• Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, reported preliminary eight-week follow-up data on 20 patients in its pivotal European study using Adhibit to reduce the incidence and severity of adhesions following laparoscopic surgery in a gynecological population. The study involved 75 patients that were randomized in Germany, Europe and the Dutch Antilles. Interim results suggest a favorable and major difference in the change-in-baseline adhesion scores favoring the Adhibit-treated group. The results were announced at the 33rd annual meeting of the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists in San Francisco.

• Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, said clinical results reported at the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine meeting showed that Neurodex is well tolerated up to the highest target dose in patients with painful diabetic neuropathy. Also, patients reported decreased pain intensity that was significantly different from baseline pain (p<0.0001). The degree of pain relief increased with the duration of the study, the company said, adding that next year it expects to begin a Phase III study of Neurodex for diabetic neuropathic pain.

• Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) in New York signed an agreement whereby Crucell will develop AdVac vectors for use in IAVI's AIDS vaccine development program. Financial details were not disclosed. Earlier this year Crucell and IAVI entered an exclusive license agreement to develop an AIDs vaccine based on Crucell's AdVac Technology.

• Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., said its chairman, Scott Rocklage, is retiring as chairman and resigning from the board effective Dec. 31. David Martin, who last month was appointed lead director of the board, will lead the board until a new chairman is appointed. The anti-infective company said it already has begun its search for a replacement.

• Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland, and Mayo Foundation in Rochester, Minn., entered an agreement related to each party's Alzheimer's disease research efforts. The agreement resolves a patent dispute regarding certain transgenic mice patents and facilitates use by both parties of an array of research tools in combating the disease. The Elan patents were acknowledged as valid and enforceable under the agreement and cover transgenic mice that express the human gene known as the Swedish mutation of the amyloid precursor protein.

• Fluidigm Corp., of South San Francisco, said researchers at Harvard Medical School, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Rockefeller University determined the 3-dimensional structure of integrin alpha IIb beta3, a transmembrane protein linked to coronary artery thrombosis. The researchers describe conformational changes caused by peptide-inhibitor binding to the protein's ectodomain in the Nov. 4, 2004, issue of Nature. The success of the project hinged on the original screening performed with Fluidigm's Topaz system for protein crystallization, it said.

• GammaCan International Inc., of Givat Shmuel, Israel, said it plans to soon begin Phase II trials to demonstrate the cancer-fighting potential of GAN 101, a product based on Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIg). IVIg is a concentrated form of disease-fighting antibodies naturally occurring in human blood, and the company said it might be used to keep melanoma, carcinoma, sarcoma, lymphoma and other cancers from spreading or returning in patients. IVIg therapy already has been used for treating a variety of autoimmune diseases.

• Great Expectations and Associates Inc., of Princeton, N.J., acquired Advaxis Inc., also of Princeton. Great Expectations also completed an equity financing through a private placement of about $2.9 million with a group of institutional and other private investors. Also, $595,000 of bridge notes were converted into equity securities of the company on the same terms. The company plans to use its proceeds to fund further development of a Listeria-based therapeutic vaccine and a Phase I trial of Lovaxin C, its lead cancer vaccine.

• Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Baltimore, said data reported at the American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans showed that a combination of Aggrastat Injection (tirofiban hydrochloride) and the Sirolimus drug-eluting stent resulted in a significantly lower rate of death, myocardial infarction, stroke and binary restenosis at six months, while also providing a similar cost of care when compared to abciximab used in combination with a bare metal stent. Aggrastat received FDA approval in 1998 for acute coronary syndrome. The company also is planning a new Phase III development program to expand the product's indication. It will employ a single high-dose bolus regimen of Aggrastat followed by a maintenance infusion in two separate Phase III trials in more than 10,000 patients, comparing Aggrastat to current standard of care or placebo. The trial, which recently began patient enrollment, is designed to evaluate whether the 30-day efficacy of a single high-dose bolus regimen of Aggrastat retains at least 50 percent of the treatment benefit of abciximab in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention with coronary stent placement.

• Inhibitex Inc., of Alpharetta, Ga., entered an agreement for the manufacture of Aurexis by Lonza Biologics plc, a unit of Lonza Group Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland. The investigational monoclonal antibody is being developed as a first-line therapy, used in combination with standard of care antibiotics, for serious, life-threatening Staphylococcus aureus infections. It is in a Phase II study. Under the agreement, Lonza agreed to perform process development-related services and manufacture Aurexis for future clinical trials using its glutamine synthetase expression system.

