• Access Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Dallas, rebranded its Cobalamin targeted-drug delivery technology as CobaCyte and submitted additional patent applications for its improved CobaCyte formulations, including siRNA compositions.

• BAC BV, of Naarden, the Netherlands, completed a feasibility study with positive results under its collaboration with Genmab AS, of Copenhagen, Denmark. BAC developed CaptureSelect custom affinity ligands for use in monitoring drug candidates in preclinical studies and clinical trials based on Genmab's UniBody antibody technology.

• Cardium Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, gained exclusive rights to certain supramacromolecular polymer complexes enabling regulatable and localized topical delivery of nitric oxide for prolonged periods of one to three weeks, which should broaden the company's wound healing and tissue regeneration portfolio. Terms were not disclosed.

• CPEX Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Exeter, N.H., said its board is continuing its review of strategic alternatives, which includes a potential sale, merger or other business combination of CPEX with a third party or a monetization of the company's assets, including its rights to receive royalties and milestone payments.

• iCo Therapeutics Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said the FDA granted orphan drug designation to iCo-009, an oral formulation of amphotericin B, an antifungal, as a treatment for visceral leishmaniasis.

• Kinaxo Biotechnologies GmbH, of Martinsried, Germany, and Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, entered a long-term partnership in cancer research under which Daiichi will employ Kinaxo's technology platform to support the development of its targeted cancer drugs. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Ligon Discovery Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., partnered with Berlin-based Bayer Schering Pharma AG to apply its small-molecule microarray screening platform to discover candidates for new disease targets. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• MediGene AG, of Martinsried, Germany, is restructuring its business, which includes cutting its work force from 107 employees to 55 and reducing costs, in an effort to strengthen its drug pipeline through a strategic transaction. The estimated one-off restructuring cost will incur in full in 2010 and is estimated to be about €1 million (US$1.36 million), with cost savings of at least €5 million per year.

• Ondine Biopharma Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, plans to consolidate its issued and outstanding common shares and to change its name to Ondine Biomedical Inc. to more accurately reflect the nature of its operations. Ondine, does not anticipate changing its trading symbol. Under the proposed consolidation, every 15 existing shares will be consolidated into one new share. The company currently has 126,796,145 common shares issued and outstanding, and on completion following receipt of regulatory approvals, Ondin would have about 8,453,042.

• Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y., reported that the FDA, the European Medicines Agency and Health Canada approved single-use, prefilled syringes of Relistor (methylnaltrexone bromide) subcutaneous injection for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation (OIC) in palliative care patients with advanced illness. The drug already is approved in single-use vials for the treatment of OIC in patients with advanced illness who are receiving palliative care, when response to laxative therapy has not been sufficient. (See BioWorld Today, April 28, 2008.)

• Repros Therapeutics Inc., of The Woodlands, Texas, said its board approved a 1-for-4 reverse split of its common stock, expected Oct. 14, as part of the company's plan to regain compliance with the $1 minimum bid price required for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Beginning Oct. 15, Repros' common stock will trade for 20 trading days under ticker symbol "RPRXD" to provide notice of the reverse stock split. After that, the symbol will revert to "RPRX."

• Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, was granted an additional 180-day period, or until March 28, 2011 , to regain compliance with the $1 per share minimum bid price rule for continued listing on Nasdaq. Sunesis has met all other listing criteria.

• Tengion Inc., of East Norriton, Pa., reported preclinical data showing that its Neo-Kidney Augment development program demonstrated success with an autologous cellular therapy approach to kidney regeneration in a rodent model of obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Results showed that, at 1 year of age, the treated animals have shown improved kidney function, delayed disease progression and better survival compared to the age- and disease-matched untreated control animals. Those data were presented at the Symposium on Stem Cell Translation of the International Society for Cellular Therapy in San Francisco.

• YM BioSciences Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, said licensee Pulmokine Inc., of Slingerlands, N.Y., was awarded two National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research grants totaling more than $650,000. The Phase I awards are intended to help develop treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension using compounds originating from YM's small-molecule library.