The project will be funded in part by a $21 million grant from the Advanced Technology Program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. * SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Mateo, Calif., said the FDA has awarded the company a $200,000 orphan drug grant for Phase II trials of CPX for cystic fibrosis

The bridge loan is to be used until that financing is completed or other funding secured. * Immunomedics Inc., of Morris Plains, N.J., said the FDA has given orphan drug designation to the company's CEA-Cide cancer therapeutic for use in non-small-cell lung cancer

Celgene recently filed an application for orphan drug status with the FDA for the indication. * Gene Logic Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., completed its $39.1 million acquisition of Oncormed, also of Gaithersburg, following separate meetings at which each company's stockholders approved the deal

BioTransplant Inc., of Charlestown, Mass., received orphan drug designation from the FDA for its MEDI-507 antibody, when used as one of the components of the AlloMune transplantation system

The court ruling postpones the litigation until the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reviews its declaration of an interference between Emory's patent and BioChem's pending patent application. * Endorex Corp., of Chicago, was notified by the FDA that its cancer drug, ImmTher, received orphan drug status for treatment of osteosarcoma, a bone cancer in children and young adults

CroTAb was granted orphan drug status in 1994

Pharming's lead product, human alpha-glucosidase, for the treatment of the muscle wasting disease Pompe's disease, is in Phase I trials and has orphan drug status in the U.S

Testing in humans should start later this year. * Xoma Corp., of Berkeley, Calif., said the FDA granted orphan drug status to Neuprex for severe meningococcal disease

Toga (Total Gene Expression Analysis) is a method of identifying and determining the concentration of nearly all of the genes active in a sample cell or tissue. * Endorex Corp., of Chicago, said the FDA granted orphan drug status to the company's ImmTher for treatment of Ewing's sarcoma, a bone cancer that strikes children and young adults

The FDA had already granted it an orphan drug designation

GeneMedicine said it will use the Genometrix technology to determine how treatments affect immune response, angiogenesis and signal transduction. * Neurobiological Technologies Inc. (NTI), of Richmond, Calif., received word from the FDA that its drug Xerecept qualifies for an orphan drug classification...An orphan drug designation provides a company with seven years of market exclusivity after a drug is approved by the FDA

PPL Therapeutics Ltd., of Edinburgh, Scotland, which specializes in the production of human proteins in transgenic animals, was awarded orphan drug status by the FDA in the U.S

PE Applied Biosystems is a division of Perkin-Elmer Corp., of Norwalk, Conn. * PPL Therapeutics plc, of Edinburgh, Scotland, said its lead product, alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) has won orphan drug designation from the FDA for the treatment of cystic fibrosis

Monoterpenes have a number of mechanisms of action, including modulation of the cellular levels of growth factors and their receptors, and apoptosis. * EntreMed Inc., of Rockville, Md., received orphan drug designation for thalidomide as a treatment for primary brain malignancies

Final marketing approval, however, may not follow until 2004, which is when New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s seven-year orphan drug status in a related indication expires for its paclitaxel product, Taxol

The drug also is being tested in Phase II studies as a single-agent anticancer treatment. * SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Mateo, Calif., received a $100,000 Orphan Drug Grant from the FDA for Phase I development of CPX, a cystic fibrosis treatment

Two of the company's products use encapsulated cell implants to deliver growth factors and neural stem cells, replacing neural tissue damaged by disease or injury. * CytRx Corp., of Atlanta, received a grant from the FDA's division of orphan drug development to support the company's upcoming study of Flocor, used to treat sickle-cell patients undergoing acute vaso-occlusive crises

Johnson and Johnson received 833,333 shares of NeoRx common stock at $6 per share. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 13, 1997, p.1.) Avicidin is in Phase I/II trials for lung, colon, breats and prostate cancers. * Neurobiological Technologies Inc., of Richmond, Calif., submitted an application to the FDA for orphan drug status for Xerecept to treat swelling of the brain associated with tumors

Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, reported the FDA has approved Orphan Drug designation for its product, Spheramine, for the treatment of later-stage Parkinson's disease