• ActiveSight, of San Diego, entered a second protein crystallography services agreement with Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Princeton, N.J. The agreement extends the co-crystallography of Lexicon's small-molecule compounds to a second human drug target protein validated in vivo by Lexicon and expressed by ActiveSight.

• Acusphere Inc., of Watertown, Mass., said a research paper on the company's Hydrophobic Drug Delivery Systems was published in March in Pharmaceutical Research. It highlighted a formulation of paclitaxel, called AI-850, which uses intravenous hydrophobic drug delivery. The technology showed that it can produce high concentrations of drug in small-volume formulation, that it enables the drug to dissolve rapidly, and that it moves more quickly from the blood to the tissue when compared to the current intravenous formulation.

• Althea Technologies Inc., of San Diego, was awarded a contract from Lorantis Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, to manufacture the protein component of HepVax, a hepatitis B therapeutic vaccine. Althea will produce the material in the company's cGMP manufacturing facilities in San Diego. Althea will provide development and manufacturing services to Lorantis.

• Arysta LifeScience Corp., of Tokyo, and Bayer CropScience, of Monheim, Germany, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, reported agreements that represent a further expansion of their existing cooperation. Arysta will acquire amitraz, a broad-spectrum acaricide and selective insecticide sold under the name Mitac from Bayer CropScience, for global distribution. Arysta also will be granted an exclusive license for marketing fluoxastrobin, a Bayer CropScience fungicide, for crop uses in the U.S., Canada and Japan, as well as an exclusive license for marketing the compound globally for non-crop uses.

• Beckman Coulter Inc., of Fullerton, Calif., announced plans to acquire Agencourt Bioscience Corp., of Beverly, Mass. Terms of the agreement include a payment at closing of $100 million and up to $40 million in contingent payments through 2007. The acquisition is targeted to close near the end of May 2005. With the acquisition, Beckman Coulter would get Agencourt's patented Solid Phase Reversible Immobilization technology, which provides results for the isolation and purification of RNA and DNA, and has been used with Beckman Coulter's Biomek automated liquid-handling systems in Agencourt's genomic services business and was used to prepare sequencing samples for more than one-third of the human genome.

• BioVex Ltd., of Oxford, UK, treated the first patient in its Phase I/II trial of ImmunoVEXtrimelan in malignant melanoma. The study is designed to evaluate the vaccine in 50 patients, with initial results expected during the first half of 2006. ImmunoVEXtrimelan is the first cancer vaccine to enter the clinic from BioVex's ImmunoVEX platform.

• CeMines Inc., of Golden, Colo., said results from an expanded study of more than 200 lung cancer patient samples confirmed key data initially presented in February at the American Association of Cancer Research's Special Conference on Molecular Pathogenesis of Lung Cancer. Data demonstrated that CeMines' Molecular FingerPrinting bioinformatics engine discriminates biomarker profiles of lung cancer patients, high-risk groups and heavy smokers.

• CODA Genomics Inc., of Irvine, Calif., and the University of California at Irvine's Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences said CODA was granted an exclusive license to certain issued patents and patent applications of the university related to computer-optimized DNA assembly and protein-expression organization. The company said the license will allow the technology to be used in proteomics and proteomics drug discovery.

• Connetics Corp., of Palo Alto, Calif., announced lower-than-expected earnings, causing its shares (NASDAQ:CNCT) to lose $5.27 Wednesday, or 19.1 percent, to close at $22.30. The company reported net income of $1 million, or 3 cents per diluted share, for the first quarter ended March 31, compared to a net income of $1.9 million, or 5 cents per share, for the first quarter of 2004, though total product sales for the first quarter increased 79 percent to $42.2 million, compared with $23.6 million for the comparable period in 2004. Overall sales reflect the growth of OLUX and Luxiq; a full quarter of sales of Soriatane, which was acquired in March 2004; and a first full quarter of sales of Evoclin, which was introduced in December. Connetics stock was downgraded Wednesday from "buy" to "hold" by New York-based Jefferies & Co.

