• Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it believes the complaint filed by partner Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, alleging misappropriation and misuse of information and trade secrets is without merit or foundation. Alnylam said it intends to defend itself in the matter. Tekmira's complaint includes allegations that Alnylam disclosed its LNP formulation manufacturing instructions to at least one third-party collaborator and incorporated Tekmira's confidential information into its own patent filing. Tekmira is seeking substantial damages, including future milestones and royalties that could exceed $1 billion. In the meantime, Tekmira said it will meet its contractual obligations related to the manufacturing of certain Alnylam development-stage and clinical pipeline products, and Alnylam is maintaining its guidance regarding its pipeline, partnership and cash goals. The companies have been working together since 2007. Alnylam has invested about $45 million in funding, including equity purchases, and about $6 million in 2010 for manufacturing, in exchange for a license to Tekmira's intellectual property. Alnylam also has an exclusive research and discovery deal with Tekmira on lipid nanoparticle formulations.

• Epistem plc, of Manchester, UK, is collaborating with Sanofi-Aventis U.S. Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., part of the Sanofi-Aventis Group, on the use of Epistem's biomarker gene expression profiling and immunohistochemistry technologies. Under the terms of the three-year collaboration, Epistem will provide discovery through to clinical biomarker support for Sanofi oncology programs and may receive up to $4 million in research support payments.

• TaiMed Biologics Inc., of Taipei, Taiwan, and Ambrilia Biopharma Inc., of Montreal, inked an agreement under which TaiMed will acquire exclusive worldwide rights to manufacture, develop and commercialize both protease inhibitor and integrase inhibitor programs for HIV. Under the terms, Ambrilia will get $250,000 up front and could receive up to an additional $7.6 million in development, regulatory and sales milestones, plus tiered royalties on worldwide product sales.