Boston, MA 02/12/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) have declared a partnership towards the development of treatments for rare diseases. The said collaboration agreement will last about three years during which it will be available to academic researchers from universities in Ireland. Qualified academic researchers can submit their drug targeting idea. In fact, such proposals are invited by this March. Applicants whose proposals are deemed successful will be able to get opportunity to work with PFE in efforts to the development of next-gen protein therapies. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) believes that this latest collaboration will be an important step towards filling the gap in the unmet medical needs.
Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) has been awarded price target of $8 by investment analysts at Credit Suisse. The latest price objective from the brokerage suggests potential upside of 1.6 percent from the previous point at which ARIA closed. The stock bears a consensus “hold” rating and average price target of $7.36. These follow average sentiments from at least 24 analysts tracking Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA).
Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) is scheduled, according to speculations, to unveil its latest cheap smartphone device ahead of the closure of its deal with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Nokia and Microsoft agreed to a deal in which the latter will inherit the former’s devices and services arm for about $7.3 billion. The interesting thing in the ongoing talks about the release of Normandy or Nokia X smartphone is that the device will run on software designed by one of Microsoft’s most fierce rivals – Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). The rumored low-cost smartphone is expected to be unveiled at the Mobile World Conference later this month in Spain. The version of Android software used in the device is reportedly the kind that features in Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s Kindle tablets. That means that the soon to be released Nokia smartphone will not include many Google services such as Google Play. Instead, it will feature a variety of Microsoft and Nokia apps. Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) is selling its handset business to Microsoft to let go one of its cash-losing operations.
