Advanced Viral Research Corp., of Yonkers, N.Y., was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,670,118 titled "Method for Treating Papillomavirus Infections," which describes the use of AVR118 for the topical treatment of lesions resulting from human papillomavirus infections, including genital warts.

Advancis Pharmaceutical Corp., of Germantown, Md., was issued five antibiotic-related patents: U.S. Patent No. 6,663,890, regarding the pulsatile-release dosage profile of metronidazole antibiotic products; U.S. Patent No. 6,663,891, regarding the pulsatile delivery of erythromycin antibiotic products; U.S. Patent No. 6,667,042, regarding the pulsatile delivery of levofloxacin; U.S. Patent No. 6,667,057, regarding the pulsatile delivery of fluoroquinolone; and U.S. Patent No. 6,669,948, regarding the pulsatile delivery of beta-lactam antibiotic products.

Cepheid Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,664,104 titled "Device Incorporating a Microfluidic Chip for Separating Analyte from a Sample," which covers the design of a sample-preparation cartridge containing a microfluidic chip for extraction and purification of multiple DNA targets simultaneously.

Ciphergen Biosystems Inc., of Fremont, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,675,104, directed to finding protein patterns in mass spectrometry data.

Diversa Corp., of San Diego, was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,656,677, directed to liquid phase expression screening of libraries made from DNA of more than one species.

Elixir Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Children's Hospital in Boston was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,673,546 titled "Genetic Loci Indicative of Propensity for Longevity and Methods for Identifying Propensity for Age-Related Disease," to which the company has an exclusive license.

FerroDynamics Inc., of Houston, was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,613,741 titled "Method for Treating Aseptic SIRS [systemic inflammatory response syndrome] in Humans and Other Animals," broadly covering a method for using the protein lactoferrin to prevent the onset of sepsis.

Introgen Therapeutics Inc., of Austin, Texas, said U.S. Patent No. 6,630,344 was awarded to The Board of Regents of The University of Texas System. Exclusively licensed to Introgen, the patent claims broadly cover adenoviruses engineered to control tissue replication through the use of tissue-specific control elements.

Juvaris BioTherapeutics Inc., of Pleasanton, Calif., received a notice of allowance for its patent titled "Systemic Immune Activation Method Using Nucleic Acid-Lipid Complexes," covering its core technology platform.

OxiGene Inc., of Waltham, Mass., received U.S. Patent No. 6,670,344, which grants additional composition-of-matter claims for its lead vascular-targeting compound, Combretastatin A4 Prodrug (CA4P).

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,623,961 that covers any cell comprising the hepatitis C virus internal ribozyme entry site linked to a reporter gene. The company also received U.S. Patent No. 6,623,980, which covers screening drug candidates that bind to a certain protein believed to be involved in exocytosis.

Sonus Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bothell, Wash., was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,667,048, a third patent covering the composition of its lead cancer product, Tocosol Paclitaxel.

ViaLogy Corp., of Pasadena, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,671,625, which describes use of its Quantum Resonance Interferometry technology for detection and quantitation of biomolecular events above and below background noise.