• Adeona Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Ann Arbor, Mich., said it entered a corporate partnership with Meda AB, of Solna, Sweden, to develop flupirtine, a selective neuronal potassium channel opener, which also has NMDA receptor antagonist properties, for the treatment of fibromyalgia. Meda was granted an exclusive sublicense to all of the U.S., Canadian and Japanese patents covering the use of flupirtine for fibromyalgia in exchange for $17.5 million, including $2.5 million up front. The deal includes a $5 million milestone payment to Adeona on the filing of a new drug application with the FDA for flupirtine for fibromyalgia and $10 million on marketing approval. Adeona also is eligible to receive 7 percent royalties on sales of the drug.
• Amicus Therapeutics Inc., of Cranbury, N.J., was awarded $210,300 from the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation to evaluate small-molecule, orally delivered pharmacological chaperone compounds to treat Alzheimer's disease. Amicus has discovered an apparent link between various lysosomal enzymes and accumulation of the beta-amyloid and p-tau deposits observed in the brain of Alzheimer's patients. The ADDF's award will fund initial preclinical proof-of-concept studies for a specific pharmacological chaperone that targets one of those lysosomal enzymes.
• Arch Biopartners Inc., of Toronto, said it has completed the acquisitions of Arch Biotech Inc., 1495628 AB Ltd. and 1502440 AB Ltd., which will continue to operate as separate subsidiaries of Arch. Arch said it also completed a nonbrokered private placement of $700,000 by issuing 1.4 million common shares at 50 cents per common share. As a result of the private placement and the acquisitions, Arch said it now has 47.36 million common shares outstanding.
• AVI BioPharma Inc., of Bothell, Wash., and the National Institutes of Health and other collaborators said new data, published last week in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, demonstrated the potential use of phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers as antimicrobial agents. The firm said the publication described preclinical studies demonstrating the in vitro and in vivo efficacy of peptide-conjugated phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers against the Burkholderia cepacia complex, which comprises 17 related species of Gram-negative bacteria, by targeting acpP, a protein known to be important for bacterial growth.
• Cellular Dynamics International Inc., of Madison, Wis., and iPS Academia Japan Inc. have entered a nonexclusive licensing agreement for the iPSC patent portfolio arising out of the work of Shinya Yamanaka at the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application at Kyoto University. CDI is the first company worldwide licensed to access the key patents surrounding iPSC technology from the two stem cell pioneers, Yamanaka and James A. Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• NovaBay Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Emeryville, Calif., said that new preclinical data demonstrating the antiviral activity and stability of its Aganocide compounds were presented recently at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. NovaBay's Aganocide compounds are anti-infectives being developed for the treatment and prevention of antibiotic-resistant infections. Those broad-spectrum antimicrobials are in Phase II development for the treatment of conjunctivitis, or "pink eye," impetigo and catheter-associated urinary tract infections.
• VBL Therapeutics, of of Tel Aviv, Israel, said preclinical results evaluating VB-201 for the treatment of psoriasis showed it has significant anti-inflammatory properties that are active against psoriasis. A Phase II trial is under way. Data were presented at the Society for Investigative Dermatology annual meeting in Atlanta.