Centocor Inc., of Malvern, Pa., said ReoPro, an anti-platelet drug,has been cleared for marketing in Germany and France for high-riskangioplasty patients. Centocor is selling the drug in collaborationwith Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis. ReoPro also is approved inthe U.K. and is on the market in the U.S., Sweden, The Netherlands.

Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., won another round in its on-going patent dispute with International Murex Technologies Corp., ofAtlanta, related to hepatitis C (HCV) screening tests. The DistrictCourt in The Hague has issued an injunction against Murexpreventing it from selling its HCV tests in Holland, Belgium, Spainand France. Last December, International Murex was enjoined fromselling its HCV tests in the U.K.

GenVec Inc., of Rockville, Md., said its gene therapy vector underdevelopment for treatment of cystic fibrosis was granted orphan drugstatus by the FDA. GenVec's adenovirus-based vector is in Phase Itrials.

Xoma Corp., of Berkeley, Calif., said it completed a cross-licensingagreement for antibody engineering technologies with Enzon Inc., ofPiscataway, N.J., and Creative BioMolecules Inc., of Hopkinton,Mass. Xoma gets rights to single-chain antigen-binding proteins andrelated technologies of Enzon and Creative BioMolecules forproducts targeting T cells. In return, Enzon and CreativeBioMolecules were granted rights to Xoma's bacterial secretiontechnology for production of single-chain antigen-binding protein.

Pharma Mar, S.A., of Madrid, and the Pasteur Institute, of Paris,entered a collaboration to study Pharma Mar's compounds,dehydrodidemin B, for treating HIV.

* Viral Technologies Inc., of Alexandria, Va., a jointly ownedsubsidiary of Cel-Sci Corp. and Alpha 1 Biomedicals Inc., reacquiredFar Eastern marketing rights to HGP-30, a potential HIVvaccine/treatment.

* Genta Inc., of San Diego, completed a previously announcedoffering of 4.7 million shares of common stock to overseasinstitutional investors, grossing $8 million.

* Neurex Corp., of Menlo Park, Calif., was given an OK by the FDAto resume Phase II trials of SNX-111, administered intravenously, forprevention of brain damage. The hold was put on earlier this yearbecause certain patients experienced reduced blood pressure.

* Quintiles Transnational Corp., of Morrisville, N.C., completed itspreviously announced acquisition of Benefit International S.A., ofFrance.

* Diatech Inc., of Londonberry, N.H., was awarded a Small BusinessInnovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health tofund experiments aimed at synthetic peptide analogs of interleukin-8.

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.