Allergan was expected to announce soon that it would follow its shareholders' advice and split the company in two, but it's being acquired by AbbVie for $63bn instead, finally giving investors a big boost in their Allergan holdings after years of decline.

Pipeline Watch is a weekly snapshot of selected late-stage clinical trial events and approvals announced by pharmaceutical and biotech companies at medical and industry conferences, in financial and company presentations, and in company releases and statements.

Two European pharmaceutical companies, UCB and Merck KGaA, are exploring artificial intelligence in different ways, the first for drug discovery and the second on a fundamental level.