• The ALS Therapy Development Foundation, of Newton, Mass., and Kiminobu Sugaya of the University of Illinois at Chicago will work to apply developments in Sugaya's work with human stem cells to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research. Researchers at the foundation will inject Sugaya's stem cells into mice bred with a form of ALS. The mice will be observed after 100 days to see if the disease is prevented or delayed.

• Antares Pharma Inc., of Exton, Pa., received a notice from the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Staff indicating that the company fails to comply with the independent directors and audit committee composition requirements for continued listing. Specifically, one of Antares' directors who is a member of the audit committee does not meet the independence standard because, within the previous three years, he was chief operating officer of Permatec Holding AG, which Antares Pharma combined with in 2001. Because the member will become eligible for independent director status in October, Antares Pharma is in discussions with Nasdaq regarding a waiver on the issue.

• Avant Immunotherapeutics Inc., of Needham, Mass., and partner DynPort Vaccine Company LLC, of Frederick, Md., were awarded two additional subcontracts for their anthrax and plague vaccine efforts for the U.S. Department of Defense. The first award of $344,000 covers stability testing of DVC's injectable anthrax vaccine, which began Phase I testing in October. The second, for about $1.3 million, supports preclinical animal testing of vaccine constructs being developed by Avant for an oral combination vaccine against anthrax and plague. Avant's stock (NASDAQ:AVAN) rose 48.6 cents Friday, or 19 percent, to close $3.05.

• BioTransplant Inc., of Medford, Mass., reported that scientists from Immerge BioTherapeutics, the company's joint venture with Novartis Pharma AG, of Basel, Switzerland, recently reported results from two studies highlighting advances in xenotransplantation. In one study, Immerge researchers reversed insulin dependence in diabetic nonhuman primates through the transplantation of porcine islet cells. In another study, scientists identified the receptors for porcine endogenous retrovirus, a virus that has shown the ability to infect some human cells in vitro.

• Enhance Biotech Inc., of New York, completed enrollment in a Phase IIa trial of its lead compound, LIF-301, for the treatment of premature ejaculation (PE). LIF-301 has a unique mode of action for PE, affecting disturbed or maladaptive 5-HT2C receptor properties in specific brain areas, which research indicates is a primary cause of PE, the company said. Enhance Biotech in the study enrolled 40 couples, of which one member has been clinically determined to suffer from PE.

• Evolutionary Genomics, of Aurora, Colo., was awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant by the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va. The grant will support a project with the goal of enabling AIDS drug development based on the genetic factors underlying the successful adaptations by humans' closest primate relatives, chimpanzees, to HIV-type viruses. The company will use its Adapted Traits technology, which entails screening genomic data for rare genes responsible for adaptations.

• Exact Sciences Corp., of Maynard, Mass., said the Clinical Colorectal Cancer Journal published results from a recent study of the company's PreGen-Plus technology in a population at average risk for developing colorectal cancer. PreGen demonstrated a sensitivity of 64 percent for invasive cancer and a specificity of more than 96 percent. The sensitivity for invasive cancer was comparable across all stages of disease, with sensitivity for node-negative disease of 72 percent and sensitivity for advanced disease of 44 percent.

• ICOS Corp., of Bothell, Wash., entered a biologics manufacturing agreement with Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis. ICOS will manufacture two clinical candidates being developed by Lilly. The ICOS clinical manufacturing facility in Bothell houses areas designed for cGMP production and purification of both cell culture and microbial fermentation products and can accommodate microbial fermentation up to 1,600 liters and cell culture production up to 3,000 liters.

• Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Vancouver, British Columbia, completed its acquisition of GlycoDesign Inc., of Toronto. The merger was announced in April and valued GlycoDesign at C$12.8 million (US$8.7 million at the time). Inflazyme issued about 22 million shares in the deal. (See BioWorld Today, April 10, 2003.)

• Introgen Therapeutics Inc., of Austin, Texas, said a report of final Phase I and initial Phase II evaluation of Introgen's cancer drug, INGN 241, was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy in Washington. The trial results in patients with solid tumors demonstrated that INGN 241 was well tolerated, that the agent was biologically active, and that minimal toxicities were associated with the treatment, Introgen said.

• Linden Bioscience, a division of Linden Technologies Inc., of Woburn, Mass., said its solid phase transcription chain reaction technology is undergoing evaluation at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md. Institute researchers are investigating the relationship between a tumor and its blood supply by focusing on tumor cell-endothelial cell interactions.

• Lorus Therapeutics Inc., of Toronto, published the results of experimental studies in mouse models bearing human tumors treated with GTI-2040, its lead antisense compound. The results appear in the June 2003 issue of Cancer Research and demonstrated the highly specific antitumor activity of the compound when used to treat 12 different human tumors, including renal, breast and colon cancers.

• Oncolytics Biotech Inc., of Calgary, Alberta, said it sold all of its approximately 6.9 million shares of Transition Therapeutics Inc., of Toronto, for proceeds of about C$2.6 million (US$1.9 million). The shares were sold by Oncolytics in a private transaction with various investors. Oncolytics is focused on developing Reolysin, its formulation of the human reovirus, as a cancer therapeutic.

• Paradigm Genetics Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., received notice from the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. that Paradigm's common stock is now in compliance with the $1 minimum closing bid price requirement. In April, Paradigm received notification from Nasdaq granting the company an extension until July 3, to re-establish compliance with the minimum bid price requirement. Paradigm's technologies are used to increase productivity of the product development cycle.

• The Research & Education Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., identified a disease mechanism underlying Graves' disease that may open the door to new therapies for it and possibly other autoimmune disorders, including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. An article appearing in the June 15, 2003, issue of the Journal of Immunology describes research that for the first time identifies an interaction between immunoglobulins found in Graves' patients and the insulin-like growth factor receptor as a cause of inflammation and lymphocyte infiltration, the institute said.

• Revotar Biopharmaceuticals AG, of Hennigsdorf, Germany, and the Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University of Greifswald, Germany, began a collaboration on the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds with biological activity. The chemistry group will interact with the molecular modeling and medicinal chemistry groups of Revotar.

• Targeted Genetics Corp., of Seattle, presented data from its synthetic lipid-based gene delivery program at the annual meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy in Washington. Also, positive data were presented in support of its AIDS vaccine programs. Studies presented preclinical results that demonstrated the safety profile and immune response of its preventive HIV vaccine candidate, tgAAC09, which is based on recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vector technology. It said it plans to initiate a Phase I AAV-based AIDS vaccine trial in the second half of the year. Its stock (NASDAQ:TGEN) rose $1.59 Friday, or 66 percent, to close at $4.

• Transgene SA, of Strasbourg, France, and the French Muscular Dystrophy Association presented results of their Phase I trial on gene transfer for Duchenne/Becker's muscular dystrophy at the annual meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy in Washington. The results demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to obtain local expression of dystrophin in patients with Duchenne/Becker's muscular dystrophy following the administration of a plasmid containing the human dystrophin gene, without any detectable immune reaction observed under the trial's experimental dosing and time conditions.