Compass plans to use the technology to develop a heat-stable hepatitis B vaccine through C-Pharma, its wholly owned subsidiary...All other rights, including North American and European Union, were acquired from New York-based Pfizer Inc

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., of Jerusalem, reported preliminary data from its 688-patient Coptimize study, showing that multiple sclerosis patients who switched to Copaxone (glatiramer acetate) from other approved disease-modifying therapies experienced a reduction of 61 percent (p < 0.0001...Switching to Copaxone also halted the progression of disability of patients in the trial...Zealand Pharma A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Sanofi-Aventis S/A, of Paris, reported top-line results from the

Biotech Synergy, of Encino, Calif., concluded an asset transfer of a cancer vaccine, previously known as EP-2101, and other cancer epitope products from Epimmune Inc. (now merged with Cytel Inc., of Cambridge, Mass.) In a Phase II trial of EP-2101, one-year survival in patients with HLA-A2 positive non-small-cell lung cancer was improved 60 percent, compared to 49 percent in patients who were HLA-A2 negative but otherwise comparable...Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Blue Bell, Pa., signed a

The agreement would give Compass rights in the Americas, the European Union and some other territories...The business refocus would also allow its Compass's hepatitis C project to continue sheltered with in C-Pharma Inc., while parent company Compass pursues generics, biosimilars and bio-betters...Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, filed a presentation to stockholders of Cephalon Inc., of Frazer, Pa., with the SEC regarding its proposed removal of Cephalon's board of

MorphoSys AG, of Martinsried, Germany, signed a manufacturing agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, of Ingelheim, Germany, to cover the process of developing and manufacturing additional clinical material for MorphoSys' anti-CD19 antibody MOR208 and other drug candidates...In other news, the FDA has approved Oxford BioMedica plc's investigational new drug application for StarGen, a gene-based treatment for Stargardt disease

In other news, Elan and Celgene Corp., of Summit, N.J., entered a settlement and license agreement resolving a patent infringement suit involving breast cancer treatment Abraxane...In other news, Intercell and partner Biological E. Ltd., of Hyderabad, India, started a pediatric Phase II/III trial of a vaccine designed to protect children from Japanese encephalitis...In other news, Neovacs reported results from a Phase I/II study showing that its TNF-Kinoid was found to be safe in 21 patients with

In other news, Diamyd said its Phase III European Union study of antigen-based therapy Diamyd completed the 15-month visit

Antisense Pharma GmbH, of Regensburg, Germany, has received approval from Southeast Asian health agencies KFDA and TFDA to begin pivotal Phase III trials of its TGF-2 inhibitor trabedersen for brain tumors...Clavis Pharma ASA, of Oslo, Norway, said partner Clovis Oncology Inc., of Boulder, Colo., recruited the first patient in a Phase II study of CP-4126 (also known as CO-101) as a second-line treatment for advanced, metastatic pancreatic cancer in patients refractory to first-line gemcitabine

Axcan Holdings Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., extended the tender offer of wholly owned subsidiary Axcan Pharma Holding BV to purchase the outstanding shares of Eurand NV, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, at $12 per share...Omeros Corp., of Seattle, said the European Medicines Agency (EMA) confirmed that OMS103HP is eligible to be submitted for marketing approval in the European Union through the EMA centralized procedure

The European Union awarded a grant of €3.3 million (US$4.5 million) to the Aipgene consortium for the development of a gene therapy product, AMT-0210 for acute intermittent porphyria...Verona Pharma plc, of London, applied to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency for permission to carry out a clinical trial of its investigational therapy, RPL554, for asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD

In other news, Cellectis signed an exclusive license agreement with the University of Minnesota that grants Cellectis the worldwide right to use inventions related to TAL effector-mediated DNA recognition and cleavage, an approach for the targeted modification of genomes

Acceleron Pharma Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., announced it has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the Muscular Dystrophy Association to support clinical studies of ACE-031 in Duchenne's muscular dystrophy, a disabling neuromuscular disease in which patients experience a progressive loss of muscle mass and strength...to research and develop small-molecule modulators of an undisclosed GPCR target...Ramius V&O Acquisition LLC and affiliates of Royalty Pharma, of New York, completed a cash tender offer

Kiadis Pharma BV, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, entered a licensing agreement with Hospira Inc., of Lake Forest, Ill., to develop and commercialize Kiadis' ATIR, a personalized hematology product designed for blood cancer patients in need of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation who cannot locate a matched donor...The collaboration aims to offer hepatocytes derived from iPS cells for in vitro drug screening for hepatitis toxicity and liver metabolism

BioAlliance Pharma SA, of Paris, has been awarded a grant from the French state Research National Agency, ANR, and a label award from both clusters of excellence, Medicen Paris Region and Atlanpole, for two new applications of its mucoadhesive Lauriad technology...Clavis Pharma ASA, of Oslo, Norway, said the FDA granted fast-track status to elacytarabine, which is in Phase III trials for late-stage acute myeloid leukemia

Shares of Carlsbad, Calif.-based Genoptix Inc. (NASDAQ:GXDX), rose 16.7 percent Tuesday, or $3, to close at $20.98, on news that company is putting itself up for sale...Trophos SA, of Marseille, France, said that it received a European Union award of €6 million (US$8 million) to support MitoCare, a two-and-a-half year international, translational medicine project that will begin in January 2011 and will be conducted by a 16-partner consortium led by Trophos...Vivus is pursuing regulatory approval to

Due to the findings, the firm reversed its earlier decision to stop development of Vacc-4x and will work to position the product as a potentially viable HIV vaccine

Assistant Managing Editor It looks like Cardiome Pharma Corp.'s intravenous atrial fibrillation drug Kynapid (vernakalant) is doomed to continue its roller coaster ride...Less than two months after the Vancouver, British Columbia-based firm celebrated a victory with the drug's approval and favorable labeling in the European Union, a single report of cardiogenic shock prompted the firm and its partner, Astellas Pharma US Inc., to suspend enrollment in the confirmatory ACT-5 study aimed at

Acorda plans to start Phase I studies in heart failure patients and is pursuing GGF2 in other cardiac and neurological applications...This positive opinion clears the way for CTI to submit its marketing authorization application in the European Union later this quarter in relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

In other news, AbD Serotec, a research unit of MorphoSys, signed a two-year contract to supply custom monoclonal antibodies to the Research Councils UK Shared Services Centre Ltd