• Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said its board has adopted a shareholder rights plan in the form of a Section 382 rights agreement designed to preserve its tax assets. As of Dec. 31, 2012, Ariad had tax assets, including net operating loss carry-forwards of $307.7 million and research tax credits of $17.8 million, which could be used in certain circumstances to offset future taxable income or otherwise payable taxes and therefore reduce its federal and state income tax liabilities. The plan is similar to plans adopted by numerous other public companies with significant tax assets, Ariad said.

• Biomet Inc., of Warsaw, Ind., closed its previously announced acquisition of Lanx Inc., of Broomfield, Colo., a spine company and provider of minimally invasive techniques and technologies.

• Furiex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Morrisville, N.C., said it will receive a $5 million milestone payment from the Menarini Group, of Florence, Italy, for the launch of Priligy (dapoxetine) in the UK. Currently, Priligy is marketed for on-demand treatment of premature ejaculation in more than 20 countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and is approved for that indication in more than 60 countries worldwide.

• Ignyta Inc., of San Diego, completed a reverse merger with Infinity Oil & Gas Co., of Woodmere, N.Y. The combined company will focus solely on the business of Ignyta. The reverse merger was effected on Oct. 31. On Nov. 1, Ignyta began trading under the symbol “IGASD” on the OTCBB until on or about Dec. 2, when it will begin to be quoted under the symbol “RXDX” on the OTCBB. Ignyta also announced its entry into a license agreement with Nerviano Medical Sciences Inc., of Nerviano, Italy, that will grant Ignyta exclusive global development and marketing rights to Rxdx-101, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor directed to the Trka, Ros1 and Alk proteins, which is in a Phase I/II study in molecularly defined patient populations for the treatment of solid tumors; and Rxdx-102, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor directed to the Trk family tyrosine kinase receptors, Trka, Trkb and Trkc, which is currently in preclinical development for the treatment of multiple cancers. Under the terms of the license agreement, which will become effective upon Ignyta’s completion of an equity or debt financing resulting in proceeds of at least $20 million, Ignyta will assume sole responsibility for global development and commercialization of Rxdx-101 and Rxdx-102. Nerviano will be entitled to receive certain up-front and milestone payments, as well as tiered royalty payments on future net sales.

• Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y., said it appointed Erik Penser Bankaktiebolag as a liquidity provider for the company’s common shares listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm Exchange under the symbol “IMNP.” The firm will continue to be its liquidity provider after the planned transfer to Nasdaq OMX First North Premier. Immune is working on antibody therapeutics for inflammatory disease and cancer and has a lead product, bertilumuab, entering Phase II studies for moderate to severe ulcerative colitis and bullous pemphigoid.

• Kempharm Inc., of North Liberty, Iowa, completed an end-of-Phase II meeting with the FDA for its lead pain candidate, Kp201 (benzhydrocodone hydrochloride and acetaminophen). Based on the results of the meeting, Kempharm contended the completed and ongoing clinical, nonclinical and chemistry, manufacturing and controls development programs will allow for the submission of a new drug application for KP201 in the third quarter of 2014.

• Prana Biotechnology Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, said an article in the peer-reviewed journal Aging Cell showed favorable effects of PBT2 on neurogenesis and in reversing the memory and learning losses associated with the aging process, in normal (i.e., nontransgenic) old mice.

• Repligen Corp., of Waltham, Mass., completed a 9,000-square-foot expansion of its manufacturing facilities at its headquarters to meet growth in demand for its bioprocessing products and to ensure that the quality, capacity and support needs of its customers continue to be met. A dedicated production suite more than doubles capacity for the company’s Opus line of pre-packed chromatography columns.

• Summit plc, of Oxford, UK, said its Phase Ib trial application for SMT C1100 received approval from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the ethics review committee. SMT C1100 is a small-molecule utrophin modulator that has the potential to treat all patients with Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, regardless of the underlying genetic fault, the company said.

• Theratechnologies Inc., of Montreal, said Health Canada has agreed to resume review of the tesamorelin new drug submission (NDS) and has rescinded the notice of non-compliance/withdrawal it issued in March. The decision is based on recommendations contained in a report issued by a reconsideration panel responsible for hearing arguments from Theratechnologies and Health Canada on Aug. 23, and submitting recommendations to the Office of Science of Health Canada. The reconsideration panel was of the opinion that the review of the tesamorelin NDS should be reinstated. That recommendation was supported by the Office of Science and, ultimately, by the Health Products and Food Branch of Health Canada. As a result, the NDS for tesamorelin will be reinstated and the review of the file will resume at the stage it was at the time the previous action was issued.