Adprotech Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, received from European regulatory authorities orphan drug designation for APT070, designed to prevent graft dysfunction in kidney transplantation. The candidate is scheduled to enter Phase II trials during the fourth quarter. It also is in Phase II studies to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

AlphaRx Inc., of Richmond Hill, Ontario, said recently compiled data and results on ARX2002, a nonsteroidal compound, demonstrate anti-inflammatory activity at least 20 times greater than Indomethacin, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. ARX2002 and AlphaRx's other lead compound, ARX2001, are being tested in more advanced neuroprotective models such as encephalomyelitis, in vitro ischemia and neurotrauma to further validate their clinical use in the treatment and prophylaxis of ischemia-reperfusion damage in stroke and head trauma.

Bionomics Ltd., of Adelaide, Australia, said it created the first animal model of inherited human epilepsy. The mouse model exhibits epileptic seizures like those found in humans. The model contains a genetic mutation representative of the disorder, making it a potential source of study to assess the neurological and physiological mechanisms causing epilepsy and to aid in identifying fourth-generation anti-epileptic drugs.

BioXell SpA, of Milan, Italy, entered an exclusive joint collaboration with TaiGen Biotechnology Co. Ltd., of Taipei, Taiwan. They will jointly research and develop new drugs targeting selected members of the G protein-coupled receptor family to treat chronic inflammatory diseases. BioXell will be responsible for receptor target identification and testing candidates in various bioassays. TaiGen will screen receptor targets against its chemical compound library. Preclinical and clinical development of such leads will be carried out jointly. Financial terms were not disclosed.

British Biotech plc, of Oxford, UK, confirmed that it is in preliminary merger discussions with MorphoSys AG, of Munich, Germany. British Biotech stressed that the talks may or may not lead to a definitive agreement.

Conforma Therapeutics Corp., of San Diego, appointed Stuart Collinson chairman. A partner at Forward Ventures since March, he will replace Ivor Royston, who has represented Forward Ventures on the board since Forward led Conforma's first operational round of financing in January.

DiaDexus Inc., of South San Francisco, and Emory University in Atlanta entered a collaboration to further evaluate the biological role of Nox-1, a cancer target and enzyme known to convert oxygen into reactive oxygen. DiaDexus will have the exclusive right to develop and commercialize therapeutic and diagnostic products targeting or otherwise based on Nox-1. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Entropin Inc., of Indio, Calif., reported results of its Phase II/III trial of Esterom solution for treating impaired shoulder function and outlined plans for developing its new chemical entity, ENT-102, for the treatment of pain. Study results were not statistically significant when compared with patients treated with placebo. The company noted that sub-group analyses of the data contained no noteworthy findings. Based on those results, Entropin's board decided to forego further development of Esterom. The company also said that it will pursue development of ENT-102 as an injectable formulation, but ENT-102 also may have use as a topical therapy. Entropin's stock (NASDAQ:ETOP) dropped $2.29 Monday, or 68.7 percent, to close at $1.04.

GeneProt Inc., of Geneva, said that during the second half of 2001, more than 12 liters of plasma were collected by investigators at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., for plasma proteomic analysis by GeneProt for a study sponsored by Novartis Pharma AG, of Basel, Switzerland. The study is the first of its kind in heart disease, the company said, and is expected to reveal factors involved in coronary heart disease. Subjects were enrolled through the Duke Databank for Cardiovascular Disease.

Genetic Technologies Ltd., of Sydney, Australia, granted Perlegen Sciences Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., an exclusive limited-field license to its noncoding patents. The license is limited to high-resolution whole-genome analysis. While specific terms were not disclosed, Perlegen will pay cash and securities worth about A$1.6 million (US$876,000).

Gentris Corp., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., and Promega Corp., of Madison, Wis., entered an agreement to jointly pursue development of clinical pharmacogenomic products. The purpose of the agreement is to combine the companies' technologies into a robotic liquid handling platform. The companies said pharmacogenomic tests of that type would enable physicians to make decisions regarding appropriate prescription drugs and dosing for their patients.

Genzyme General, a division of Genzyme Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., reported publication in the American Journal of Medicine of an article describing clinical success achieved by more than 1,000 patients who received enzyme replacement therapy with Cerezyme (imiglucerase for injection) for Type I Gaucher's disease. Data from the five-year study also were presented at last week's Society for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism meeting in Dublin, Ireland. Data show that Cerezyme therapy reverses and prevents the progression of the major clinical manifestations of Gaucher's disease.

