• Anesiva Inc., of South San Francisco, said its financial statements for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2008, contained a going concern qualification from its independent accounting firm. The company also received notice from Nasdaq that it is not in compliance with multiple listing requirements and has until April 13 to submit a plan. The company had $1.2 million in cash and equivalents at the end of 2008, but has since completed a private placement and made plans for a $3 million rights offering.

• Horizon Discovery Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, said it entered a collaboration with South San Francisco-based Genentech Inc. to use Horizon's GENESIS gene-engineering platform to develop genetically defined human X-MAN cancer models for Genentech's drug discovery research programs. The renewable three-year deal builds upon four previous business agreements between the companies. Financial terms were not disclosed, though Horizon said its agreements with Genentech include up-front, milestone and renewal fees.

• Hybrigenics SA, of Paris, said it was notified by the French Finance Administration that it will be reimbursed €507,000 (US$682,687) for cumulated 2005-2007 research tax credit and €865,000 for 2008 RTC. That will result in a €1.37 million cash payment to Hybrigenics.

• InSite Vision Inc., of Alameda, Calif., said it signed an exclusive international licensing and distribution agreement for AzaSite (azithromycin ophthalmic solution) 1 percent, its broad-spectrum antibiotic for bacterial eye infections, with Nitten Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Nagoya, Japan. Under the terms, Nitten is responsible for securing regulatory approval and has exclusive rights to commercialize the product in Japan and Taiwan. Nitten will pay InSite $1 million upon the execution of the license deal, followed by milestone payments of $1 million upon the first regulatory submission and $1 million upon first regulatory approval. Beyond that, InSite will receive a double-digit royalty on net sales in Japan. For sales in Taiwan, where Nitten intends to use a commercialization partner, InSite will get a double-digit royalty on net royalties.

• InterMed Discovery GmbH, of Dortmund, Germany, said it started a screening project for the Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), a Max-Planck-Innovation company founded in 2008 and located near the University Campus at Dortmund. The collaboration aims to identify naturally derived modulators by screening IMD's natural product libraries against targets provided by LDC. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Micromet Inc., of Bethesda, Md., has received a milestone payment of €1.5 million (US$2 million) from partner Nycomed A/S, of Roskilde, Denmark, for filing the first clinical trial application in Europe for the antibody MT203. Under a 2007 agreement, Micromet and Nycomed are developing MT203, a human anti-GM-CSF antibody that may be useful for the treatment of various inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The technology is based on Micromet's BiTE antibody platform. Four of the company's antibodies are currently in clinical trials, with the remainder of its product pipeline in preclinical development.

• Nuevolution A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, said that Merck & Co. Inc., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., has chosen to proceed to the second phase of a June 2008 collaboration agreement to apply Nuevolution's Chemetics drug discovery technology to identify novel small-molecule leads against several drug targets. Merck thus gains access to a new multimillion member library of small-molecule drug candidates. The action by Merck triggers payment of an undisclosed technology access fee to Nuevolution.

• Qiagen NV, of Venlo, the Netherlands, reported results from a study in the in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that testing for human papilloma virus (HPV) significantly reduced deaths from cervical cancer compare to other methods such as Pap (cytology) testing or visual inspection with acetic acid. The trial used Qiagen's digene HPV test, which uses DNA technology to detect high-risk types of HPV that cause cervical cancer. Over the next five years, Qiagen will donate 1 million HPV tests, with a total estimated value of more than $30 million, as part of its broader global access program in developing countries.

• Quantum Genomics SAS, of Massy, France, has received a research financing worth $1 million dollars from the French agency OSEO to finance the regulatory preclinical development of QGC 001. It is the first drug candidate to treat hypertension by targeting aminopeptidase A. The company has initiated the preclinical studies required for the submission of an investigational medicinal product dossier.

• XenoPort Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., said Newport, Ky.-based Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals Inc. elected to terminate the companies' partnership for the development of XP21510, a preclinical drug for menorrhagia. XenoPort had thus far received $12 million up front and $1 million out of a potential $129 million in milestone payments. Rights to XP21510 will return to XenoPort.