• Aderis Pharmaceuticals, of Hopkinton, Mass., received a $2 million milestone payment from Fujisawa Healthcare Inc., of Deerfield, Ill., in connection with the final report from a Phase II study of DTI-0009, an adenosine A1 agonist being developed with Fujisawa to control heart rate during atrial fibrillation. The collaboration between Aderis and Fujisawa began in June 1999 when Fujisawa licensed the U.S. and Canadian rights to the intravenous formulation.

• Advanced Tissue Sciences Inc., of San Diego, said the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California confirmed the company's Chapter 11 liquidating plan of reorganization. The effective date of the plan is 5 p.m. EST on March 31. Also, it said the court approved the company's motion to allow the sale of its NouriCel product line and related intellectual property to SkinMedica Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif. SkinMedica will pay $7 million through a $5 million cash payment and a $2 million two-year promissory note secured by the assets purchased from Advanced Tissue. Advanced Tissue said in February it was filing for Chapter 11.

• Agenix Ltd., of Brisbane, Australia, said that its wholly owned subsidiary, AGEN Biomedical Ltd., won a A$1.98 million (US$1.1 million) Commonwealth Government START grant. The funding will be used to assist AGEN's development of ThromboView, its blood clot diagnostic imaging project that was studied in Brisbane Monday for the first time in a human. ThromboView uses a clot-binding monoclonal antibody attached to a radiolabel.

• Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, and Alkermes Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., reported preliminary pharmacokinetic results from the first Phase II study of exenatide LAR, formerly referred to as AC2993 LAR. Data verify that sustained levels of exenatide are possible and support the continuation of the Phase II program, the companies said. Based on such findings and previous clinical results, an investigational new drug application was submitted to the FDA to support an independent development program for exenatide LAR. The program's goal is to develop a sustained-release, subcutaneous injection of exenatide.

• Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, reported positive results in its pilot Phase I psoriasis trial. The National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., completed a study evaluating the systemic use of Paxceed (a Cremophor EL-free paclitaxel formulation) in severe psoriasis patients with a PASI (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index) score of 20 or greater and who had been treated with at least two other systemic agents. No concomitant therapies were allowed during the trial. All nine patients had a positive response. In the optimal dose regime group using 75 mg/m2 monthly, the average PASI score improved by 64 percent.

• AVI BioPharma Inc., of Portland, Ore., said it has planned three studies in 2003 with Neugene aimed at the c-myc target, including studies in restenosis, cancer and ocular indications. It also is planning to bring three new antisense drugs targeting West Nile virus, cholesterol lowering and prostate cancer into the clinic this year.

• Celera Diagnostics, of Alameda, Calif., a unit of Applera Corp., nonexclusively licensed a trio of polymerase patents from Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Specifically, U.S. Patent No. 5,631,128; 5,650,268; and 5,856,086 are directed to polymerase chain reaction assays for monitoring antiviral therapy and making therapeutic decisions for AIDS.

• CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Newtown, Pa., said Brian Gallagher, its chairman, CEO and president, will leave the company to pursue other interests. Gallagher has agreed to remain in his current position until a successor is appointed, and he will work with the company as a consultant during the transition period. Gallagher, who served as president and CEO since 1994, became chairman in 1999.

• ConjuChem Inc., of Montreal, began the multidose component of the Phase I/II trial program for its DAC:GLP-1 product. In the first part of the multidose component, three cohorts of healthy volunteers and patients will receive 2, 4 or 8 mcg/kg per day of DAC:GLP-1 for 14 days in an effort to build the plasma concentration of the drug to an efficacious level with minimum side effects. Once the target plasma concentration has been achieved, the second part will focus on determining the dosage required to maintain the efficacy with longer intervals between administrations. ConjuChem expects to report top-line preliminary data from the first part in the first half of this year and to begin the final portion immediately thereafter.

