• Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, was awarded up to $2.4 million in a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for the development of estrogen receptor beta (ER-beta) agonists to treat neuropathic pain. Initially, Acadia will use the grant, awarded under the Fast-Track Small Business Innovative Research Cooperative Program in Translational Research, to examine the efficacy of selected ER-beta compounds in preclinical models. The next step will be to conduct preclinical studies to support future clinical trials.

• Astellas Pharma Inc., of Tokyo, completed its purchase of Maxygen Inc.'s 83.3 percent equity interest in Perseid Therapeutics LLC for $76 million. As part of a 2009 joint venture arrangement, the Redwood City, Calif.-based Maxygen transferred substantially all of its protein pharmaceutical programs, related assets and R&D personnel to Perseid and granted Astellas a buyout option that was to expire next year. Astellas exercised its option March 17, making Perseid a wholly owned subsidiary. (See BioWorld Today, March 18, 2011.)

• Venture firms Avlar Bioventures, of London, and Excalibur Fund Managers, of Cambridge, UK, formed a new virtual company, CBT Development Ltd., which will own all rights to oral compound BVT. 115959, an A2A agonist in diabetic neuropathic pain. A Phase II study of the drug is slated to start later this year. CBT will work with Frankfurt, Germany-based Ergomed GmbH on the clinical development, and Ergomed will be entitled to a share of commercial revenues generated should the compound make it to market.

• Cytheris SA, of Paris, and the Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network, an immunotherapy initiative funded by the National Cancer Institute, reported the selection of recombinant human interleukin-7 (CYT107), the investigational multifunctional cytokine under development by Cytheris, as one of the first immunotherapeutic agents proposed for initial clinical trials at network institutions.

• DBV Technologies, of Paris, said data from an animal study, published in the Journal of Immunology, confirmed the safety of its Viaskin epicutaneous immunotherapy approach to desensitizing against peanut allergy via a skin patch. Results showed a rapid allergen uptake by dendritic cells through intact skin and a down-regulation in allergen-specific responses in mice.

• ERYtech Pharma, of Lyon, France, inked an exclusive, long-term agreement with Jerusalem-based Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. for the registration, marketing, distribution and sale of Graspa, an enzyme formulation of L-asparaginase, in Israel. Specific financial terms were not disclosed, but Teva agreed to pay milestone payments in addition to sharing profit on the basis of the purchase price agreed with Teva.

• Foundation Medicine Inc., of Cambridge Mass., announced a collaboration with Celgene Corp., of Summit, N.J., focused on using Foundation Medicine's comprehensive clinical cancer genomics test in ongoing trials of Celgene drug candidates.

• GTx Inc., of Memphis, Tenn., reported results of a preclinical study, which demonstrated Capesaris achieved and maintained castration without evidence of gynecomastia, breast enlargement, in male cynomolgus monkeys. The data were presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association in Washington. GTx plans to begin an open-label Phase IIb trial this quarter comparing Capesaris, a selective estrogen receptor alpha agonist, with Lupron Depot (leuprolide acetate for depot suspension) in 156 men with advanced prostate cancer. The company expects to report data from the study in the fourth quarter.

• Merck & Co. Inc., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., and Roche AG, of Basel, Switzerland, agreed to collaborate to examine combinations of marketed and investigational medicines for new treatment regimens for hepatitis C virus. Under the terms of the nonexclusive agreements, Roche will promote Merck's newly approved protease inhibitor Victrelis (boceprevir) as part of a triple combination regimen.

• NeoStem Inc., of New York, announced that an affiliate entered into an agreement with Tianjin Nankai Hospital in China to offer NeoStem's licensed adult stem cell treatments for arthritis and orthopedic conditions.

• Pfizer Inc., of New York, reported that its new drug application for crizotinib, an oral anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor, has been accepted for filing and granted priority review status by the FDA and has been filed with the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for treatment of patients with ALK-positive advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

• SuppreMol GmbH, of Martinsried, Germany, closed an agreement to in license an antibody directed against interleukin 3 (IL-3) developed by the Molecular Immunology research group at the University of Regensburg, where a team recently demonstrated that IL-3 played an important role in the onset of rheumatoid arthritis.

• Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, expanded its collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMS), of New York, to include the evaluation of Tekmira's newly developed lipid nanoparticle formulations designed for delivery to tumors and other tissues outside the liver. The two companies also are expanding ongoing target validation to include additional cellular targets. Under the multiyear agreement signed last year, BMS is using small interfering RNA molecules formulated by Tekmira to silence target genes. BMS has a first right to negotiate a licensing agreement on certain RNAi products developed by Tekmira that evolve from the collaboration.