• Alkermes Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it initiated an accelerated share repurchase program under which it will buy back $60 million of its common stock. The repurchase will be funded with the company's existing cash, which includes proceeds from the recent sale of its stake in Reliant Pharmaceuticals Inc. Alkermes received a $166.3 million payment in late 2007 when London-based GlaxoSmithKline plc closed its $1.65 billion acquisition of Reliant. The company's stock repurchase program falls under its board's previous plan to repurchase up to $175 million. Prior to the accelerated program, Alkermes had bought back $33.3 million, and under the accelerated buyback plan has committed $93.3 million to repurchasing its common stock.
• Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said a study, performed in collaboration with scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital, described the silencing of a key gene implicated in early onset torsion dystonia, known as mutant torsinA. Those data, published in Human Molecular Genetics, showed that a short interfering RNA potently and selectively silenced the gene in vitro, with no effect on the closely related wild-type torsinA gene, and resulted in normalization of protein secretion. In contrast, siRNAs that suppressed both the mutant and normal torsinA genes were not effective in restoring protein secretion and actually further impaired secretion.
• ArGentis Pharmaceuticals LLC, of Memphis, Tenn., said the FDA granted orphan drug status to ARG201 (native Type 1 bovine collagen) in diffuse systemic sclerosis, also known as systemic scleroderma, a debilitating and fatal autoimmune disease. Orphan drug designation would guarantee the product seven years of marketing exclusivity upon approval. To date, ARG201 has completed a 168-patient Phase II trial, funded by the National Institutes of Health, in which the drug demonstrated statistically and clinically significant improvement in Modified Rodnan Skin Scores, a measure of the change in skin thickening, at 15 months vs. placebo.
• Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., repurchased, in privately negotiated transactions, $50 million in original principal amount of its 2.25 percent convertible subordinated notes due 2013. Following those repurchases, $300 million principal amount of the notes will remain outstanding. The repurchases will reduce Cubist's dilutive potential shares of common stock outstanding by 1.6 million shares. The company spent about $46.8 million of its working capital on the repurchases.
• Genizon BioSciences Inc., of Montreal, and London Genetics Ltd., of London, are collaborating to replicate discoveries made by Genizon in a genomewide association study of schizophrenia. Genizon's study identified multiple genes associated with the disease using DNA samples from the Quebec Founder Population. Genotyping of samples and statistical analyses of data will be conducted at Genizon's research center. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• Inhibitex Inc., of Atlanta, said preclinical data from INH-001, of the potential leads from its HIV integrase inhibitor program, demonstrated the compound's metabolic stability in vitro, as well as its multiple mechanisms of action, with no significant inhibition of CYP450 proteins. Those data were presented at the Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections conference in Boston. The company anticipates completing its lead optimization efforts and selecting a lead candidate from the program later this year.
• InNexus Biotechnology Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, reported preliminary results from an in vivo animal study showing that DXL625 was efficacious in reducing the growth rate of lymphoma cancer tumors. The product is a monoclonal antibody based on the company's Dynamic Cross Linking (DXL) technology. Studies to date have shown that DXL625 has greater potency than Rituxan (rituximab, Genentech Inc. and Biogen Idec Inc.) in cell lines of both moderate and low expressers of CD20. Additional results demonstrated the drug's ability to induce apoptosis in B-cell lymphoma cells and B-cell leukemia. In separate news, InNexus said that Royalty Pharma, of New York, purchased second royalty interest on an additional product targeting cancer based on the DXL technology. Under the terms, Royalty Pharma exercised its option to buy the interest for $2.5 million. Royalty Pharma purchased the first royalty interest for $2 million in April 2007, made an additional at-market equity investment in InNexus of $1 million and said the total purchase price for two royalty interests may be increased by up to an additional $30 million, if certain conditions are fulfilled.
• Metabolix Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., initiated a program to develop an advanced industrial oilseed crop to produce bioplastics and established a strategic research collaboration with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis that is supported by a two-year, $1.14 million grant from the Missouri Life Sciences Trust Fund.
• SkyePharma plc, of London, entered an agreement for Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, of Hyderabad, India, to undertake a feasibility study of a product using two of SkyePharma's drug delivery systems. Dr. Reddy's will pay the cost of the study and also will pay SkyePharma an up-front fee. If the study is successful, full development activities will begin later this year.
• Synthetic Blood International Inc., of Costa Mesa, Calif., said a meeting with its medical advisory board yielded recommendations for proceeding with development of its perfluorocarbon therapeutic oxygen carrier and blood substitute Oxycyte, including a protocol to be submitted to the FDA for a 100-patient Phase IIb trial this year. The company has conducted preclinical studies in sickle cell disease and spinal cord injury and said it has continued support from the U.S. Navy for testing in decompression sickness. Synthetic Blood International also named Derek Ralph Brinster and Christine Stowe Rinder to the advisory board.
• Trophos SA, of Marseille, France, said the Michael J. Fox Foundation awarded the firm a Therapeutics Development Initiative grant to evaluate compounds preventing mitochondrial dysfunction to treat Parkinson's disease. The project aims to establish the ability of two Trophos compounds to arrest or prevent the early PD-like behavioral changes observed in a preclinical model overexpressing human alpha-synuclein. One of those compounds, TRO19622, already has demonstrated a good safety profile in human trials.