• Apricus Biosciences Inc., of San Diego, will file for market authorization in Latin America for its erectile dysfunction drug, Vitaros. It has hired Quintiles Global Regulatory Affairs to prepare the filings in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Peru. The first filing will be made in eight to 10 weeks. The drug is approved for erectile dysfunction in Canada and is under review in the EU.

• Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, and Eisai Inc., of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., announced results from a Pathology Working Group convened following the FDA's complete response letter for obesity drug lorcaserin. The group of five pathologists reviewed female rat mammary tumor diagnoses from a two-year lorcaserin rat carcinogenicity study. They determined that malignant tumors were distinguishable from benign tumors, and that the number of malignant tumors increased with high-dose lorcaserin (68 percent) vs. control (40 percent) but not with low-dose (32.3 percent) or mid-dose (36.9 percent) lorcaserin. The findings will be submitted to the FDA. Shares of Arena (NASDAQ:ARNA) gained 18 cents, or 14 percent, to close at $1.45 on Tuesday. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 26, 2010.)

• Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, Calif., signed an agreement with Roche AG, of Basel, Switzerland, to purchase a clinical biologics manufacturing facility and process development assets in Oceanside, Calif., from Roche subsidiary Genentech Inc. The transaction will close in the third quarter, and 55 Genentech employees associated with the facility will be offered positions at Gilead. Gilead will use the facility to process and manufacture GS 6624, a monoclonal antibody candidate for cancer and fibrotic disease, and one other antibody currently at the preclinical stage.

• The board of Pharmasset Inc., of Princeton. N.J., authorized a two-for-one split of the company's common stock. Stockholders will receive an additional share for each share they own as of the close of business Aug. 22. The new shares will be distributed Aug. 31. After the split, Pharmasset will have about 75.4 million shares outstanding. The company is primarily focusing on hepatitis C treatments and has three candidates in clinical trials. Shares of Pharmasset (NASDAQ:VRUS) were up $15.15, or 14.8 percent, closing at $117.65 Tuesday. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 9, 2011.)