• Bend Research Inc., of Bend, Ore., licensed its spray-dried dispersion technology to Affinium Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Austin, Texas. The technology, used to improve the bioavailability of compounds with low aqueous solubility, has been used to advance oral formulations of Affinium's antibiotic, AFN-1252, to Phase II trials. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Biocon Ltd., of Bangalore, India, and Pfizer Inc., of New York, ended their alliance to commercialize Biocon's biosimilar versions of insulin and insulin analogue products, citing differing priorities for their respective biosimilars businesses. As of March 12, rights licensed to Pfizer reverted to Biocon, and insulin distributed under the brand names Univia and Glarvia became commercially available only from Biocon. Terms of the biosimilars deal, inked in October 2010, called for Pfizer to pay $200 million up front, with milestones of up to $150 million and additional payments related to sales of the insulin biosimilars. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 19, 2010.)

• Columbia Laboratories Inc., of Livingston, N.J., engaged Cowen and Co. LLC as its independent financial advisor to assist in evaluating possible strategic transactions. The company said it was generating revenue and holds more than $25 million in cash and equivalents, with no debt. Earlier this month, the company reduced staff after transferring to subsidiary Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Parsippany, N.J., the new drug application for progesterone vaginal gel 8 percent for use in the reduction of risk of preterm birth in women with a singleton gestation and a short uterine cervical length in midtrimester of pregnancy, which subsequently received a complete response letter from the FDA.

• Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc., of Cary, N.C., said the FDA accepted its new drug application for CRTX 080 in hyponatremia and assigned a PDUFA date of Oct. 29. CRTX 080 is a nonpeptide oral capsule designed to act specifically on the vasopressin-2 receptor in the kidneys, causing water to be excreted, while sparing sodium without affecting other electrolytes.

• Cytos Biotechnology Ltd., of Zurich, Switzerland, said its convertible bond restructuring is under way, with a payment of CHF2,500 (US$2,709) for each convertible bond of CHF5,000, effective March 20. Cytos will cancel treasury bonds valued at CHF31.3 million.

• Domain Therapeutics SA, of Strasbourg, France, said the ATHOS project, which Domain is leading to develop drug candidates and identify therapeutics for schizophrenia, will receive €5.1 million (US$6.7 million) over three years from the French government. The ATHOS project is focusing on orphan G protein-coupled receptors as a target for schizophrenia drugs.

• DSM Pharmaceutical Products, of Parsippany, N.J., the custom manufacturing business of Royal DSM NV, of Sittard, the Netherlands, signed a contract to manufacture commercial levels of talactoferrin for Agennix AG, of Planegg, Germany. DSM will continue to manufacture talactoferrin for use in ongoing clinical trials, including the FORTIS-M trial in non-small-cell lung cancer. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Epistem plc, of Manchester, UK, and GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London, signed a three-year biomarker collaboration in fibrosis research. The companies will seek to identify key characteristics of diseased fibrotic tissue using Epistem's RNA-Amp technology. The amplification technology is able to provide gene expression information from small tissue samples and low numbers of cells, such as those obtained from the bulb of cells at the base of a single hair follicle, as well as laser-captured microdissected samples. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Epizyme Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in White Plains, N.Y., said they achieved a preclinical milestone in their partnership to develop Epizyme's DOT1L-targeted histone methyltransferase inhibitor for mixed lineage leukemia. To date, Epizyme has received $2.6 million of a potential $7.5 million in funding to support the DOT1L program through Phase I.

• Hadasit Bio-Holdings Ltd., of Jerusalem, said its portfolio companies, Thrombotech Ltd. and BioMarCare Technologies Ltd., will receive additional funding of NIS6.1 million (US$1.6 million) from the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Office of the Chief Scientist, to support product development and advance clinical trials. Thrombotech recently received FDA clearance for a Phase IIa trial of clotbusting candidate THR-18, while BioMarCare is working on diagnostic kits for cancer identification based on PAR biomarkers found in blood.

• Orgenesis Inc., of Tel Aviv, Israel, said it gained rights to commercialize functional autologous insulin-producing cell regeneration technology in a licensing deal with Tel Hashomre – Medical Research, Infrastructure and Services Ltd. Terms were not disclosed.

• pSivida Corp., of Watertown, Mass., signed a technology evaluation agreement for its bioerodible Durasert ophthalmic drug delivery technology with ocular drug development company Neuron Systems Inc., of Burlington, Mass. The companies will evaluate the use of pSivida's technology as a delivery system in dry age-related macular degeneration. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, signed an agreement to acquire some assets from Gerot Lannach, an Austrian branded generics pharmaceutical company. Valeant will pay an amount equivalent to less than three times the sales of the assets, with up to $20 million in prospective milestone payments based on performance. Valeant and Gerot Lannach also will enter an exclusive 10-year supply agreement for the acquired products and the option for Valeant to introduce Gerot Lannach products to Valeant territories like Southeast Asia and Latin America.