• Addex Therapeutics SA, of Geneva, received a CHF700,000 (US$747,536) grant from the Swiss Comission for Technology and Innovation for development of allosteric modulators for neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. The company will work with the Centre for Psychiatric Neuroscience at the University of Lausanne and the Laboratory for the Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. The project's goal will be to find modulators of mGluR4 and mGluR7. The mGluR4 group will be evaluated for potential in Parkinson's disease.

• Aeterna Zentaris Inc., of Quebec City, said preclinical data on its oral prostate cancer vaccine candidate, AEZS-120, were presented at the Congress of the Société Internationale d'Urologie, which is being held in Fukuoka, Japan. The presentation underlined the feasibility of an oral therapeutic vaccination approach against prostate cancer. Safety pharmacology and toxicology data suggested that the profile of AEZS-120 is similar to the approved carrier strain and, therefore, pave the way for Phase I testing, the company said.

• BioInvent International AB, of Lund, Sweden, will refocus its operations to achieve self-financing in advance of external costs for future clinical studies. It will concentrate on developing new antibody-based cancer drugs, and will increase efforts to create new partnerships around its n-CoDeR antibody library. The restructuring will reduce the company's expenses to around SEK75 million (US$11 .3 million) next year. The company also will reduce its headcount by another 20 employees. In July, BioInvent cut its staff by 21.

• Cell Therapeutics Inc. (CTI), of Seattle, said the FDA granted orphan drug designation to Opaxio (paclitaxel poliglumex), formerly known as Xyotax, in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) based on preliminary activity seen in Phase II results of Opaxio when added to standard therapy (temozolamide, or TMZ, plus radiation). The study showed encouraging progression-free and overall survival among patients with GBM, including those whose tumors expressed unmethylated MGMT. A randomized multicenter Phase II trial is under way in patients with GBM with unmethylated MGMT comparing standard TMZ and radiation to Opaxio and radiation. On Tuesday, CTI's shares (NASDAQ:CTIC) opened 20 percent higher on the news before edging lower to close at $2.52, a gain of 29 cents, or 13 percent, on the day.

• Celladon Corp., of San Diego, and Lonza, of Basel, Switzerland, entered a process transfer and GMP manufacturing agreement. Under the terms, Lonza will manufacture Mydicar (AAV1/SERCA2a) for use in future clinical trials. In the event Celladon intends to commence commercial scale manufacture of Mydicar, Celladon and Lonza have agreed to negotiate a commercial scale supply agreement. Mydicar is a genetically targeted enzyme replacement therapy intended to restore levels of SERCA2a, a regulator of calcium cycling in the heart and cardiac contractility, which declines in all forms of late-stage heart failure, resulting in deficient heart function.

• Cellectis SA, of Paris, said the Journal of Biological Chemistry published the firm's approach regarding the targeted modification of DNA2. The company's TALENs technology previously had been able to target only certain parts of the genome, but a team of researchers discovered a way of overcoming that restraint, which the firm said will open the way to a wider range of applications, especially in the therapeutic field.

• ChemoCentryx Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., reported preclinical results showing that its CCR2 chemokine receptor inhibitor, CCX872, improved renal function in an in vivo model of diabetic nephropathy. The results were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting in Berlin.

• Cleveland BioLabs Inc., of Buffalo, N.Y., and Incuron LLC, of Moscow, a joint venture of CBL and Bioprocess Capital Ventures, said the FDA granted orphan drug status to CBL0102 (quinacrine) for hepatocellular carcinoma. The companies are conducting a Phase I trial of the drug in Russia for liver metastases of solid epithelial tumors, or primary advanced hepatic carcinoma. The trial is on its sixth dosing cohort.

• DARA BioSciences Inc., of Raleigh, N.C., said it regained compliance with the minimum bid price of $1 for continued listing on Nasdaq. In light of that development, the firm said it canceled a Nov. 8 stockholders' meeting scheduled to consider a reverse stock split proposal.

• Depomed Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif., converted its full-time, contract sales representative sales force to direct Depomed employees. Prior to conversion, those sales reps were employees of Ventiv Commercial Services LLC, and were provided to Depomed pursuant to a service agreement. Ventiv continues to provide Depomed's flex sales representatives under the terms of the service agreement.

• GenVec Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., signed an agreement worth about $3.5 million with the Naval Medical Research Center to support malaria vaccine development. Under the terms, GenVec is responsible for producing clinical supplies of its malaria vaccine. GenVec retains the right to commercialize the technology, which uses an adenovector delivery system that is capable of generating strong immune responses while avoiding the problems of vector-specific immunity that has hampered other vectored vaccines, the company said.

• Mallinckrodt, of Hazelwood, Mo., the pharmaceuticals business of Covidien, completed its acquisition of CNS Therapeutics Inc., of St. Paul, Minn., for about $100 million. Mallinckrodt said CNS will complement its branded portfolio.

• Medicure Inc., of Winnipeg, Manitoba, plans to file a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for the high-dose bolus of Aggrastat (tirofiban Hcl) for acute coronary syndrome. The sNDA will request addition of the high-dose bolus regimen to the prescribing information for Aggrastat. The company also said the FDA granted the company's request to waive $979,400 in application fees.

• Metabolic Solutions Development Co. LLC, of Kalamazoo, Mich., said researchers identified a mitochondrial target through which insulin sensitizers achieve their antidiabetic effects. New insights into that protein complex and its role in metabolic signaling are expected to enable the pursuit of alternative approaches to the discovery of insulin sensitizing agents. Data supporting that finding were presented at the European Association for the Study Diabetes meeting in Berlin. The complex is being referred to as the mitochondrial target of thiazolidinediones, or the brand name mTOT.

• Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, implemented a push to accelerate and expand patient access to Dificid (fidaxomicin) tablets through a hospital-contracting initiative, and separately launched a new project analyzing the burden of Clostridium difficile infection. Approved by the FDA in May 2011, the drug is the only treatment approved by the FDA that indication. In its first year on the market, Dificid generated $51.1 million in net sales, the company said.

• Quest PharmaTech Inc., of Edmonton, Alberta, agreed to acquire the assets related to AllergoOncology technology developed by privately held Advanced Immune Therapeutics Inc. (AIT), of Charlestown, Mass. The technology is based on the development of tumor-associated immunoglobulin E antibodies to treat cancer. Under the purchase agreement, AIT will receive 500,000 common shares of Quest and single-digit royalty payments on revenues from future products. The technology purchase is subject to approval from the TSX Venture Exchange.

• Vaximm AG, of Basel, Switzerland, said its German subsidiary Vaximm GmbH was awarded a grant from the BioRN cluster Cell-based and Molecular Medicine to expand its oral T-cell vaccine technology platform. The cluster competition is a program of Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Vaximm's lead candidate, VXM01, is an oral T-cell vaccine targeting the tumor vasculature that is in Phase I/II evaluation in pancreatic cancer. Funding from the cluster program will be used to develop additional cancer vaccines complementing VXM01 and based on the same T-cell vaccine technology.