• BioAlliance Pharma SA, of Paris, has completed patient enrollment in the pivotal Phase III trial for Loramyc for the treatment of oropharyngeal candidiasis. The trial will include 540 patients enrolled by 40 specialist clinical centers in the U.S., Canada and South Africa. The trial results are expected in the first half of 2008. The company plans to file a market authorization application in the second half of next year, subject to the FDA's regulatory requirements.

• Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tustin, Calif., said its Phase II clinical protocol to study bavituximab in combination with the chemotherapy drug docetaxel in patients with metastatic breast cancer has been approved by the Drug Agency of the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of the nation of Georgia. The open label, multicenter safety and efficacy trial is expected to begin enrolling patients by early 2008. The primary objective is to assess the overall response rate to the combination of bavituximab with docetaxel, a chemotherapy drug commonly used in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Secondary objectives include measuring time to tumor progression, duration of response, overall patient survival and safety parameters.

• Thallion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Montreal, presented positive safety and efficacy data from the completed Phase I/II trial of ECO-4601 for the treatment of advanced cancer patients. ECO-4601 was safe and well tolerated up to the maximum dose tested of 480mg/m2/day. Adverse events potentially related to ECO-4601 were nonspecific and common in that type of patient population. Of seven refractory cancer patients who had completed six cycles of treatment, six patients achieved stable disease. The company said it intends to advance ECO-4601 into a Phase II trial in an indication to be selected in the coming weeks, and plans to initiate regulatory filings prior to the end of the fourth quarter in order to begin a Phase II trial. ECO-4601 is a novel small molecule derived from a nonpathogenic microorganism

• Vivus Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., has initiated the second of two pivotal Phase III studies of its investigational drug Qnexa in overweight and obese patients with comorbidities including hypertension, dyslipidemia or Type II diabetes. The CONQUER study (OB-303) will enroll patients with a body mass index ranging from 27 to 45, including patients with Type II diabetes regardless of BMI. The co-primary endpoints will evaluate the differences between treatments from baseline to the end of the treatment period, in mean percent weight loss and in the percentage of subjects achieving weight loss of 5 percent or more.