• Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, presented preclinical data on ANA598, a non-nucleoside inhibitor of the hepatitis C virus NS5B polymerase. The report characterized the favorable antiviral, metabolic, pharmacokinetic and preliminary toxicologic properties that supported the decision announced in June to progress ANA598 to IND-enabling studies.

• AVI BioPharma Inc., of Portland, Ore., presented data from two studies evaluating the company's Neugene Plus therapeutic antisense compounds in the treatment of nonhuman primates exposed to the Ebola virus. In the first study, three of four treated primates survived and the Ebola viral infection was completely eliminated. In the second study, all four treated subjects survived substantially beyond untreated subjects and all completely eliminated the Ebola virus. The studies, funded by a U.S. Department of Defense contract, were conducted in collaboration with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

• Biomira Inc., of Edmonton, Alberta, said its board approved a proposal to change its jurisdiction from Canada to the state of Delaware in the U.S. The plan is subject to shareholder and court approval. Biomira intends to establish its headquarters in or near Seattle. The action also would have the effect of a 6-for-1 reverse stock split of Biomira shares. Operations in Edmonton would not change significantly, Biomira said.

• Cellectricon AB, of Gothenburg, Sweden, entered a collaboration with EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) in Switzerland, which will evaluate Cellectricon's next-generation high-throughput electroporation system. The Cellaxess-HT system was designed for genome-wide RNAi screening, and is expected to be launched in the second quarter of 2008.

• Clinical Data Inc., of Newtown, Mass., said its board authorized a 3-for-2 split of the company's common stock. The record date for the stock split is Sept. 24. Stockholders of record will receive one new share for every two shares they own. The distribution of the stock dividend will be made Oct. 1, increasing the shares outstanding to about 20.5 million.

• DOR BioPharma Inc., of Miami, said its academic partner, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, received a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct preclinical studies of oral beclomethasone dipropionate for treating gastrointestinal radiation injury. The product, oral BDP, also is the active ingredient in DOR's orBec, an agent under development for treating graft-vs.-host disease.

• Flamel Technologies SA, of Lyon, France, entered into an agreement with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, of Collegeville, Pa., for development and licensing of a marketed protein to be delivered using Flamel's Medusa technology. Flamel will receive an up-front payment and potential development fees, milestones and royalty payments, the terms of which were not disclosed. The Medusa technology is designed to deliver controlled-release formulations of therapeutic proteins and peptides and other molecules, without reducing bioactivity.

• Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, presented data showing HE3286, an orally available small-molecule compound that previously demonstrated benefit in rodent models of rheumatoid arthritis, also provided benefit in an animal model of multiple sclerosis. In addition, the company presented preclinical data demonstrating that HE3286, along with other compounds under investigation, appear to act by limiting the activation of the pro-inflammatory transcription factor NF-kappaB.

• Illumina Inc., of San Diego, said Cancer Research UK will fund two studies designed to uncover genetic factors linked to the development of lung and ovarian cancers. The studies are part of a dual agreement with UK-based research centers that will total more than 15,500 samples. Both studies initially will use genotyping technologies from Illumina.

• Inhibitex Inc., of Atlanta, gained an exclusive worldwide license to intellectual property covering a series of HIV integrase inhibitors and other antiviral compounds. The University of Georgia Research Foundation granted the license, and is entitled to an up-front license fee along with potential milestone and royalty payments. Preclinical studies, Inhibitex said, demonstrated the compounds are potent and orally bioavailable, exhibit multiple mechanisms of integrase inhibition and have the potential to be active against HIV strains resistant to other integrase inhibitors in development. Inhibitex plans to select a lead candidate from the program and initiate IND-enabling studies in the first half of 2008. The license agreement includes intellectual property related to hepatitis C polymerase inhibitors. Also, Inhibitex entered into a sponsored research agreement with UGARF to provide up to three years of financial support for specified research and development activities related to the licensed compounds.

• Innocoll Inc., of Ashburn, Va., said its wholly owned subsidiary, Innocoll Technologies Ltd., entered a collaboration with TGR BioSciences Pty. Ltd., of Adelaide, Australia. They will evaluate the combination of Innocoll's collagen-based drug delivery technology, CollaRx, with TGR's wound-healing compound, TGR-265. Innocoll will incorporate TGR-265 into the CollaRx sponge and membrane formats for further evaluation. TGR will fund development of the formulated products. Further terms were not disclosed.

• Nanobac Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tampa, Fla., said American Health Associates Clinical Laboratories, of Miramar, Fla., will serve as the exclusive U.S. provider of Nanobac tests that can detect blood levels of calcifying nanoparticles, which are found in coronary artery calcification, kidney stones and other stone-forming diseases. Nanobac's laboratory in Finland will continue to service the world market.

• Novavax Inc., of Rockville, Md., said several candidates have emerged from its discovery program to create a novel vaccine for preventing disease associated with the varicella zoster virus in older adults. The candidates are targeted for preclinical development.

• Palatin Technologies Inc., of Cranbury, N.J., said a new release issued Tuesday by Competitive Technologies Inc., of Fairfield, Conn., relating to a material breach and termination of a license agreement, "was false and misleading." Palatin said the notice of termination sent by CTI to Palatin the day before said Palatin had "60 days from the date of this letter to cure" the alleged defaults, meaning it did not already terminate the license. The underlying license agreement relates to patent rights for compounds and methods used for treating sexual dysfunction, including melanotan-II, or PT-14. Palatin ceased development of PT-14 in 2000, and developed bremelanotide independently, it said, adding that whether bremelanotide is subject to the license agreement is an issue in an ongoing arbitration proceeding initiated by CTI in June 2006.

• SRI International, of Menlo Park, Calif., said it initiated a personalized medicine program to develop biomarkers for cancer. The program is part of a multiyear collaboration with Pentax Corp., a developer of optical electronic products and medical instruments. The multimillion-dollar collaboration provides research funding and potential research and development milestone payments to SRI, as well as royalties on sales of products that may result.

• SuppreMol GmbH, of Martinsried, Germany, was granted orphan designation in the European Union for SM101, a recombinant human soluble Fc-gamma receptor IIb, for treating idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Phase I studies are expected to begin in the second half of 2008.

• Vivalis, of Nantes, France, and Innate Pharma SAS, of Marseille, France, launched a collaboration to evaluate Vivalis' EBx cell lines, derived from avian (duck) embryonic stem cells, for the production of monoclonal antibodies. Innate will compare production of its monoclonal antibody in EBx and CHO cells, looking at the glycosylation profile and cytotoxic activity. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.