• Cytopia Pty. Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, received approval from Australian regulatory officials to begin testing its cancer drug CYT997 in up to 30 patients with advanced, incurable solid tumors. The primary goals are to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the drug, assess its behavior in vivo and to establish a safe dosing level for Phase II trials.

• Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Houston, signed new agreements with Revotar Biopharmaceuticals AG, of Brandenburg, Germany, regarding bimosiamose and certain follow-on compounds. Encysive will reduce its ownership in Revotar to about 14 percent, and will license to Revotar the worldwide rights to bimosiamose and receive royalties on future revenues. Encysive has agreed to cancel an outstanding loan and accrued interest of about $3.7 million owed by Revotar. Bimosiamose has been studied in asthma, psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.

• EpiVax Inc., of Providence, R.I., was awarded a $600,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant by the National Institutes of Health. The company said it will use the funding to develop a genome-derived, epitope-driven Helicobacter pylorus vaccine. The award marks the third SBIR grant received by EpiVax in the past six months, bringing total NIH research funding to $2.5 million.

• Gentris Corp., of Morrisville, N.C., closed a $5 million funding round with Mitsui & Co. Inc., of Tokyo. Gentris provides applied clinical pharmacogenomic services and diagnostic product solutions.

• Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, Calif., reported that the company is proceeding with the evaluation of a second formulation of a fixed-dose combination of Truvada (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) with New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Sustiva for the treatment of HIV.

• Guava Technologies Inc., of Hayward, Calif., and AHF Global Immunity, an international initiative of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, announced a partnership aimed at increasing access in resource-limited nations to AIDS diagnosis and treatment monitoring. The partnership initially will focus on making Guava's EasyCD4 system for direct, absolute CD4 T-cell counts available at five sites in rural locations in Uganda and South Africa. Once the feasibility of the system is demonstrated, they plan to incorporate the system in HIV/AIDS clinics around the world.

• Icoria Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., entered a research agreement with Vesta Therapeutics Inc., of Durham, N.C., to use Icoria's metabolomics and gene-expression technologies to develop biological profiles for Vesta's human liver-derived stem progenitor cells and to aid in characterizing the cells' ability to regenerate new liver tissue. Vesta will use the information to optimize its selection of liver cells for transplantation and to guide clinical trials.

• Immunomedics Inc., of Morris Plains, N.J., signed definitive agreements to complete about $36 million in financing through the issuance of its 5 percent senior convertible notes due 2008 and common stock warrants. The private placement, which will be sold to institutional investors and institutional accredited investors, is expected to close April 29. The company said the funds would be used for registration trials of its lead product, epratuzumab, in moderate and severe lupus patients; for general working capital purposes; and to retire outstanding 3.25 percent convertible notes due January 2006.

• Inspire Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Durham, N.C., initiated a Phase II pilot trial for diquafosol tetrasodium (INS37217) in corneal wound healing and is planning to start two Phase II trials of the product in macular edema. The company is discontinuing enrollment of a Phase II trial for retinal detachment, due to a slow enrollment rate. The trial in corneal wound healing will compare the product with placebo in improving healing following photo-refractive keratectomy surgery.

• IntegraGen SA, of Paris, will be part of an EU consortium, EuroHear, which has been awarded €12.5 million (US$16.2 million) to research hearing impairments. IntegraGen's role will be to identify genes that predispose individuals to presbycusis, the most common form of inherited hearing impairment, and the company intends to apply its GenomeHIP technology as part of genome-wide linkage studies.

• Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., initiated development activities on Isis 369645 to treat asthma and related pulmonary diseases. The drug is a second-generation antisense inhibitor of the alpha subunit of the interleukin-4 receptor. IL-4R-alpha inhibits the activity of IL-4 and IL-13, two cytokines that regulate inflammation, mucus overproduction and airway hyperresponsiveness.

• Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Irvine, Calif., filed an investigational new drug application with the FDA to start a Phase III study of a new combination ophthalmic product containing tobramycin and prednisolone acetate to treat steroid-responsive inflammatory ocular conditions in which risk of bacterial infection exists. The company expects to submit a new drug application to the FDA during the first half of 2006. Last year's U.S. sales of topical ophthalmic anti-inflammatory products were about $400 million.

