* Japan Inc announced 6.5 trln yen of buybacks so far in FY 2018

A U.S. military transport plane carrying humanitarian aid meant for Venezuelans landed on Saturday in the Colombian border city of Cucuta, where food and medicine is being stored amid uncertainty over how and where aid will be distributed.

A combination of Merck & Co's immunotherapy Keytruda and Pfizer Inc's Inlyta helped patients with advanced kidney cancer live longer than those receiving and older Pfizer standalone therapy, according to data from a late-stage study presented on Saturday.

U.S. military transport planes carrying humanitarian aid meant for Venezuelans were set to land in the Colombian border city of Cucuta on Saturday, where food and medicine is being stored amidst uncertainty over how and where aid will be distributed.

Activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP has asked a proxy solicitor to probe the level of support among Bristol-Myers Squibb Co shareholders for the U.S. drug maker's $74 billion deal to buy Celgene Corp, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

U.S. discount retailer Payless ShoeSource Inc said on Friday it would begin going-out-of-business sales at its U.S. and Puerto Rico stores on Feb. 17 and wind down its e-commerce operations.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday proposed coverage of expensive CAR-T cell therapies at cancer centers that meet criteria including a registry or clinical study to monitor how well patients fare for at least two years after treatment.

Nektar Therapeutics said on Friday some patients with advanced bladder cancer treated with a combination of its experimental treatment and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's immunotherapy, Opdivo, showed signs of tumor reduction in an early-stage study.

NAIROBI, Feb 15 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The death of a Kenyan activist due a botched abortion spotlights how thousands of pregnant women and girls are being driven by social stigma and restrictive policies to lose their lives in backstreet clinics, human rights campaigners said on Friday.

* Bayer gains full control over drug Vitrakvi (larotrectinib)