• Advanced Cell Technology Inc. (ACT) of Marlborough, Mass., said it reached a settlement agreement with CAMOFI and CAMZHN Master LDC resolving a lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court of New York on the conversion price of certain ACT notes and the exercise price of certain warrants. ACT agreed to pay $12.5 million to the investors, plus legal expenses, comprised of $2 million in cash, $4.5 million in restricted common stock and $6 million through the issuance of an 8 percent amortizing redeemable convertible debenture maturing in June 2015. ACT also agreed to register the shares of common stock into which the debentures are convertible with the SEC.

• Apeiron Biologics AG, of Vienna, Austria, closed its first transaction in its ongoing initiative to out-license APN311, an antibody-based immunotherapy in development for the treatment of children with high-risk neuroblastoma. Paladin Labs Inc., of Montreal, entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Apeiron, under the terms of which Paladin receives the exclusive rights to market and sell APN311 in Canada and sub-Saharan Africa (including South Africa). Further details were not disclosed.

• BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., of San Rafael, Calif., said the compensation committee of the board of directors approved the grant to 47 employees of stock options to purchase 65,400 shares of common stock in the aggregate and to grant to 46 of the 47 employees of 17, 180 restricted stock units in the aggregate. Also, the compensation committee approved the grant of a stock option to purchase 15,000 shares of common stock and 4,000 restricted stock units to Shripad Bhagwat, a newly hired vice president of research. The stock options were granted pursuant to the firm's 2012 Inducement Plan, approved by the compensation committee of the board of directors last May.

• Sirona Biochem Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said its stock is now trading on OTCQX, the highest Over-the-Counter marketplace in the U.S., under the ticker "SRBCF." The company develops diabetes therapeutics, skin depigmenting and anti-aging agents for cosmetic use, biological ingredients and cancer vaccine antigens.

• YM BioSciences Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, said proxy advisory firms Institutional Investor Services and Glass, Lewis & Co. recommended that shareholders vote in favor of the firm's plan of arrangement, in which a wholly owned subsidiary of Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, Calif., will acquire YM for $2.95 per share in cash. The firms agreed to the deal – valued at about $510 million – last month. Upon close of the deal, which remains contingent on the approval of YM shareholders and court approval, Gilead will pick up rights to YM's lead candidate, CYT387, an oral JAK/JAK2 inhibitor, in development for myelofibrosis. The transaction is expected to close this quarter. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 13, 2012.)