Pharmacor Inc., of Montreal, was issued U.S. patent application No. 09/963,329 relating to its antiretroviral program. The small-molecule compounds described in the patent, titled "Aromatic derivatives with HIV integrase inhibitory properties," are novel anti-HIV lead molecules that target a novel mechanism of action on HIV.

Provectus Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Knoxville, Tenn., received U.S. Patent No. 6,493,570, governing use of a group of related compounds as imaging agents to identify and treat diseased tissue. It also received U.S. Patent No. 6,495,360, covering methods to increase yield of cells used in the production of biological products, such as vaccines.

Sontra Medical Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,491,657, covering methods for enhancing transdermal transport. Specifically, the patent describes the use of Sontra's SonoPrep hand-held ultrasound device to permeate the skin followed by the use of a driving force such as an osmotic pressure gradient, iontophoresis, electroporation, suction or mechanical pressure for transdermal drug delivery and the non-invasive diagnosis of interstitial analytes.

SuperGen Inc., of Dublin, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,485,514, covering the local delivery of 9-nitrocamptothecin (Orathecin) via stents and/or catheters to sites of proliferating cells. It also was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,482,830, covering its polymorphic formulations of Orathecin.

Xeotron Corp., of Houston, was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,426,184, titled "Method and apparatus for chemical and biochemical reactions using photo-generated reagents." It covers a new method and an integrated system of equipment necessary for the synthesis of chemical microarrays in situ.