• Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, said the European Medicines Agency accepted for filing the firm's marketing authorization application for obesity drug lorcaserin. The company also said the FDA confirmed the scheduling of an Endocrinology and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting to discuss the lorcaserin new drug application resubmission on May 10. Lorcaserin, a selective serotonin 2C receptor agonist, is partnered with Eisai Inc., of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., and previously received a complete response letter from the FDA. The resubmitted application has a PDUFA date of June 27. Shares of Arena (NASDAQ:ARNA) gained 60 cents, or 24.9 percent, to close Monday at $3.01. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 23, 2010.)

• GenVec Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., said it received a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to support the firm's malaria vaccine program. The grant, valued at about $600,000 over two years, will be used to identify highly protective antigens for malaria vaccine development and will build on research started under a Small Business Innovation Research grant awarded from the NIAID in 2009.

• Hemispherx Biopharma Inc., of Philadelphia, said data published in the Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research showed recombinant interferons induced seroconversion with the generation of neutralizing antibodies (NABs) in 17.2 percent of patients studied compared to an incidence of 0.2 percent for antibodies induced against natural interferons like the company's Alferon N injection. The fraction of relapsed and refractory patients was greater in the NAB-positive group vs. NAB-negative patients (p < 0.0001).

• Nuvilex Inc., of Silver Spring, Md., said a recent publication in the Journal of Controlled Release described a new system for induction of gene expression from associate SG Austria and its research partners. The process involves the stimulation of pre-programmed living cells, encapsulated using the Cell-in-a-Box technology, to express therapeutic genes under the control of a heat-shock protein inducible promoter. By simultaneously co-encapsulating pre-programmed cells and magnetic nanoparticles, and then subjecting the nanoparticles to an alternating magnetic field, it caused a temporary increase in temperature inside the capsules, which resulted in the specialized heat-shock proteins in the cells inducing expression of the therapeutic genes.

• Pharming Group NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, said it entered an agreement with Hyupjin Corp., of Seoul, South Korea, to commercialize Ruconest (recombinant human C1 inhibitor) for the treatment of acute attacks of hereditary angioedema in South Korea. Under the terms, Hyupjin will drive the regulatory approval in South Korea and will purchase its commercial supplies from Pharming at a fixed transfer price. Specific financial terms were not disclosed.

• Provectus Pharmaceuticals Inc., Knoxville, Tenn., said nonclinical data presented at the Society of Surgical Oncology meeting in Orlando, Fla., confirmed that PV-10 chemoablation of melanoma lesions led to a systemic response and induced systemic antitumor activity. In particular, an immune-mediated antitumor response was observed, including induction of tumor-specific interferon-gamma production by splenocytes derived after PV-10 treatment compared to control.

• Raptor Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Novato, Calif., said the European Medicines Agency accepted for review the marketing authorization application for RP103 (cysteamine bitartrate gastroresistant capsules) as a potential treatment of nephropathic cystinosis. The submission includes data from Raptor's Phase III trial in which RP103 met the primary endpoint with no unexpected serious safety concerns. The company said it remains on track to file a new drug application for RP103 by the end of this month.

• Sunshine Biopharma Inc., of Montreal, reported in vitro data showing that Adva-27a efficiently killed multidrug-resistant breast cancer cells. Data were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Chicago.

• Verenium Corp., of San Diego, said it completed a transaction with DSM Food Specialties BV, a group of Royal DSM NV, of Sittard, the Netherlands, selling its oilseed processing business, licensing enzymes for use in the food and beverage markets and providing access to gene libraries to be developed by Verenium. Under the terms, Verenium will get $37 million in total consideration.

• Vivus Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., said a marketing authorization application was accepted for review by the European Medicines Agency for avanafil in erectile dysfunction. The submission follows the completion of a Phase III program enrolling more than 1,350 patients. Vivus previously submitted a new drug application for the drug, a PDE5 inhibitor, which has an FDA action date next month.