• Adherex Technologies Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., completed a 1-for-18 reverse stock split, reducing the number of outstanding shares from about 452.8 million to about 25.2 million. The company expects its shares to begin trading on a consolidation-adjusted basis on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Pink Sheets on or about Aug. 30.

• Dendreon Corp., of Seattle, said the FDA approved its Atlanta cancer immunotherapy manufacturing facility, the company's third location for producing prostate cancer vaccine Provenge (sipuleucel-T). Dendreon also has facilities in New Jersey and Los Angeles.

• Medivir AB, of Huddinge, Sweden, said recent acquisition BioPhausia AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, agreed to sell its generics business in the form of subsidiary BMM Pharma AB to Bluefish Pharmaceuticals AB, also of Stockholm, for SEK26 million (US$4.1 million), plus the value of inventories. The move is aimed at focusing BioPhausia's business. Medivir bought BioPhausia earlier this year in a cash and stock deal valued at about $90 million. (See BioWorld Today, April 13, 2011.)

• Nabi Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of Rockville, Md., said its board adopted a stockholders' rights agreement designed to preserve its substantial net operating loss tax assets. As of Dec. 25, 2010, Nabi had net operating loss carry-forwards of about $178 million, which, unless otherwise restricted, can be used in certain circumstances to offset future U.S. taxable income. The company said its ability to use those tax attributes would be substantially limited should the firm undergo an ownership change.

• NeuroHealing Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Newton, Mass., received a grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research to advance the clinical development of NH004, specifically a multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study testing the drug in Parkinson's patients suffering from sialorrhea. NH004 is a version of tropicamide delivered in a thin film designed to adhere and slowly dissolve within the oral cavity to help reduce saliva secretions.

• SyntheMed Inc., of Ringwood, N.J., said stockholders approved the planned merger with Pathfinder LLC, of Cambridge, Mass. Following the reverse merger, Pathfinder Cell Therapy Inc. will emerge as the newly public firm and will focus on developing so-called pathfinder cells to treat diseases characterized by organ-specific cell damage such as diabetes, renal disease and myocardial infarction. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 27, 2010.)