• Acacia Research Corp., of Newport Beach, Calif., said its CombiMatrix Group entered a collaborative research agreement with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., to study the genetic variation in the H9 variant of influenza A (avian flu). The collaboration will investigate the use of chip-based, whole-genome screening of virus strains as a tool to monitor the emergence of new strains.

• Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, said its adeno-associated viral vector expressing lipoprotein lipase (LPL) product was designated an orphan medicinal product in Europe for the treatment of LPL deficiency. The company said preclinical data suggest it can treat LPL deficiency with its gene therapy.

• Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said it licensed several technologies from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver to strengthen the company's portfolio of next-generation, drug-loaded medical devices and biomaterials. Included in the agreement is technology that was jointly developed by Angiotech and UBC for a next-generation stent endograft program designed to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms.

• Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., launched a registry program branded CORE (Cubicin Outcomes Registry & Experience). Cubicin (daptomycin for injection), a first-in-class bactericidal antibiotic, was launched in the U.S. by Cubist in late 2003 for the treatment of complicated skin and skin-structure infections caused by certain Gram-positive organisms. CORE is a retrospective, longitudinal, multicenter registry program designed to collect information on patients who have received Cubicin therapy. Cubist expects to enroll 40 sites by the end of 2004. Data from the registry will be published as they become available.

• CuraGen Corp., of New Haven, Conn., issued an additional $10 million of convertible subordinated notes as part of an overallotment option from its $100 million notes offering last month. The notes, which bear a 4 percent interest rate, are due in 2011. The conversion price is $9.69 per share of common stock, subject to adjustment under certain circumstances. CuraGen is using proceeds to repay its existing debt. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 11, 2004.)

• Discovery Laboratories Inc., of Doylestown, Pa., said it is producing Surfaxin to support a Phase II trial for acute respiratory distress syndrome in adults. The second part of the trial is ongoing, and the company expects to complete the program in the second half of this year. Discovery Labs added that next month, it plans to file a new drug application for the product for treating respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants.

• Endovasc Inc., of Montgomery, Texas, completed porcine studies that examined a variety of delivery systems for Angiogenix. The study explored less-invasive and less-costly methods of delivering the drug to damaged areas of the heart, rather than the catheter-based delivery system used previously. A second study looked at the effects of a purified form of nicotine on stem cell growth and differentiation. Angiogenix is derived from the tobacco plant.

• Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., said its CEO Arthur Higgins is resigning his post to become chairman and CEO of Bayer Healthcare, of Leverkusen, Germany. Higgins will remain Enzon's chairman through the election of his successor. Russell Reynolds, an executive search firm for the life science industry, has been retained by the company.

• Fisher Scientific International Inc., of Hampton, N.H., is paying about $3.7 billion to acquire Apogent Technologies Inc., of Portsmouth, H.H., after both companies' boards unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement. Apogent shareholders will receive 0.56 shares of Fisher's common stock for each share of Apogent common stock on a tax-free basis. Based on Fisher's closing price of $52.32 per share on March 16, the transaction would have a value of $29.30 per Apogent share. The combined company would have pro forma full-year revenues of about $5.1 billion and an enterprise value of about $9 billion, including $2.7 billion of net debt. Upon completion of the transaction, which is expected early in the third quarter, Fisher's shareholders would own about 57 percent of the combined company, and Apogent's shareholders would own the remainder. Fisher provides products to the scientific-research, clinical laboratory and safety markets. Apogent also produces laboratory and life science products for health care diagnostics and scientific research.

• Genaera Corp., of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., said findings published in the March 2004 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology demonstrate a correlation of increased interleukin-9 expression with early changes that precede asthma, known as bronchial hyper-responsiveness (BHR) and bronchial eosinophilia. In the study, two groups of patients with BHR showed an increased expression in IL-9 protein and mRNA as well as an increase in the expression of IL-9 receptor mRNA at the epithelial level. The increases in IL-9 expression were correlated with the BHR response to methacholine. There also was an association between IL-9, IL-5 mRNA expression and eosinophil infiltration.

• Geospiza Inc., of Seattle, said its Finch Sequencing Center is being used by Trubion Pharmaceuticals Inc., also of Seattle, and Wyeth, of Madison, N.J. The software is designed for managing DNA sequencing data, analysis and laboratory workflow, combining web-based forms for sequencing workflow management and oligonucleotide ordering.

• GlycoGenesys Inc., of Boston, said two existing institutional investors purchased 1.3 million of its 1.6 million common shares sold on March 12 by a subsidiary of Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland. Elan's subsidiary remains the largest shareholder of GlycoGenesys, a company developing carbohydrate-based drugs, through ownership of three series of convertible preferred stock and warrants to purchase common stock.

• Immtech International Inc., of Vernon Hills, Ill., said an agreement was signed with Cambrex Charles City Inc., a subsidiary of Cambrex Corp., of East Rutherford, N.J., to develop an enhanced process for manufacturing DB289. Upon development of the synthesis method for DB289, Cambrex Charles City is expected to manufacture the substance in bulk. DB289 is in Phase II trials for malaria, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and African sleeping sickness.

• ImmuneRegen BioSciences Inc., of Scottsdale, Ariz., said it recently completed a meeting with the FDA's newly developed Division of Counter Terrorism, along with other departments of the FDA, where they discussed potential efficacy of their compound Homspera in treating acute radiation sickness. The meeting was a result of ImmuneRegen's pre-investigational drug application meeting in November.

