders. Its trailing four quarter revenue is approximately $22 million, and it has nearly tripled its revenue over the past two years. 5:27 am Novo Nordisk A/S announces that the FDA approved the new drug application for Tresiba, a once-daily, long-acting basal insulin (NVO) : Novo Nordisk expects to launch Tresiba in the United States in the first quarter of 2016. 5:23 am Novartis AG announces updated data from the Phase III COMBI-v study showing a significant overall survival benefit for patients with BRAF V600E/K mutation-positive metastatic melanoma (NVS) : The co announced updated data from the Phase III COMBI-v study showing a significant overall survival benefit for patients with BRAF V600E/K mutation-positive metastatic melanoma when treated with the combination of Tafinlar + Mekinist compared to vemurafenib monotherapy. The combination also demonstrated significant health- related quality of life improvements in the trial, including overall health, physical and social functioning. In the COMBI-v study, the combination of Tafinlar + Mekinist achieved astatistically significant overall survival (:OS) benefit compared to vemurafenibmonotherapy (median for the combination 25.6 months vs 18.0 months; HR 0.66 [95%CI, 0.53-0.81], pThe significant overall survival benefit of Tafinlar + Mekinist from COMBI-v isconsistent with the results demonstrated by the combination in COMBI-d, anotherPhase III trial previously reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting earlier this year. 5:20 am Roche Hldg's Genentech announces positive results from a pivotal Phase III study that evaluated the investigational medicine ocrelizumab in people with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (RHHBY) : The study (called ORATORIO) met its primary endpoint, showing treatment with ocrelizumab significantly reduced the progression of clinical disability sustained for at least 12 weeks compared with placebo, as measured by the Expanded Disability Status Scale. Overall, the incidence of adverse events associated with ocrelizumab was similar to placebo; the most common adverse events were mild-to-moderate infusion-related reactions. The incidence of serious adverse events associated with ocrelizumab, including serious infections, was also similar to placebo.Genentech plans to pursue marketing authorization for ocrelizumab in relapsing MS and in PPMS. Data from the OPERA I and II studies and from the ORATORIO study will be submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in early 2016. 4:59 am On The Wire (:WIRES) : DISH Network (DISH) issued statement in reaction to TEGNA threat to block DISH customers' access to 51 local channels in 39 markets nationwide. DISH offered to extend existing local channel contract, with retroactive "true-up" for new rates, which would keep local channels up for the benefit of consumers while negotiations continue Qualcomm (QCOM) announced its intention to invest up to $150 million in Indian startup companies across all stages as part of its commitment to India during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Digital Economy event in San Jose. STMicroelectronics (STM) announced next-generation satellite navigation to today's drivers with the launch of enhanced, always-available, always-accurate 3D positioning on its TESEO III automotive-navigation ICs. JD.com (JD) announced the launch of Italian Fashion Mall, a new platform on JD.com dedicated to introducing Italian fashion brands and products to consumers in China. EMCORE (EMKR) announced that it has expanded its offerings of laser diode and Avalanche Photodiode optical chips for the high-speed telecom Gigabit Passive Optical Network Fiber-To-The-Home market and uncooled digital datacom applications. Tableau Foundation, part of Tableau Software's (DATA) corporate social responsibility program, announced that it will offer free licenses of Tableau Desktop to nonprofit organizations with annual operating budgets under $5 million. Inphi (IPHI) announced that it has successfully demonstrated interoperability of the industry's first 4-level Pulse Amplitude Modulation PHY IC chipset solution for service provider interconnects. Co also introduced the IN3217SZ, a quad linear differential to single-ended Mach-Zehnder Modulator Driver in a Surface Mount Technology package.ViaSat (VSAT) announced it is now licensing its digital signal processing and forward error correction cores for 100G optical transport. 4:47 am Kellogg acquires Mass Food Group for ~$50 mln (K) : Kellogg announced it has acquired Egypt's leading cereal company, Mass Food Group, advancing Kellogg's emerging market growth strategy. Kellogg has agreed to pay ~$50 million for Mass Food Group. Kellogg is financing the transaction with international cash on hand. Due to the size of Mass Food Group's annual sales, the transaction is not expected to have a material impact on Kellogg Company's annual operating profit and net earnings in 2015 4:44 am Takeda Pharma and Teva (TEVA) report New Drug Application approval in Japan for Copaxone (TKPYY) : Takeda Pharmaceutical obtained the New Drug Application approval for Copaxone Subcutaneous Injection 20 mg Syringe, a drug for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Developed by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA), Copaxone is a subcutaneous injection administered once daily to prevent the relapse of multiple sclerosis. Copaxone is one of the most frequently-used drugs in multiple sclerosis therapy and is approved in more than 50 countries worldwide. The approval is based on the safety and efficacy results of an open-label, 52-week clinical trial conducted in Japan by Teva Pharmaceutical K.K. in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis as well as 3 clinical trials from overseas conducted by Teva in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis 4:40 am ActivIdentity reports final results from Active Biotech's 10TASQ10 Phase 3 study of tasquinimod (:ACTI) : Co announced presentation of final results from the 10TASQ10 tasquinimod phase 3 trial. Final results show that tasquinimod treatment resulted in a prolonged radiographic progression free survival, 7.0 vs. 4.4 months (central assessment) similar to an earlier Phase 2 study. However, the positive effect on rPFS did not translate into an improved OS. Tasquinimod safety was in general manageable and similar to what was observed during the Phase 2 study. 4:37 am Heineken resets its regional segmentation (HEINY) : Co provided historical financial information to reflect the company's new regional segmentation announced on 31 March 2015. The new segmentation, effective 1 July 2015, forms part of the wider organisational changes which will allow the business to better focus on growth opportunities, to be more agile in responding to consumer needs in the marketplace, and to be more cost effective in doing so. The company's new regional structure consists of 4 geographic regions: Africa Middle East & Eastern Europe, Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. The changes from HEINEKEN's previous regional structure are the combination of the previous regions of Western Europe and Central & Eastern Europe to form a single Europe region, and the addition of Russia and Belarus to the previous Africa Middle East region to form a new... More