New York  - US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer Inc. is closing out the early-stage development of at least 11 medications in order to focus on more profitable drugs, media reports said Tuesday.

The financial newswire Bloomberg cited a memo sent to employees on September 25 in which the world's largest drug company would be ending the early development work on treatments for a range of illnesses from obesity to heart disease.

Stockholm - Swedish heavy-vehicle maker Volvo Trucks said Tuesday it planned to cut some 1,400 jobs in its workforce, citing the need to reduce production capacity over "declining demand for trucks in the European market."

The measures planned for the coming months included cancelling evening shifts and were to affect plants in the Swedish towns of Gothenburg and Umea, and in Ghent in Belgium, Volvo Trucks chief executive Staffan Jufors said in a statement.

Areva T&D India, the Indian subsidiary of Areva France SA, has formed a strategic alliance with GE Consumer and Industrial, to focus on turnkey electrical solutions.

Under the arrangement, the alliance would focus on turnkey electrical solutions in the power generation, metals, mining, minerals and materials handling markets. The main aim of this latest tie-up is to provide one-stop solution for customer needs like power distribution, control and automation.

Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma has informed that it has secured approval from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for marketing Cyclobenzaprine hydrochloride tablets.

Under the approval, the company will market and distribute the drug in 10 mg and 5 mg strengths. The drug is a muscle relaxant, which is prescribed to relieve muscle spasms resulting from injuries such as sprains, strains, or pulls.

Aksh Optifibre, an Indian provider of optical fibre solutions, has entered into 3-year agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment to bring Hollywood content for iControl, to provide the best possible entertainment to the viewers.

Icontrol is a television connection allowing viewers to control television programmes as per their convenience with more than 130 channels, value added services like video on demand, time-shifting, live television voting etc.

Chennai-based Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals has entered into an arrangement with US drug maker Merck & Co. Inc. for discovery and development of novel anti-infective drugs.

Under the terms of deal, Orchid will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and will be eligible to get payment totaling more than $100 million in different milestones.

Apart from this, the Indian drug maker will also receive royalties on global sale of the drugs.