• Acura Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Palatine, Ill., received U.S. Patent No. 7,981,439, titled "Methods and compositions for deterring abuse of drugs susceptible to abuse and dosage forms thereof," covering its AVERSION polymer matrix technology when used with any water soluble drug of abuse.

• Advanced Cell Technology Inc., of Marlborough, Mass., received U.S. Patent No. 8,017,393, which covers the firm's method for generating and expanding hemangioblast cells from human embryonic stem cells.

• Aegis Therapeutics LLC, of San Diego, said it received U.S. Patent No. 7,998,927, which provides broad protection for stabilized formulations of GLP-1 peptide analogues suitable for all routes of administration, including noninvasive oral or metered nasal spray routes and injection.

• AgonOx LLC, of Portland, Ore., received U.S. Patent No. 7,959,925, titled "Trimeric OX40 Immunoglobulin Fusion Protein and Methods of Use," which covers both a range of compositions of OX40 Ligand Fusion Proteins and methods of use.

• Allon Therapeutics Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, was granted a patent covering the compositions of matter for the D-isomer of NAP (davunetide), which is known as AL-408 in the firm's pipeline.