• Alba Therapeutics Corp., of Baltimore, said it was granted a certificate of registration for copyright of the first Patient Reported Outcome questionnaire for patients with celiac disease. The questionnaire will be used as part of the firm's clinical program testing larazotide acetate, a tight junction regulator. The drug is in a Phase IIb trial.

• AnaptysBio Inc., of San Diego, is partnering with Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, Calif., to develop new antibody therapeutics. Under the partnership, AnaptysBio will use its SHM-XEL platform to generate antibodies that will be transferred to Gilead for worldwide development and commercialization. AnaptysBio received an up-front payment and is eligible for research funding, development milestone payments and royalties. Specific financial terms weren't disclosed.

• Axerion Therapeutics Inc., of New Haven, Conn., entered a research collaboration agreement with MedImmune Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca plc, to develop and commercialize a biologic therapy for Alzheimer's disease. Under the agreement, AstraZeneca's Neuroscience Innovative Medicines Unit has an exclusive sublicense to research, develop and commercialize a preclinical biologic targeting the binding of A-beta oligomers to prions. In exchange, AstraZeneca will make up-front and milestone payments and provide research payments. Axerion will be eligible for royalties on product sales.

• Caisson Biotech LLC, of Austin, Texas, licensed exclusive rights to its heparosan-based drug delivery platform to Novo Nordisk A/S, of Bagsvaerd, Denmark, to engineer and develop new drug compounds. Caisson will receive an up-front payment plus research and manufacturing payments. It also will be eligible for clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone payments for a potential deal total of more than $100 million.

• ImmuVen Inc., of Champaign, Ill., said it received a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant totaling $1.68 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for continuing development of IMV0123, its therapeutic program against superantigens produced by methicillin-sensitive and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcal aureus. The grant continues work previously supported by a Phase I SBIR award and is expected to get IMV0123 through a pre-investigational new drug application meeting with the FDA, in addition to completing major preclinical milestones.

• Lorus Therapeutics Inc., of Toronto, said it inked a global license with Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, a unit of Roche AG, regarding certain patents owned by Genentech for IL-17E. The agreement will enable Lorus to develop the program in cancer. Financial terms were not disclosed. Shares of Lorus closed Tuesday at C50 cents (US51 cents), up C24 cents, or 92 percent.

• Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc., of Bethesda, Md., received a $5.5 million grant from the Saxony Development Bank in Germany to help fund a clinical trial for DCVax-L for glioblastoma multiforme at up to 30 sites in Germany. One of the largest awards given by the bank, the grant also will cover half the cost of manufacturing the dendritic cell-based vaccine at the Fraunhofer Institute's facilities in Germany. The clinical sites in Germany will become part of a 240-patient Phase II trial already under way in the U.S.

• Pfenex Inc., of San Diego, said the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority exercised an option to extend its July 2010 contract supporting development of Pfenex Expression Technology. Under that option, Pfenex will continue developing an rPA-based anthrax vaccine from Pseudomonas fluorescence.

• Senesco Technologies Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., reported that SNS01-T combined with an optimal dose of Revlimid (lenalidomide, Celgene Corp.) eradicated tumors in 83 percent of mice in a model of human multiple myeloma. When given alone, SNS01-T eliminated tumors in 40 percent of the animals. Lenalidomide by itself didn't eliminate any tumors. The median survival of mice treated with control nanoparticles or 15 mg/kg lenalidomide was 48 days and 53 days, respectively. Mice treated with either SNS01-T alone or SNS01-T/lenalidomide had 100 percent survival after six weeks of dosing and 11 days of observation following the treatment.