Oxigene Inc., of South San Francisco, said it was notified by Nasdaq that it had regained compliance with the $1 per share closing bid price requirement for continued listing

BioInvent, which is developing BI-204 in collaboration with South San Francisco-based Genentech Inc., a unit of the Roche Group, will receive a $15 million milestone payment under the firms' 2007 deal

Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., and the Institute for OneWorld Health, of South San Francisco, announced the establishment of a joint research agreement to discover antibacterial compounds for treating shigellosis, or bloody diarrhea, an infectious disease caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Shigella that annually affects an estimated 80 million to 165 million people worldwide and is responsible for an estimated 600,000 deaths

Oxigene Inc., of South San Francisco, said the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel has allowed its common stock trading to transfer from the NASDAQ Global Market to the NASDAQ Capital Market, effective March 3

PDL BioPharma Inc., of Incline Village, Nev., entered a definitive settlement agreement with Novartis AG, of Basel, Switzerland, in which it agreed to dismiss claims against Novartis in its action, which also includes South San Francisco-based Genentech Inc

Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, a unit of Roche AG, said the FDA granted a hearing June 28 to June 29 for the firm to present its views on why Avastin (bevacizumab) should remain FDA-approved for metastatic breast cancer...Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, announced that the FDA has granted fast-track designation for vosaroxin, the company's lead drug candidate, for the potential treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in combination with

Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, effected a 1-for-6 reverse stock split aimed at helping the firm meet and maintain the $1 minimum bid price requirement for continued listing on Nasdaq

iPerian Inc., of South San Francisco, and Kyoto University and iPS Academia Japan Inc

Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, a unit of the Roche Group, and Biogen Idec Inc., of Weston, Mass., said the FDA approved Rituxan (rituximab) as a maintenance treatment for patients with advanced follicular lymphoma who responded to initial treatment with Rituxan plus chemotherapy

Amgen, which obtained the Fremont facility through its 2006 acquisition of Abgenix, will continue to operate its South San Francisco facility

VistaGen Therapeutics Inc., of South San Francisco, and NuPotential Inc., of Baton Rouge, La., said the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute awarded a $500,000 grant to accelerate new approaches for generating patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells for regenerative medicine, drug discovery and drug rescue

Exelixis Inc., of South San Francisco, received orphan drug designation from the FDA for its thyroid cancer therapy XL184

Sutro Biopharma Inc., of South San Francisco, partnered with Pfizer Inc., of New York, to research, develop and commercialize peptide-based therapeutics

Plexxikon Inc., of Berkeley, Calif., signed a deal with Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, to co-promote PLX4032, an oral kinase inhibitor targeting the B-Raf mutation, in the U.S. The compound was partnered in 2006 with Basel, Switzerland-based Roche AG, which later acquired Genentech

Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, a unit of the Roche Group, said the FDA extended the Actemra (tocilzumab) label to include inhibition and slowing of structural joint damage, improvement of physical function and achievement of major clinical response in adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis when given in combination with methotrexate

Albany Molecular Research Inc., of Albany, N.Y., will license multiple products from its antibacterial program to Roche AG unit Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, and will collaborate with Genentech in a research program for identifying novel antibacterials

Catalyst Bioscience Inc., of South San Francisco, received a $4 million milestone payment from partner Pfizer Inc., of New York, under the terms of their collaboration to develop improved recombinant human Factor VIIa variants for hemophilia and other bleeding disorders...Poniard Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, provided notice of voluntary prepayment of its senior secured loan facility to GE Business Financial Services Inc

Adimab Inc., of Lebanon, N.H., initiated three new research collaborations with Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, and Human Genome Sciences Inc., of Rockville, Md., for the use of its antibody discovery platform technology

Hana Biosciences Inc., of South San Francisco, said its board approved a name change to Talon Therapeutics Inc