Biomira Inc., of Edmonton, Alberta, responding to a request from the Toronto Stock Exchange, said Tuesday it received an approvable letter for Truquant-BR, a breast cancer diagnostic

breast cancer

Great Fund also agreed to make an equity investment of up to $8 million later this year and it received an option to purchase up to 80 percent of Ryan Pharmaceuticals Inc., a subsidiary of Receptagen, for $7 million. * Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc., of Collegeville, Pa., said the Czech Republic approved Taxotere (docetaxel) for treatment of advanced breast cancer and non-small cell lung cancer

Commonwealth Associates, of New York, is managing the offering. * Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc., of Collegeville, Pa., and the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project _ a clinical trials group based in Pittsburgh _ started a new trial of Taxotere to determine if the anticancer agent can improve disease-free survival time and survival time of women with operable breast cancer. * StressGen Biotechnologies Corp., of Victoria, British Columbia, said published preclinical experiments

Oncor Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., received FDA permission to export to Canada its in vitro diagnostic gene-based test for HER- 2/neu gene amplification in breast cancer

Oncor Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., had an FDA advisory panel recommend against approval of its Inform HER- 2/neu breast cancer test

The company, which will retain the name North American Biologicals Inc., plans to start six new clinical trials in 1996. * Organogenesis Inc., of Canton, Mass., received notice that its Graftskin premarket approval application is suitable for filing. * Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc., of Paris, said the European Commission granted marketing authorization for Taxotere for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer that is resistant to or has recurred after chemotherapy

The deal also gives Elan five-year warrants for another 250,000 Emisphere shares. * Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc., of Collegeville, Pa., said the Norwegian Medicines Control Authority approved Taxotere for treatment of metastatic breast cancer for patients who do not respond to anthracycline

said it received an "approvable" letter from the FDA for Taxotere, an anticancer drug aimed at treating metastatic breast cancer

The funding was awarded by the National Cancer Institute, the California Breast Cancer Research Program and the Small Business Innovation Research Program. * Immune Response Corp., of Carlsbad, Calif., began a Phase II clinical trial for psoriasis with a drug that the company described as synthetic peptides designed to inhibit the activation of T cells believed to be responsible for the disease

The device already is on the market for treatment of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, a bleeding disorder. * Pharmacia Biotech AB, of Uppsala, Sweden, and Corning Nichols Institute, of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., entered a research agreement to study use of gene sequence-based diagnostics and the p53 suppressor gene for detecting breast cancer tumors

breast cancer patients. * Gensia Inc., of San Diego, entered into a multi-year agreement with Option Care Inc., a home and alternate site health care company

The product was developed under a 1993 agreement with Nextran Inc., a partnership between Baxter Healthcare Corp., of Deerfield, Ill., and DNX Corp., of Raritan, N.J. * Cytogen Corp., of Princeton, N.J., started trials using OncoScint CR/OV, a monoclonal-based imaging agent, for preoperative staging of breast cancer. * Telios Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, said the U.S. Bankruptcy Court approved the company's proposed disclosure statement for dissemination to shareholders. * Digene

The company also completed a Phase I study of pagoclone to treat anxiety. * Biomune Systems Inc., of Salt Lake City, said in vivo studies of its drug may retard the growth of prostate cancer tumors. * Cytogen Corp., of Princeton, N.J., started trials using OncoScint CR/OV, a monoclonal-based imaging agent, for preoperative staging of breast cancer. * Telios Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, said the U.S. Bankruptcy Court approved the company's proposed disclosure statement for dissemination to

Bristol Myers' Taxol is approved for ovarian and breast cancers in the U.S. * Cytel Corp., of San Diego, licensed technology for the enzymatic synthesis of carbohydrates from Scripps Research Institute, of La Jolla, Calif

breast cancer. * Chemex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Fort Lee, N.J., and the Block Drug Co., of Jersey City, N.J., refiled a new drug application for Amlexanox, for aphthous ulcers. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants

ended their joint venture development of ALX1-11, has received a payment from the London-based pharmaceutical company related to expenses for the collaboration. (See BioWorld Today, March 16, 1995, p. 2.) * Biomira Inc., of Edmonton, Canada, began a Phase I safety trial of BP1-7, a vaccine, for breast cancer...Fourteen patients with metastatic breast cancer will participate and enrollment is expected to be completed by the end of this year. * Gensia Inc., of San Diego, received FDA approval for

Another Titan subsidiary, Ingenex Inc., received FDA approval to begin a physician-sponsored study of its multidrug resistance gene therapy for breast cancer. * Zonagen Inc., of The Woodlands, Texas, said it will begin a 200- patient study of newly acquired technology for the detection of breast cancer at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago and Evanston Hospital in Evanston, Ill. The diagnostic is designed to test levels of a protein expressed by breast cancer cells. * Isis

18 OTHER NEWS TO NOTE cYTOerapeutics Inc., of Providence, R.I., withdrew its proposed follow-on public offering of 2 million shares, citing poor market conditions and the company's cash reserves of about $19 million