analyst Bret Holley pointing out the increasing licensing value of ADC technology in a recent note wrote, "Additional collaborations such as this highlight the value of SGEN's ADC technology and should continue to grow the company's revenue base...In exchange, Genentech gained access to a number of targets. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 4, 2010.) And in December 2009, Seagen closed its $402 million deal with GlaxoSmithKline and a deal with Astellas Pharma Inc., an affiliate of Agensys Inc., for $12

to review its strategic altertnatives with respect to Prosidion Ltd., which it acquired with OSI Pharmaceuticals in June of 2010...Resolvyx Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and Celtic Therapeutics Holdings LP, of New York, entered a final agreement under which Celtic has acquired and licensed worldwide rights related to RX-10045, a late-stage program in dry eye syndrome and other ophthalmic indications

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...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

analyst Bret Holley pointing out the increasing licensing value of ADC technology in a recent note wrote, "Additional collaborations such as this highlight the value of SGEN's ADC technology and should continue to grow the company's revenue base...In exchange, Genentech gained access to a number of targets. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 4, 2010.) And in December 2009, Seagen closed its $402 million deal with GlaxoSmithKline and a deal with Astellas Pharma Inc., an affiliate of Agensys Inc., for $12

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...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

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

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

The company said its other LPA-related drug targets include LPA1 receptor antagonist AM152, which is currently in Phase I trials...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...Osteologix said it wants to minimize its corporate overhead expense, while focusing its business activities on

Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., the University of California San Francisco Sandler Center and the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute (LFKRI) of the New York Blood Center announced the establishment of a research and development collaboration to discover new drug therapies for the treatment of river blindness (onchocerciasis), a parasitic disease that is the second leading cause of infectious blindness worldwide, and is most prevalent in Africa...KGaA, of Bad Homburg, Germany

Shares of the South San Francisco-based company's stock (NASDAQ:EXEL) closed at $6.23, up 32 percent, or $1.51, in heavy trading on the news Thursday...Privately held Cerulean Pharma Inc., reported findings from a dose-finding, safety and tolerability Phase I clinical study of CRLX101, indicating that five advanced cancer patients who had previously relapsed and progressed on multiple therapies were stable for more than six months on the nanopharmaceutical compound...Of these, four non-small-cell lung

Under the terms, Isis will get an undisclosed up-front payment in the form of a convertible promissory note from Xenon to discover and develop antisense drugs to the targets hemojuvelin and hepcidin...Optivia Biotechnology Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif., and the University of California, San Francisco, received a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a system for characterizing the role transporter proteins play in the disposition of drugs by the

The FDA Thursday said new safety information has been added to the labeling of the HIV drug Invirase (saquinavir), marketed by San Francisco-based Genentech Inc., a subsidiary of the Roche AG, describing potentially life-threatening adverse effects on the heart when used with another HIV drug, Norvir (ritonavir), marketed by Abbott, of Abbott Park, Ill. The agency in February warned patients and health care professionals that when used together, the two drugs could cause prolongation of the QT

Management expects to submit the Phase III protocol to the FDA before year-end...Burrill & Co., of San Francisco, said that it has established a new Alternative Equities Group

Ligon Discovery Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., partnered with Berlin-based Bayer Schering Pharma AG to apply its small-molecule microarray screening platform to discover candidates for new disease targets...Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, was granted an additional 180-day period, or until March 28, 2011 , to regain compliance with the $1 per share minimum bid price rule for continued listing on Nasdaq

Prior to this conversion, 3SBio owned no common shares of Isotechnika...Actelion Ltd., of Allschwil, Switzerland, said its South San Francisco-based subsidiary received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California seeking documents relating to the firm's U.S...Ascendis Pharma A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, initiated a Phase II European trial of ACP-001 , its once-weekly human growth hormone prodrug

Actelion Ltd., of Allschwil, Switzerland, said its South San Francisco-based subsidiary received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California seeking documents relating to the firm's U.S...The company said it intended to cooperate with the investigation...Amgen Inc., of Thousand Oaks, Calif., will face an FDA Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee review of its Phase III TREAT study, in which Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa) failed to significantly reduce

The funding will allow the company to complete enrollment of a Phase II trial that is designed to deliver recombinant adeno-associated virus vectors at higher doses than in previous clinical studies...The agreement is pursuant to election of a lead polymer polysialic acid-FVIII candidate...GLG Pharma LLC, of Tampa, Fla., licensed a preclinical platform of STAT3 inhibitors for cancer from the Moffitt Cancer Center

Argenta Discovery Ltd., of Harlow, UK, a service division of Galapagos NV, signed a contract extension with South San Francisco-based Genentech Inc., a unit of the Roche Group, to expand the portfolio of projects in the collaboration and allow Genentech to place projects directly into Galapagos' other service division, BioFocus

to be sold in the U.S. It is intended as a front-line treatment for prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and is resistant to standard hormone treatment. (See BioWorld Today, April 30, 2010.) "In our view, eventual approval of abiraterone in this treatment setting will not have impact on Provenge market penetration in earlier stage disease, for which Provenge is indicated," George Farmer, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity, wrote in a research note...San Francisco-based