• Curis Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., received U.S. Patent No. 6,552,016 covering pharmaceutical preparations containing small-molecule compounds that selectively inhibit a biological signaling pathway controlled by the Hedgehog protein. Among the small molecules covered CUR-61414, under development to treat basal cell carcinoma.

• Gryphus Diagnostics LLC, of Birmingham, Ala., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,512,100 covering the sialidase technology platform used in its BvBlue product to detect vaginal fluid sialidase associated with bacterial vaginosis. The patent covers a series of chromogenic substrate compounds for sialidases of bacterial, viral, protozoa and vertebrate (including human) origin and methods of diagnosis and prognosis of sialidase-related diseases using those substrate compounds.

• Inhibitex Inc., of Atlanta, was granted a notice of allowance for claims directed to a nucleic acid sequence, or gene, encoding a fibrinogen binding protein, SdrG, from Staphylococcus epidermidis, a coagulase-negative staphylococcal organism. The technology, exclusively licensed to Inhibitex, was co-discovered at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and Texas A&M University's System Health Science Center in College Statio.

• InKine Pharmaceutical Co. Inc., of Blue Bell, Pa., received a notice of allowance for its patent titled "Method of Treating Inflammatory Conditions with Progesterone or Progesterone Analogs." The patent protects InKine's use of medroxyprogesterone (Colirest) in treating Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, proctitis, microscopic colitis, allergic eosinophilic gastroenteritis, food allergies, drug-induced esophagitis, celiac disease, recurrent polyps and hemorrhoids.

• PBL Therapeutics, of Piscataway, N.J., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,514,753 titled "Expression Vectors for Producing Modified Proteins." It covers genetically engineered systems that can be used to produce radiolabeled proteins that selectively target and kill cancer cells.