• InKine Pharmaceutical Co. Inc., of Blue Bell, Pa., said it believes that it is not required to issue stock to satisfy potential claims relating to pre-emptive rights in connection with certain prior securities offerings. The company announced earlier this week that certain shareholders who had pre-emptive rights during prior securities offerings might have claims against the company. The claims may be satisfied in cash rather than stock, the company said. The company would expect to receive third-party reimbursement for any resulting liabilities.

• LION bioscience AG, of Heidelberg, Germany, and the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute in Cambridge, UK, expanded their relationship, with LION allowing the EBI, as well as other academic institutions, to use the latest versions of SRS to provide research critical content to researchers worldwide with no restrictions. The SRS Server at EBI will be set up as a public reference server worldwide.

• Maxim Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, reacquired its rights to the MX2105 series of vascular targeting agent cancer drug candidates from Shire BioChem Inc., a subsidiary of Shire Pharmaceuticals Group plc, of Andover, UK. The rights were licensed in July 2000 to BioChem Pharma, which was subsequently acquired by Shire Pharmaceuticals. Shire announced last July that it was exiting the field of oncology research. Maxim will pay Shire BioChem certain milestone and royalty payments upon advancement of drugs within the MX2105 series. Maxim also announced that two abstracts will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla. The abstracts show that MX116407 demonstrated statistically significant antitumor activity and produced tumor regression as a single agent in animal lung cancer models.

• Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said the FDA selected its investigational cancer therapy MLN2704 for inclusion in the Continuous Marketing Application Pilot 2 Program. Inclusion is limited to no more than one fast-track product for each review division within the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Designated a fast-track product by the agency in December, MLN2704 is being evaluated in a Phase I/II multiple ascending-dose trial for patients with metastatic androgen-independent prostate cancer.

• Nanobac Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tampa, Fla., said a poster presentation was made by the Mayo Clinic Rochester last week at the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific sessions 2004 in New Orleans. The presentation demonstrated the use of Nanobac's monoclonal antibody 8D10 to detect nanostructures identified as nanobacteria. It also was reported that the nanostructures appear to synthesize RNA.

• Neurocrine Biosciences Inc., of San Diego, announced the expiration of the waiting period required in connection with the purchase of Madison, N.J.-based Wyeth's interest in indiplon. Indiplon is Neurocrine's Phase III compound for insomnia. Wyeth's board approved the transaction, allowing Neurocrine to retain all milestone, royalty and other payments and to gain ownership over the indiplon composition-of-matter patent that expires in 2020. The transaction is valued at about $95 million. (See BioWorld Today, March 1, 2004.)

• Pharmexa A/S, of Hoersholm, Denmark, said data reported at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Hamburg, Germany, showed that its HER-2 Protein AutoVac vaccine is safe, well tolerated and induces HER-2-specific antibodies in breast cancer patients. More specifically, responses were detected in six of 10 patients. The first responses, detected after two injections, were significantly boosted following subsequent immunizations. Additional responders also were detected after the third and fourth immunizations. Based on those results, Pharmexa plans to continue the vaccine's development through additional clinical investigations in the second half of this year.

• Strategic Diagnostics Inc., of Newark, Del., entered a long-term joint marketing and services agreement with Epitomics Inc., of Burlingame, Calif. Strategic Diagnostics will refer third parties to Epitomics for rabbit hybridoma services, and in turn, will provide Epitomics with custom polyclonal service used in rabbit hybridoma development. Rabbit hybridomas produce monoclonal antibodies that represent a new class of reagents for research and diagnostic applications.

• SuperArray Bioscience Corp., of Frederick, Md., reported the launch of a new format for small interfering RNA research tools, siRNA Array Plates. The design for the plates includes validated siRNAs for six related, pathway-specific genes on one six-well plate with a reverse-transfection agent. The user protocol requires 15 minutes of hands-on time to knock down the expression of six pathway-specific genes in cultured, adherent cells. Positive and negative controls also are included on separate control plates. The six siRNAs on each plate proved to decrease target mRNA levels by greater than 70 percent, it said.

• Targeted Genetics Corp., of Seattle, initiated a Phase I trial of its tgAAC94 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. TgAAC94 represents a localized, gene-based approach to delivering a soluble TNF-alpha receptor protein. The product is designed to treat RA patients who either suffer from symptoms of disease in one or more affected joints despite systemic therapy, or suffer from only a few problematic joints and are not considered candidates for receiving systemic anti-TNF therapy. TgAAC94 uses the company's recombinant adeno-associated vector technology platform to deliver the DNA sequence encoding an inhibitor of TNF-alpha, known as TNFR:Fc, to cells within arthritic joints.

• Valentis Inc., of Burlingame, Calif., earned an undisclosed milestone payment from Genencor International Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., which resulted from Genencor's initiation of subject dosing in a Phase I trial of its DNA-based therapeutic vaccine to treat hepatitis B. A Valentis polymer delivery system, DNAVax, was incorporated as part of the Genencor therapeutic vaccine. The DNAVax technology also was employed in an HIV product, which is in clinical development by Epimmune Inc., of San Diego. In an agreement in July 2002, Genencor secured a nonexclusive license to DNAVax on a worldwide basis for DNA-based vaccines to treat or prevent hepatitis B and human papillomavirus infections.

• XOMA Ltd., of Berkeley, Calif., filed a shelf registration with the SEC, registering 5 million shares that could be offered by Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass. Millennium would receive all proceeds, estimated to be around $28.5 million gross. The offering is being made as part of an investment agreement between the two companies. They formed a collaboration in November 2001 centered on two compounds for vascular inflammation. Last October, they dropped development of a Phase I heart drug when it didn't meet predetermined criteria. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 13, 2003.)