Hyseq Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., entered a license agreement with Celera Diagnostics, a joint venture between Applied Biosystems Group, of Foster City, Calif.; Celera Genomics Group, of Rockville, Md.; and the University of California at San Francisco. The agreement grants Celera Diagnostics nonexclusive access to a large-scale patient sample collection, which contains more than 12,000 DNA samples and accompanying clinical data that are expected to be used to study the molecular genetics of cardiovascular disease. Financial terms were not disclosed.

InforMax Inc., of Bethesda, Md., reported the availability this month of LabShare for Vector NTI. LabShare was designed to provide Vector NTI users with connectivity to a centralized relational database to allow exchange of data across a multiuser community.

Lexrite Labs Inc., of Dixon, Calif., said it entered an exclusive, worldwide patent license agreement with Stanford University in California, and the University of California for its Pretargeting Technology. Pretargeting is designed to provide a method and system for localizing a diagnostic or therapeutic agent to a specific target, for example, cancer cells, the company said.

NeoPharm Inc., of Lake Forest, Ill., reported at this week's Congress of the European Association of Neuro-Oncology in Florence, Italy, additional Phase I/II data for IL13-PE38, its investigational tumor-targeting agent being developed to treat malignant glioma. The preliminary data provided additional evidence of IL13-PE38's cell-killing effects against malignant glioma tumor cells when infused prior to surgical resection of the tumor. Although not an efficacy study, prolonged survival has been observed to beyond one year, it said.

Neurogenetics Inc., of San Diego, entered a research initiative with the University of California at San Diego, funded in part by a BioStar (Biotechnology Strategic Targets for Alliances in Research) award. The joint funding will support research aimed at characterizing a target linked to Alzheimer's disease. Neurogenetics also has an independent ongoing drug discovery program to discover small molecules that work through the target to treat Alzheimer's.

NovaRx Corp., of San Diego, was awarded by the National Cancer Institute, a unit of the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Md., a Small Business Innovation Research grant worth more than $2.7 million over a five-year period. The funding will be used for a Phase II trial to treat lung cancer using an experimental cancer vaccine, which consists of non-small-cell lung cancer cell lines that have been genetically modified with technology called transforming growth factor-beta antisense.

Pharmexa A/S, of Hoersholm, Denmark, bought back the AutoVac TNF-alpha pharmaccine from Vaekstfonden, a business development finance firm in Denmark. Pharmexa said it plans to launch a research and develpment program primarily focusing on rheumatoid arthritis. Pharmexa will pay a small royalty to Vaekstfonden to get the product and associated rights back.

Protein Polymer Technologies Inc., of San Diego, received about $680,000 in capital through the exercise of warrants for the purchase of common stock. Each warrant holder who exercised received an equal number of replacement warrants. The proceeds will be used in part to accelerate the company's clinical testing of its products for the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence and for the correction of dermal contour deficiencies.

Rib-X Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New Haven, Conn., said it relocated its corporate headquarters and research operations to a new 27,000-square-foot facility in The George Street Technology Center in New Haven. Rib-X focuses on structure-based design of anti-infective agents.

SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Mateo, Calif., said its European Union marketing and development partner, Sigma-Tau SpA, of Rome, began a large Phase II trial in Europe using Zadaxin in combination with chemotherapy to treat malignant melanoma. Sigma-Tau is conducting and funding the multicenter, 300-patient trial. The trial is enrolling Stage 4 malignant melanoma patients. The endpoints are tumor suppression and survival.

SkyePharma plc, of London, and Meditech Research Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, entered a reciprocal licensing agreement concerning Solarase, a topical therapy for the precancerous skin condition actinic or solar keratosis, in certain Pacific Rim territories. SkyePharma re-acquires the territorial rights to Solarase from Meditech in return for an up-front payment, a milestone on eventual product registration in Australia or New Zealand, and a royalty on sales. SkyePharma gains the exclusive right to manufacture and market or sublicense Solarase in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia while Meditech obtains equivalent rights in new territories; China, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines. Each company will receive an identical royalty on sales made by the other company in their allocated territory.

The Institut Pasteur in Paris reported publication in Cell of its bacteria-cell interaction unit's findings that showed that temperature plays a role in how Listeria monocytogenes starts its infectious process in a host. The institute said the virulence genes are best expressed at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, while they remain almost inactive at lower temperatures.