• Epicyte Pharmaceutical Inc., of San Diego, said at the Plant Made Pharmaceutical conference in Quebec City, Quebec, that its scientists identified the first pair of fully human antibodies capable of neutralizing the Clostridium difficile enterotoxins A and B. Epicyte said it plans to use its plant-based antibody manufacturing technology to produce the C. difficile toxin A and B monoclonal antibodies.

• Gene Logic Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., expanded its BioExpress solutions with the launch of its latest disease-specific information product, the BioExpress Inflammation Suite. The collection of gene expression information developed for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies focused on creating products that target the genomic mechanisms underlying inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

• GeneMax Corp., of Blaine, Wash., reported a contractual agreement with Molecular Medicine BioServices Inc., of San Diego, for the production of its clinical vector for delivery of the TAP genes (transporters associated with antigen processing) used in GeneMax's lead product, an immunotherapy aimed at a variety of carcinomas. The contract is based on production of sufficient vaccine to conduct the balance of preclinical work as well as Phase I/II trials.

• Genzyme General, a division of Genzyme Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., began enrollment in a trial evaluating the use of its Myozyme recombinant human acid alpha-glucosidase enzyme for Pompe disease. Called Study 1702, the U.S. and European trial will include up to 16 children ranging from 6 months to 3 years old. It is being conducted at medical centers in the U.S. and Europe. A second trial, Study 1602, is scheduled to begin this spring and will include up to 16 infants younger than 6 months at the time of their first infusion. Genzyme expects to complete enrollment in both studies this year.

• MDL Information Systems Inc., of San Leandro, Calif., signed a long-term agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, of Ingelheim, Germany, to provide software technology for managing and deploying chemical information systems. The agreement covers a package of MDL Discovery Framework technology, including MDL Relational Chemistry Server, MDL's data cartridge technology for searching molecules and reactions stored in Oracle databases.

• Oncolytics Biotech Inc., of Calgary, Alberta, reported that Don Morris and his research group with the Alberta Cancer Board and the University of Calgary published results of their work with the human reovirus for the removal of contaminating cancer cells from autologous blood stem cells in model systems. The results were published online in the March 13, 2003, issue of Blood.

• Oncomab Ltd., a subsidiary of PRIMaBioMed Ltd., of Victoria, Australia, and Medarex Inc., of Princeton, N.J., entered an agreement to jointly develop fully human antibodies for cancer and to jointly commercialize any resulting products. Oncomab and Medarex expect to share equally the costs of, as well as any future revenues arising from, the development of any antibody products.

• Paradigm Genetics Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., entered a collaboration to discover biomarkers for chronic liver disease with TissueInformatics Inc., of Pittsburgh. Paradigm will perform metabolomics studies on tissue, urine and plasma to identify disease-specific biochemical profiles. TissueInformatics will perform automated, quantitative analyses of tissue histopathology to identify disease-specific changes in tissue structure. They will jointly market resultant biomarkers. In a related agreement, TissueInformatics will provide tissue image analysis services to Paradigm for an upcoming toxicology study. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Prana Biotechnology Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, said that Schering AG, of Berlin, would fund and license discoveries of new drug targets, especially in the area of diagnostics, through an agreement with Prana and Neuroscience Victoria. Financial terms call for up to A$7.5 million (US$4.4 million) to be provided for discovery research over the life of the projects, with potential milestone payments and royalties from discoveries.

• Primagen Holding BV, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, received a contract to design and develop multiple molecular diagnostic tests for OncoGenome Sciences SA, of Liege, Belgium. The award encompasses the design of five genomics-based diagnostic tests to detect cancer at earlier stages and more accurately than available tests. The tests also will be designed to predict and monitor response to therapy for more individualized treatment decisions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Sigma-RBI, of St. Louis, a member of the Sigma-Aldrich family of companies, signed an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London, to provide organic compounds for cell signaling and neuroscience research. The products, originally developed and patented by GSK, will be made available to researchers through a license agreement with Sigma-RBI.