• Cardiome Pharma Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, reached an agreement with Merck & Co. Inc., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., to settle its debt obligations stemming from the companies' collaboration and license agreement for heart drug vernakalant, signed in April 2009 and subsequently terminated. Cardiome will pay Merck $20 million in cash on or before March 31, 2013, to settle outstanding debt of $50 million from an interest-bearing credit facility of up to $100 million that was established in conjunction with the vernakalant collaboration. The settlement terminates the credit facility and, upon payment of the $20 million, releases Cardiome from additional obligations under the line of credit. Cardiome's cash balance totaled $53.6 million at the end of September. Earlier this year, Merck returned global marketing and development rights for intravenous and oral formulations of vernakalant, branded Brinavess, to Cardiome. Brinavess has received approval in the European Union for the rapid conversion of recent onset atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm in adults but has not received FDA approval. On Tuesday, Cardiome's shares (NASDAQ:CRME) shot up 40 percent, or 10 cents, closing at 35 cents. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 27, 2012.)

• Diffusion Pharmaceuticals LLC, of Charlottesville, Va., said trans sodium crocetinate (TSC), the company's lead drug candidate, has been granted orphan drug designation by the FDA for metastatic brain cancer. A Phase II trial testing TSC in newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme patients is now enrolling patients, and a Phase II study testing TSC in brain metastases is currently being planned.

• Genmab A/S, of Copenhagen, said it earned a $2 million milestone payment in its DuoBody technology collaboration with Janssen Biotech Inc., a unit of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson. The milestone relates to the achievement of technical proof of concept for the first DuoBody candidate. Under the terms of the July deal, Janssen has the right to use the technology to create panels of bispecific antibodies, with Genmab entitled to milestone and license payments of up to $175 million, plus royalties, for each product. (See BioWorld Today, July 18, 2012.)

• Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, Calif., said its board approved a 2-for-1 stock split of the company's outstanding common stock to be effected through a stock dividend. Stockholders of record as of the close of business on Jan. 7, 2013, will be entitled to a stock dividend of one additional share of common stock for every share of common stock they own. Based on the total number of shares of common stock outstanding as of Nov. 30, the stock split will increase the total number of shares of common stock outstanding from about 759 million to 1.5 billion, out of the 2.8 billion shares currently authorized.

• Medicago Inc., of Quebec City, said it was awarded a nonrefundable contribution of up to $493,000 from the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program to support the development of potency assays and process analytical technologies for its pandemic and seasonal influenza virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine candidates. The company plans to work with NRC teams in Montreal and Ottawa to establish assays for more rapid lot release and better in-process control. Earlier this year, the company inked a potential $33 million strategic alliance with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp., of Osaka, Japan, to develop and commercialize at least three vaccines using the VLP technology. (See BioWorld Today, March 7, 2012.)

• Myriad Genetics Inc., of Salt Lake City, said Myriad RBM, a wholly owned subsidiary of Myriad Genetics, entered a research collaboration with Sanofi SA, of Paris, and Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) at Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University, both in Canada. Through that collaboration, Myriad RBM will perform protein biomarker research for the Outcome Reduction with Initial Glargine Intervention (ORIGIN) study, a clinical trial in pre- and early diabetes. The relationship between the biomarker results and clinical outcomes will be analyzed by investigators at PHRI. As part of the agreement, Myriad RBM will analyze more than 8,000 serum samples collected in the ORIGIN study using its DiscoveryMAP 250+ quantitative immunoassay panel. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Oncomatrix SL, of Vizcaya, Spain, signed an agreement with the University of Stuttgart to develop drugs with tumor-targeted activity, designed to enable immunoconjugates to attack cells involved in the metastasis of invasive breast and pancreatic cancers. Terms were not disclosed.

• Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc., of The Woodlands, Texas, agreed to acquire Somaxon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, in an all-stock transaction. Under terms of the agreement, which was unanimously approved by the boards of both companies, Somaxon stockholders will receive shares of Pernix common stock valued in aggregate at $25 million. The number of Pernix shares issued to Somaxon stockholders will be based on the volume-weighted average price of Pernix's common stock over the 30-day period ending on the day immediately prior to the closing of the proposed merger, subject to limitations on the maximum and minimum number of issuable shares based on a price range of $6 to $9 per share. On Tuesday, Pernix's shares (NYSE:PTX) closed at $7.65, down 28 cents. Pernix, which manages a portfolio of branded and generic products, last month also agreed to acquire Cypress Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Hawthorn Pharmaceuticals Inc., both of Madison, Miss. Somaxon gained FDA approval of insomnia product Silenor but has struggled to gain traction in the commercial market, despite a U.S. co-promotion deal with Cincinnati-based Proctor & Gamble Co. and licensing the rights in Canada, South America and Africa to Paladin Labs Inc., of Montreal. On a trailing 12-month basis as of Sept. 30, Silenor's net sales were about $11 .7 million. Shares of Somaxon (NASDAQ:SOMX) soared on the buyout news, gaining 80.3 percent, or $1.18, to close Tuesday at $2.65. (See BioWorld Today, March 19, 2010, July 16, 2010, Aug. 26, 2010, and June 9, 2011.)

• Pharmascience Inc., of Montreal, regained global rights to AEG40826, a Phase Ib-ready injectable inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP), along with backup and follow-on compounds that include multiple orally bioavailable IAP inhibitors, following an agreement to terminate its oncology collaboration with Human Genome Sciences Inc. (HGS), now a unit of GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London. During the collaboration, HGS conducted Phase Ia trials of AEG40826 (formerly HGS1029) in cancer patients and collaborated with Pharmascience unit Aegera Therapeutics Inc. to identify and nominate highly differentiated backup and follow-on IAP inhibitors. In May 2011, Pharmascience acquired Aegera, which had inked the HGS deal in 2007. AEG40826 has demonstrated preclinical activity across a broad range of cancers, particularly in combination with chemotherapeutics agents, TNFR Superfamily agonist monoclonal antibodies and other biologics. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 21, 2007, and May 31, 2011.)

• Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Henderson, Nev., said its board approved payment of a year-end special dividend of 15 cents to holders of common stock of record at the close of business on Dec. 20. The dividend will be paid on or about Dec. 28. Earlier this year, Spectrum acquired Allos Therapeutics Inc., of Westminster, Colo., following failure of Spectrum's cancer drug apaziquone in two Phase III trials. (See BioWorld Today, April 6, 2012.)

• Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bethesda, Md., said its subsidiary, Sucampo AG, received a $15 million milestone payment from Abbott Park, Ill.-based Abbott's subsidiary, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., pursuant to the existing license, commercialization and supply agreement between Sucampo Pharma Ltd., SPI's subsidiary, and Abbott. The milestone payment was triggered by the first sale of Amitiza (lubiprostone) capsule 24 mcg in Japan. Amitiza is approved in Japan for chronic constipation not caused by organic diseases, and was launched to primary care and specialist physicians on Nov. 21. The drug previously gained approval in the U.S.

• Unigene Laboratories Inc., of Boonton, N.J., retained Canaccord Genuity to help explore strategic options that may include the partnering of its technology, out-licensing of intellectual property, divestiture of assets and possible sale of the company or one of its business units. The company is developing a pipeline of therapeutic peptides and has a portfolio of Peptelligence oral peptide drug delivery partnerships.