• BioMicro Systems Inc., of Salt Lake City, completed its initial round of financing by adding $1.5 million worth of shares to the private placement, bringing the total financing to $4.5 million. BioMicro, a microfluidic analysis technology developer, will use the funding to hire key management and additional support staff for its programs in genomics, drug development, proteomics and diagnostics.

• Bioniche Life Sciences Inc., of Belleville, Ontario, was granted regulatory approval to begin studies of its mycobacterial cell wall complex composition technology, its lead anticancer technology, for the treatment of prostate cancer. The Phase I study will include up to 24 patients with clinically localized prostate cancer and will be in Canada.

• Epimmune Inc., of San Diego, said its researchers and scientists from the Scripps Research Institute, of La Jolla, Calif., reported results in the Journal of Immunology from studies that indicate an epitope-based vaccine approach can overcome the immune tolerance to chronic hepatitis B virus in an animal model. Epitopes that had amino acid sequences known to activate cytotoxic T cells from the hepatitis B virus were identified using Epimmune's Epitope Identification System. Epimmune's stock (NASDAQ:EPMN) more than doubled on the news, rising $2.562, or 102 percent, to close at $5.062.

• GPC Biotech AG, of Martinsried, Germany, entered a five-year target identification and drug discovery alliance with Byk Gulden, the pharmaceuticals group of Altana AG, of Constance, Germany. GPC will contribute its functional genomics platform to Byk Gulden's efforts to identify tumor-specific targets that, when inhibited, selectively cause apoptosis in cancer cells. The deal, valued at up to $100 million, includes a single-digit up-front payment in the millions for GPC, research support over five years and research milestones in addition to clinical milestones valued at about $60 million. GPC also will receive royalties from marketed products, and will have exclusive development rights for drug targets resulting from the alliance not selected by Byk Gulden.

• Icogen Corp., of Seattle, said it entered its fifth agreement with HemeBiotech A/S, of Stockholm, Sweden, and Denmark, to develop a cell-based system for the production of a therapeutic protein.

• Idun Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Keystone, Colo., said evidence suggests caspase inhibitors may have therapeutic potential for treatment of heart disease. Administration of a caspase inhibitor decreased the magnitude of heart muscle damage by more than 50 percent, the company said, in a rat model of simulated heart attack.

• LION bioscience AG, of Heidelberg, Germany, licensed its database integration platform, SRS, to TheScientificWorld for use in a web portal for text-based information search and retrieval functionality.

• Novogen Ltd., of Stamford, Conn., with global headquarters in Australia, received a $2 million grant from the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Resources to expedite the further development of its anti-inflammatory drug, NV-07. The grant was made under the R&D Start program and administered through Australia's Industry Research and Development Board. NV-07 has demonstrated in preclinical trials an ability to undo underlying damage to skin caused by exposure to ultraviolet light or harmful chemicals.

• Phogen Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, and atugen AG, of Berlin, entered a collaboration to evaluate Phogen's VP22 Vectosome technology for the intracellular delivery of atugen's GeneBloc molecules for applications in functional genomics. Phogen's Vectosome will be used by atugen to deliver oligonucleotide-based GeneBlocs into cells to test the GeneBlocs function. The German company also has an option to take a license for the technology for use in target validation screens. Financial terms were undisclosed.

• Sangamo BioSciences Inc., of Richmond, Calif., said an article describing the use of its zinc finger DNA binding proteins (ZFPs) published online in The Journal of Biological Chemistry indicates the proteins can regulate the production of vascular endothelial growth factor A and may be useful as a cardiovascular disease treatment. Vascular endothelial growth factor A plays a role in the formation of new blood vessels.

• Sequenom Inc., of San Diego, and GlaxoSmithKline plc, of Brentford, UK, entered a collaboration to screen about 500 identified single nucleotide polymorphisms and about 900 DNA samples from Type II diabetes mellitus patients and controls provided by GlaxoSmithKline. Sequenom will validate the SNPs and screen them against DNA samples using the company's automated assay development process and MassARRAY technology. Financial terms of the collaboration were undisclosed.

• SkyePharma plc, of London, entered an agreement with Meditech Research Ltd., of Australia, to commercialize Solaraze, SkyePharma's treatment for acute keratosis, in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore. SkyePharma agreed to accept 15 percent of commercial or licensing revenue from Solaraze. In addition, Meditech and SkyePharma agreed to a nonexclusive license for SkyePharma's HIT Technology for use in its HyACT program to increase anticancer agent efficacy.

• The Institute for the Study of Aging, of New York, said it will offer $1 million in funding to the biotechnology industry through a request for proposals program. The funding is earmarked for drug discovery and development efforts for cognitive aging and Alzheimer's disease. The deadline for receipt of applications is April 15. Details are available at www.aging-institute.org.