• Adventrx Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, said ANX-188 (purified poloxamer 188) passed quality control release specifications and is in the quality assurance release process for a Phase III study in sickle cell disease. Initiation of the trial is expected in about six weeks.

• Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said 48 percent of patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (12 of 15) treated with IMO-3100, a selective antagonist of Toll-like receptors 7 and 9, demonstrated improvements in Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) scores of 35 percent to 90 percent from baseline at the completion of a 44-patient Phase IIa study testing two dose levels of the drug administered for four weeks, with a four-week follow-up period. None of the 12 placebo-treated patients had improvement in that range, and the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.005). The study achieved the pre-specified endpoint of reduction in PASI scores in the 0.16 mg/kg dose cohort with statistical significance (p = 0.02), though not in the 0.32 mg/kg dose cohort. The 0.16 mg/kg cohort also achieved, with statistical significance (p = 0.02), the endpoint of improvement in induration, a measure of plaque thickness, at the end of treatment and during the follow-up period. Treatment at both dose levels of IMO-3100 was well tolerated, with no treatment-related discontinuations. Shares of Idera (NASDAQ:IDRA) gained 15 cents, or 19.5 percent, to close Wednesday at 92 cents.

• Infectex, of Moscow, a biotech firm in the Maxwell Biotech Venture Fund's portfolio, said it enrolled the first patients in a Phase II/III trial of diamine compound SQ109 for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. The two-year trial is expected to support regulatory approval in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. It is designed to compare the effects of an optimized background drug regimen alone to an optimized background regimen plus SQ109. Infectex licensed rights to the drug from Sequella Inc., of Rockville, Md.

• Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, said it completed enrollment in POISE, its pivotal Phase III study testing obetiocholic acid (OCA) in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Results from the 12-month, double-blind portion of the trial are anticipated in the second quarter of 2014 and, if successful, will be used to seek regulatory approval. The 218-patient study is testing OCA, an FXR agonist, as a second-line treatment in PBC, an autoimmune liver disease that may progress to cirrhosis and liver failure.

• Neurocrine Biosciences Inc., of San Diego, said it started a Phase IIb trial (Kinect 2 Study) of its vesicular monoamine transporter 2 compound, NBI-98854. The six-week dose-titration study will enroll 90 subjects with moderate to severe tardive dyskinesia and underlying mood disorders, gastrointestinal disorders and schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Top-line data are expected in mid-2013.

• OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bothell, Wash., said it started a Phase II study, dubbed PACIFIC, testing OGX-427, a heat-shock protein 27 inhibitor, in men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer who are experiencing a rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) while receiving Zytiga (abiraterone acetate, Johnson & Johnson). The aim of the study is to determine if adding OGX-427 to Zytiga treatment can reverse or delay treatment resistance. About 80 men being treated with Zytiga with evidence of rising PSA, but no evidence of symptomatic or radiographic progression, will be randomized to either continue treatment with Zytiga and prednisone alone or have OGX-427 added to treatment. The primary objective is progression-free survival at 60 days, while secondary objectives include comparing the treatment arms for PSA responses, objective responses, time to progression, circulating tumor cells and other biomarkers.

• ViroPharma Inc., of Exton, Pa., and Halozyme Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, said ViroPharma started a Phase IIb dose-ranging study to test subcutaneous administration of Cinryze (C1 esterase inhibitor [human]) in combination with Halozyme's Enhanze technology, which uses recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme. The study will enroll about 40 adolescent and adult subjects with hereditary angioedema (HAE) and will test the drug for the prevention of HAE attacks. The primary endpoint is the normalized number of angioedema attacks recorded during each treatment period, while secondary endpoints will assess attack severity, quality-of-life parameters and number of angioedema attacks requiring acute treatment. Cinryze is approved for intravenous administration.