Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it closed its acquisition of Sirna Therapeutics Inc., previously a wholly owned subsidiary of Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck & Co. Inc. Under the terms, Alnylam paid Merck $25 million in cash and agreed to issue about 2.5 million shares of Alnylam common stock, having a value of $150 million. Alnylam issued 85 percent of the shares at the closing and will issue the remainder of shares upon the completion of certain technology transfer activities pursuant to the terms of the stock purchase agreement. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 14, 2014.)

Amgen Inc., of Thousand Oaks, Calif., declared a 61-cent-per-share dividend for the second quarter of 2014. The dividend will be paid on June 6, 2014, to all stockholders of record as of the close of business on May 15, 2014.

Biodel Inc., of Danbury, Conn., said it signed a long-term manufacturing agreement with Cangene Biopharma Inc., doing business as Emergent Biosolutions Inc., of Rockville, Md. Under the agreement, Emergent will fill and finish commercial quantities of Biodel’s Glucagon Emergency Management device. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Biostar Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Xianyang, China, said it signed a letter of intent with the Research Institute of Pharmaceuticals at Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine to develop a new liver cancer drug based on the company’s Oleanolic Acid injection product (OA). Biostar’s researchers previously discovered that the AO factor existing in oleanic acid is effective in killing hepatitis B virus and may also be used to kill cancer cells.

Fate Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, said an article published in Stem Cell Reports demonstrated high-throughput derivation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) that exhibit characteristics necessary for therapeutic application. The publication described the use of the company’s hiPSC platform, consisting of stage-specific cell culture systems, to enable rapid, parallel derivation of hiPSC clones and their subsequent expansion as transgene-free, single cells in culture. The company’s combination of small-molecule modulators, which include ROCK, GSK3 and MEK pathway inhibitors, used in the culture system were found to be critical in promoting characteristics of the ground state of pluripotency, including pluripotent culture stability, homogeneity and survival.

Gentium SpA, of Villa Guardia, Italy, said it notified Nasdaq of its intention to voluntarily delist its American depositary shares from the Nasdaq Global Market. Gentium was recently acquired by Dublin-based Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc for $1 billion. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 23, 2013.)

Neostem Inc., of New York, said it entered a sponsored research collaboration with Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Schepens Eye Research Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Neostem will sponsor research aimed at investigating the role of very small embryonic-like stem cells, as well as CD34-positive cells, in a study designed to compare the efficacy of those two cell types for retinal repair.

Nuvilex Inc., of Silver Spring, Md., said partner Austrianova Singapore Pty Ltd., of Singapore, signed a contract to establish regional headquarters and an R&D facility at the Thailand Science Park near Bangkok. The facilities will be used for the encapsulation, using the Cell-in-the-Box technology, of live cancer prodrug-activating cells that are part of Nuvilex’s pancreatic cancer treatment and that will be used in the company’s late-phase trials.

Pluristem Therapeutics Inc., of Haifa, Israel, said the FDA reviewed its comparability studies of Placental Expanded cell products and granted approval for the firm to manufacture those products in its new commercial-scale cell manufacturing facility.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, said the American Journal of Physiology has published recent research results with its orally bioavailable AMPK activator, R118. The publication provides strong preclinical evidence that R118 may be useful in treating peripheral artery disease, Rigel said. The company’s stock (NASDAQ:RIGL) closed Thursday at $4.52, up 42 cents, or 10.2 percent.

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said the FDA granted fast-track designation for the development of TKM-Ebola, an anti-Ebola viral therapeutic. Tekmira dosed the first patient in January in a phase I trial testing the RNAi-based candidate.

TNI Biotech Inc., of Orlando, Fla., said it formed a new subsidiary, Cytocom Inc., for the purpose of developing low-dose naltrexone (LDN) and Met-enkephalin. TNI has spent the last year developing a manufacturing and distribution network for sale of LDN into emerging nations and has had discussions with the FDA and EMA to begin clinical trials in the U.S.