• Apogenix GmbH, of Heidelberg, Germany, has been given £900,000 in research funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The funds will be used to study Apogenix' lead candidate, APG101, for the treatment of spinal cord injuries. The research will be carried out in collaboration the German Cancer Research Center.

• BioLine Rx Ltd., of Jerusalem, has signed worldwide exclusive license agreements with PolyGene Ltd. and Efrat BioPolymers Ltd., both of Efrat, Israel, to develop and commercialize their polymer drug delivery system. Financial terms were not disclosed. BioLine will continue developing the system for delivering chemotherapy to solid tumors and for delivering antibiotics to bone and other infections. It plans to seek funding for the project from the Israeli Office of the Chief Scientist.

• Cangene Corp., of Winnipeg, Manitoba, received an approvable letter from the FDA for Accretropin, a recombinant human growth hormone product. The planned indication is treatment of growth failure in children with growth hormone deficiency and short stature associated with Turner syndrome. The FDA requested additional support data regarding manufacturing processes, a request that does not involve further clinical trials, Cangene said, adding that it expects to respond quickly. Accretropin was developed under a research and development agreement with the Toronto-based Apotex Group, Cangene's majority shareholder.

• Cardium Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, closed its $21.5 million private placement financing with institutional and other accredited investors. (See BioWorld Today, March 7, 2007.)

• Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Denver, said a catheter treated with a Ceragenin compound demonstrated virtually no biofilm formation in a 21-day study. Ceragenins are a class of compounds that have shown activity against a range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. They are being developed as anti-infective medical device coatings and as therapeutics for antibiotic-resistant organisms.

• Debiopharm Group, of Lausanne, Switzerland, reported preclinical data validating the mechanism of action of Debio-0512 as an anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha therapeutic vaccine that inhibits inflammatory processes in animal models of acute and chronic inflammation. The company anticipates beginning IND-enabling studies by the end of 2007. The data were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and presented at the Fourth International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment in Florence, Italy.

• Dyax Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals SA, a wholly owned Swiss subsidiary of India-based Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd., entered into a funded research agreement for the discovery of therapeutic antibodies. Dyax will work to identify therapeutic antibodies for three targets provided by Glenmark. The deal could be expanded to include additional targets. Dyax will receive technology license fees and full-time employee payments from Glenmark, as well as potential milestone and royalty payments. Glenmark also gets sublicenses to relevant third-party antibody phage-display patents that may be used with Dyax's technology.

• Genmab A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, said its antibody HuMax-EGFr (zalutumumab) locks the EGF receptor in an inactive conformation, which prevents receptor activation and the binding of growth factors. The antibody also inhibits EGF receptor signaling by preventing receptor dimerization. Those new insights into the drug's mechanism of action will be presented at the 3rd Novel Solution Seminar for Drug Creation and Development. HuMax-EGFr is in Phase III trials for head and neck cancer.

• Geron Corp., of Menlo Park, Calif., granted an exclusive global license to Asia Biotech Corp. for development of Geron's small-molecule telomerase activating compounds as nonprescription dietary food supplements, nutraceuticals and cosmetics. Terms were not disclosed. Separately, Geron announced on Friday that it will restate financial results for fiscal years 2003 through 2006 after reviewing guidance on the SEC's Emerging Issues Task Force Issue 00-19, "Accounting for Derivative Financial Instruments Indexed to, and Potentially Settled in, a Company's Own Stock." Geron concluded that the value of warrants to purchase shares of its common stock issued in connection with an offering off an effective shelf registration statement should be classified as debt rather than equity, but the restatement will have no impact on previously reported revenues, operating expenses, total assets or cash position.

• Isotechnika Inc., of Edmonton, Canada, has received U.S. approval to use vocLosporin as the name of its lead immunosuppressive drug, ISA247. The name is being reviewed by the International Nonproprietary Name expert committee. The compound is a calcineurin inhibitor and currently is in a Phase III European/Canadian trial for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis, and a Phase IIb North American trial for the prevention of organ rejection in kidney transplant patients, and as a treatment for uveitis in three separate pivotal Phase II/Phase III trials.

• MacroArray Technologies LLC, of Philadelphia, signed a license agreement with Abbott Laboratories, of Abbott Park, Ill., for MacroArray's antibody test for prostate cancer. Abbott will develop and market the PCADM-1 test, an assay to detect the PCADM-1 prostate-specific protein in urine. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

• Protalix BioTherapeutics Inc., of Carmiel, Israel, said its stock began trading Monday on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol "PLX." The move followed the Jan. 3 completion of the merger between Protalix and the Miami-based public shell company Orthodontix Inc. Protalix focuses on developing and producing recombinant therapeutic proteins that are produced through a plant cell system. The stock gained $2 Monday, or 10 percent, to close at $22.

• Protherics plc, of London, said it expects to receive a $19.3 million milestone payment in April from partner AstraZeneca plc, also of London. The milestone was triggered by Protherics' scale-up of manufacturing for sepsis drug CytoFab to a 600 litre (158.5 gallon) batch size. The drug, an anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha polyclonal antibody fragment, is slated to begin expanded Phase IIb studies in septic shock in the second half of the year. Protherics licensed CytoFab to AstraZeneca for $340 in up-front and milestone payments and a 20 percent royalty. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 9, 2005.)

• RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of Bethesda, Md., said researchers have found that thymosin beta 4 increases MMP-1 levels in the cornea. MMPs, especially MMP-1, play a role in the wound-healing process as they are involved in the movement of new cells to the wound site and are an integral part of the complex wound-healing cascade. Conversely, it has been shown that blocking MMPs inhibit the would-healing process. The ability to rapidly increase levels of MMPs correlates with how it accelerates wound healing in the cornea.

• Schering-Plough Corp., of Kenilworth, N.J., said its board approved the acquisition of Organon BioSciences NV, the human and animal health care businesses of Akzo Nobel NV, of Oss, the Netherlands, for about €11 billion in cash (US$14.5 billion). The deal is expected to close by the end of this year.