* ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., has achievedits first milestone in its bone disease collaboration with HoechstMarion Roussel Inc., of France. Under the terms of the agreement,ARIAD will receive a $2 million cash payment within 30 days ofreaching the milestone.

* North American Vaccine, of Beltsville, Md., and Chiron Behring,GmbH & Co., of Marburg, Germany, have signed a definitiveagreement for Chiron Behring to market North American Vaccine'sdiphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine.

* Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc., of Collegeville, Pa., said its drug,Rilutek, one year after it received marketing clearance from the FDA,has, through The Rilutek Early Access Program, been distributed freeof charge to approximately 8,000 patients worldwide. Rilutek treatsamyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which results in muscle atrophy,paralysis, respiratory failure and, ultimately, death.

* MedImmune Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., has completed enrollmentof 1,503 patients in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlledPhase III trial called Impact-RSV. The trial is being conducted at 139medical centers in the U.S., Canada and the UK to evaluate amonoclonal antibody known as Medi-493 for the prevention ofserious respiratory syncytial virus disease in certain high-risk infants.

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