• Cellumen Inc., of Pittsburgh, said it will apply its Cellular Systems Biology (CSB) technology in a partnership with the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation to create a cellular model of Alzheimer's disease. The main objective is to develop a panel of CSB assays, as well as biosensors of key protein-protein interactions, that reveal the activity of multiple targets and pathways implicated in the disease in an intact, functioning cellular system. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Cempra Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Chapel Hill, N.C., and Biovista Inc., of Charlottesville, Va., said they have entered into a research agreement to identify and profile adverse event associations for members of the macrolide drug class. The data generated will be used to better understand the benefit-risk characteristics of macrolides, which is expected to help adapt and optimize future clinical trial designs. Cempra said it recently completed a Phase I study of its investigational macrolide product CEM-101, with data expected to be presented in October at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

• Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., said Oncaspar-IV, a next-generation pegylated L-asparaginase, received approval from the Commission of the European Communities for designation as an orphan medicinal product. Enzon said that Oncaspar-IV, a product under investigation to treat cancer, uses a new process to manufacture L-asparaginase and an improved PEG linker to enhance stability.

• GeneGo Inc., of St. Joseph, Mich., said it has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop a platform for understanding the influence of nutrients on cancerogenesis and cancer prevention. GeneGo said it will collaborate on the project with Jim Kaput, director of the FDA's Division of Personalized Nutrition and Medicine. The new platform will include a comprehensive manually curated database on nutrition, an OMIC data repository, advanced search and statistical modeling tools and will primarily be targeting health care professionals and nutritionists.

• GenomeQuest Inc., of Westborough, Mass., said it has signed an agreement with 454 Life Sciences, of Branford, Conn., to provide its On-Demand Informatics Service to users of the 454 Genome Sequencer FLX System.

• ImmunoGen Inc., of Waltham, Mass., said Daniel M. Junius, currently president and chief operating officer, will assume the role of president and CEO, effective Jan. 1, 2009. Junius also was nominated to the board. Mitchel Sayare, current CEO, will continue to serve as chairman and as a director of the company.

• Ipsen SA, of Paris, said the FDA extended the PDUFA date for its biologics license application for Dysport (botulinum toxin of Type A) in cervical dystonia to Dec. 28, though the company maintained that decision will not impact anticipated launch timing. Ipsen said the agency has not requested additional safety or clinical studies for review but extended the action date to finalize the review of the company's risk communication plan in accordance with first-cycle review of new therapies. Dysport, a neuromuscular blocking toxin, has orphan status for cervical dystonia.

• Metabolon Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., said it expanded a multiyear agreement with Syngenta AG, of Basel, Switzerland, to grant Syngenta access to biochemical profiling technology for use in agricultural applications. The goal is for Metabolon to generate data that Syngenta can use to make decisions on crop traits much earlier in the development cycle. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• ONI BioPharma Inc., of Alachua, Fla., entered a collaboration agreement with an undisclosed international diagnostics company regarding its biomarkers for early, middle and late-stage colorectal cancer. Terms of the deal were not released. ONI's PCMAT is designed to discover proteins that are specifically expressed when healthy bowel cells become cancerous. The company also continues to conduct its strategic analysis for optimizing shareholder return from its PCMAT and PIVIAT diagnostic platforms.

• ZenBio Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., said it was awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant to commercialize its primary human skeletal myocyte and adipocyte co-culture system. The $1.38 million award is expected to fund continued optimization and commercial development of that tool for Type II diabetes and obesity research.