• NeoPharm Inc., of Lake Forest, Ill., and its largest stockholder, John Kapoor, entered an agreement in which Kapoor will end his consent solicitation seeking to remove the company's four independent directors and replace them with three of his own nominees. As part of the agreement, the size of the NeoPharm board has been increased from six to eight directors and two current directors - Sander Flaum and Matthew Rogan - have resigned from the board. Filling the vacant seats will be Frank Becker, Ronald Eidell, Bernard Fox and Paul Freiman. None of the parties to the agreement, including board members, will take any action to remove any directors or nominate any additional directors not approved by the board prior to Dec. 1, 2005. The agreement also includes a payment of up to $350,000 to Kapoor for his out-of-pocket costs incurred in connection with the solicitation. NeoPharm has amended its stockholder rights plan to provide that Kapoor is not deemed as an "acquiring person" unless he becomes the owner of 30 percent or more of the company's outstanding stock. Kapoor, the company's founder, and his wife hold about 21.7 percent of NeoPharm's stock. Concerned over the company's burn rate, stock slide, and "inability to prioritize effectively," he said, Kapoor filed with the SEC in late summer to remove the four directors. NeoPharm's stock (NASDAQ:NEOL) jumped 14.3 percent Friday, or $1, to close at $8. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 7, 2004.)

• Noven Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Miami, presented results of five preclinical transdermal research projects at the 2004 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists annual meeting. The studies presented included results on the in vitro permeation and delivery profile of the transdermal drug delivery system, the enhanced transdermal permeation performance using prodrugs of testosterone, and the effect of backing materials on clonidine transdermal drug delivery.

• Pfizer Inc., of New York, completed its $125 million purchase of the remaining 90 percent ownership of Meridica Ltd. from PA Consulting Group, of London. Meridica is a drug delivery technology company. The transaction, which was announced in September, also includes a contingent payment.

• Pharmaxis Ltd., of Sydney, Australia, said its Level One ADR Program was declared effective by the SEC, and its ADRs will trade on the Over-the-Counter exchange as "PHMXY." Under the program, one ADR is equivalent to 15 ordinary shares of Pharmaxis, which is developing products for respiratory and autoimmune diseases. The Bank of New York was named as the program's depository bank.

• Protalix Biotherapeutics Ltd., of Carmiel, Israel, and Icon Genetics AG, of Halle, Germany, said they were selected as recipients of the BIO-DISC grant, a bi-national joint funding project to promote biotechnological know-how developed in Germany and Israel. The companies are involved in a collaboration to develop genetic constructs as the basis for a general platform system aimed at the ultra-high level expression of recombinant proteins in plant cells. The two-year research program combines Icon's amplification technologies with Protalix's expression systems within plant cell cultures grown in bioreactors.

• Santarus Inc., of San Diego, said its board adopted a stockholders rights plan. The rights plan will not prevent a takeover, but it should encourage anyone seeking to acquire Santarus to negotiate with the board prior to attempting a takeover. The rights plan will expire in 2014.

• Signet Laboratories Inc., of Dedham, Mass., said its antibody to apolipoprotein J, a protein implicated in neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Down's syndrome and transmissable spongiform encephalopathies, such as BSE, among others, is available. Apo-J appears to influence the structure and toxicity of beta amyloid, as well as the accumulation of it in the brain, the company said.

• Somaxon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, licensed the North American Rights to oral nalmefene hydrochloride from Turku, Finland-based Biotie Therapies Corp. for the treatment of impulse control disorders. Nalmefene is a specific and selective opioid receptor antagonist. Somaxon had previously entered an option agreement with Biotie in July. With the agreement, Somaxon exercised the option and will pay Biotie a license fee. Somaxon is responsible for all clinical development, and regulatory and commercial activities. It will pay Biotie certain milestone payments and royalties on product sales. Somaxon plans to initiate the first of two pivotal Phase III trials in 2005 of nalmefene to treat pathological gambling.

• Stratagene Corp., of La Jolla, Calif., received notice from Applera Corp., of Norwalk, Conn., that it has filed suit against Stratagene and other parties in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut alleging infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,814,934 issued on Nov. 9. The products alleged to infringe are instruments for the performance of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Strategene said that while it will defend the Applera proceeding, Stratagene is a long-term licensee of Applied Biosytems, of Foster City, Calif., an operating group of Applera, for the manufacture, use and sale of thermal cyclers for use in PCR.