• Kane Biotech Inc., of Winnipeg, Manitoba, acquired the worldwide exclusive license to all human and industrial applications of the dispersin B enzyme from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The discovery of dispersin B was made at the university by Jeffrey Kaplan, who showed that the enzyme is responsible for the dispersal of bacterial biofilms. The company said the technology has several applications, including the prevention of device-related hospital-acquired infections.

• Maxim Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, achieved a $1 million milestone under an agreement with Myriad Genetics Inc., of Salt Lake City. The milestone is based on the dosing of the first patient in a Phase I program designed to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetic profile of MPC-6827 in patients with advanced solid tumors. The product is being developed by Myriad from a family of anticancer analogues discovered by Maxim through its high-throughput screening system.

• NanoString Technologies Inc., of Seattle, received an additional $3.8 million from its Series A investors, bringing the total amount of capital raised to more than $8 million in the last nine months. Last August the company reported that it had received $4.3 million in early stage capital from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and OVP Venture Partners. The venture capital groups also held warrants to purchase a maximum of about $3.8 million and chose to exercise them in full. NanoString is developing a platform for single-molecule identification and digital quantification.

• Neoprobe Corp., of Dublin, Ohio, said its subsidiary, Cira Biosciences Inc., received an independent technology assessment report on its activated cellular therapy (ACT) technology. The assessment was performed by the Battelle Memorial Institute to review the cell-processing procedures and manufacturing processes used by Cira Bio in earlier ACT trials that provided positive clinical results. Battelle identified a number of laboratory procedures that could be consolidated and made recommendations concerning the next phases of development for the manufacturing process.

• Neurochem Inc., of Laval, Quebec, said its independent Drug Safety Review Board issued a recommendation to continue the North American Phase III trial for Alzhemed to treat Alzheimer's disease. The recommendation was based on the review of safety data from 562 patients who had been monitored for at least 12 weeks. Alzhemed is an orally administered, small organic molecule designed to modify the course of Alzheimer's disease through its anti-amyloid activity.

• NovaDel Pharma Inc., of Flemington, N.J., reported results from a pilot pharmacokinetic trial using its lingual spray to deliver alprazolam, the active ingredient in New York-based Pfizer Inc.'s Xanax, for the treatment of anxiety. NovaDel said it achieved its goal of delivering the drug via lingual spray to rapidly achieve blood levels in the same therapeutic range delivered by the marketed oral tablet.

• OriGene Technologies Inc., of Rockville, Md., reported that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y., licensed subscription-based access to their TrueClone collection of 24,000 full-length human cDNAs suitable for transfection and high-throughput functional analyses. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• ParAllele BioScience Inc., of South San Francisco, reported collaborations with the University of Southern California as well as the Baylor College of Medicine to perform large-scale genetic association studies of autoimmune and infectious diseases, respectively. The collaborations will use ParAllele's application-specific SNP genotyping panel, being commercialized through a partnership with Affymetrix Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif.

• Vical Inc., of San Diego, said data from two Phase I trials support the advance of the bivalent (two-plasmid) formulation of its vaccine against cytomegalovirus to Phase II trials in hematopoietic cell transplant patients. The data showed that it would be safe to proceed to Phase II with either a bivalent or trivalent formulation of the vaccine. Vical decided to move forward with the bivalent formulation based on the immune responses observed and input from transplant experts.

• WITA GmbH, of Teltow, Germany, will expand its collaboration with Tokyo-based SC Biosciences Corp. for SCBC to distribute WITA's proteomics technologies in Japan. The collaboration covers the marketing of systems for high-resolution 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and includes the provision of quality-tested chemicals, training programs and other proteomics-centered services. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• ZLB Behring, of King of Prussia, Pa., began recruiting patients and investigators in the U.S. for a study of an investigational therapy for hereditary angioedema. The study is expected to begin in the third quarter under an FDA-approved protocol. The company said the objective is to show that a pasteurized C1-INH concentrate can shorten the time to relief of symptoms of abdominal or facial attacks compared to placebo.