• Akela Pharma Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said its voluntary delisting from the Toronto Stock Exchange occurred at the close of trading Dec. 7. The decision to delist stemmed from the firm's inability to maintain the continuous listing requirements.

• Biogen Idec Inc., of Weston, Mass., and Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., partnered to discover and develop antisense drugs for several undisclosed targets in the area of neurological and neuromuscular disorders. They also will proceed with previous collaborations to develop antisense drugs for spinal muscular atrophy and myotonic dystrophy Type I. Biogen Idec will pay Isis $30 million up front to discover a lead candidate for each of three targets. Isis will be eligible for milestone payments, and Biogen Idec has an option to license a drug from each of those three programs through completion of Phase II trials. Payments to Isis could total $200 million, including license fees and regulatory milestones per program, plus additional double-digit royalties.

• Cell Therapeutics Inc., of Seattle, said its board approved certain amendments to the firm's existing shareholder rights plan to decrease the exercise price of the preferred stock purchase rights from $14 to $8 and to extend the final expiration date from the close of business on the third anniversary of Jan. 7, 2010, to the close of business on Dec. 3, 2015.

• Geron Corp., of Menlo Park, Calif., reported in an SEC filing that its 2006 license agreement with Asia Biotech Co. Ltd., of New York, relating to Geron's telomerase activation technology for use in developing dietary food supplements, nutraceuticals and topically applied cosmetics has been terminated. Geron agreed to assign to TA Sciences Inc., of New York, those patents previously licensed to Asia Biotech, including intellectual property relating to telomerase activation technology. Under the terms, TA Sciences will pay Geron a nonrefundable, up-front termination and assignment fee of $2.5 million, and Asia Biotech and TA Sciences will remove all references to Geron from all online and printed marketing materials.

• Halozyme Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, said partner Roche AG, of Basel, Switzerland, submitted a line extension application to the European Medicines Agency for a subcutaneous formulation of MabThera (rituximab) for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The filing triggered a $4 million milestone payment to Halozyme under the firms' collaboration agreement.

• Nuron Biotech Inc., of Exton, Pa., acquired a vaccine for Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C meningitis from New York-based Pfizer Inc. The acquisition will expand Neuron's portfolio of marketed vaccines. The company plans to expand into markets with unvaccinated and under-vaccinated populations.

• Pain Therapeutics Inc., of Austin, Texas, said a committee of its board of directors declared a special, one-time cash distribution of 75 cents per share to shareholders, which is an aggregate of about $34 million. The distribution is expected to be completed on or around Dec. 24 and will be paid entirely from cash reserves. As of Sept. 30, Pain Therapeutics had a cash balance of about $92 million.