• Ablynx NV, of Ghent, Belgium, signed a collaborative agreement with the National Research Council of Canada Institute for Biological Sciences in Ottawa, Ontario. The collaboration is expected to make a contribution to Ablynx's discovery efforts in the area of neurodegenerative diseases. NRC researchers have identified a class of nanobodies that cross the blood-brain barrier in a selective manner.

• Agilent Technologies Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., signed a definitive merger agreement with privately held Pleasanton, Calif.-based Scientific Software Inc., a provider of scientific information management solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed. Agilent said the acquisition would combine its analytical instrumentation, data systems and services with SSI's chromatographic data systems and informatics.

• Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cheshire, Conn., said the SEC has declared effective the company's registration statement covering the resale of its about 1.4 percent convertible senior notes due 2012, and the common stock issuable upon conversion of the notes. The notes originally were issued in a private placement in January to institutional investors.

• Applied Imaging Corp., of San Jose, Calif., said its subsidiary, CTC Inc., and the University of Vermont College of Medicine formed a collaboration to further develop and clinically validate technology to detect, quantify and characterize circulating tumor cells in the blood of cancer patients. CTC's approach incorporates a cell-selection technology with Applied Imaging's Ariol automated cell-imaging system. The parties initially will focus on improving breast cancer management.

• Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., began enrolling patients with relapsed and/or refractory cancers in the first multicenter Phase Ib trial of its oral dosage form of AP23573, an mTOR inhibitor recently awarded fast-track status by the FDA. In addition to safety, the study will evaluate anticancer activity and bioavailability of AP23573 tablets at three dosing levels. The product already is being tested as an intravenous formulation in multiple Phase Ib and II trials in patients with hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.

• Bioniche Life Sciences Inc., of Belleville, Ontario, was granted another patent on its core technology, Mycobacterial Cell Wall-DNA Complex, by the European Patent Organization. The patent provides protection for the use of the technology as a means of inducing programmed cell death in prostate cancer cells. The company's stock (TSE:BNC) jumped 28 percent, or C35 cents, to close Thursday at C$1.60 (US$1.26).

• Chromos Molecular Systems Inc., of Burnaby, British Columbia, entered a letter of intent to acquire Targeted Molecules Corp., a privately held San Diego company that focuses on developing two antibody candidates to treat multiple sclerosis and acute thrombosis. Chromos would issue about 20.1 million common shares as consideration to TMC shareholders. The transaction is expected to close in July, but during the acquisition process and the refocusing of development programs, shareholders from both companies have provided a bridge financing facility to Chromos of up to $1.5 million, with proceeds to be used for operations until the acquisition closes. Chromos said it intends to use revenues generated by its cell engineering business to support the clinical development of the antibodies, the first of which is expected to enter the clinic in late 2006. Chromos' stock (TSE:CHR) closed Thursday at C20 cents (US16 cents) per share.

• Cytomedix Inc., of Rockville, Md., said its listing application for the American Stock Exchange has been approved. The company's stock will begin trading on June 1 under the new ticker symbol "GTF."

• Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland, watched its shares climb 11.7 percent Thursday, following the company's annual meeting in which CEO Kelly Martin said Tysabri eventually will be put back on the market. The multiple sclerosis drug was pulled from the market in February after it was linked to patient deaths stemming from progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. The stock (NYSE:ELN) rose 84 cents to close at $8.05. (See BioWorld Today, March 1, 2005, and April 1, 2005.)

• Entelos Inc., of Foster City, Calif., acquired Foster City, Calif.-based Discovery Innovations Inc., a provider of data integration products and services to the life sciences industry. Entelos said the acquisition will enable it to provide broader research capabilities to its customers and for its own internal programs. Discovery Innovations' current products include CHAI, a web-based application for aggregating research tools for easy access, and LInKS, an information management solution for integrating the functions of searching, contextualizing and sharing information.

• Generex Biotechnology Corp., of Toronto, said Nasdaq granted the company an extension to regain compliance with the Nasdaq SmallCap Market's minimum bid price rule required for continued listing. The extension covers a period of 180 calendar days, until Nov. 21, and Nasdaq indicated that Generex's stock must trade with a closing bid price of $1 for 10 consecutive business days prior to that date.

• Genospectra Inc., of Fremont, Calif., introduced Express-si Delivery Reagent, an approach to the delivery of siRNAs into the most difficult-to-transfect cell types, the company said. Express-si Delivery Reagent is based on MPG technology. The mechanism of entry is receptor-independent and avoids the endocytic pathway.

• Halozyme Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, said the FDA accepted for filing the company's new drug application for Hylenex (formerly Enhanze SC). The company submitted the NDA in March, seeking approval for use as a spreading agent to facilitate the dispersion and absorption of other drugs. Hylenex has priority-review status, meaning FDA action could come within six months of the filing. (See BioWorld Today, March 29, 2005.)

• HealthRenu Medical Inc., of Houston, received a financing commitment from Cornell Capital Partners LP, of Jersey City, N.J., for up to $10 million under a standby equity distribution agreement over a 24-month period. The company will be able to access capital as needed. HealthRenu specializes in skin and wound care products.

• Immunomedics Inc., of Morris Plains, N.J., intends to take several actions after receiving the May 19 letter from Nasdaq stating the company was out of compliance for listing. Nasdaq is reviewing whether the company should remain eligible for market listing.

• Inhibition Therapeutics Inc., of Englewood, Colo., said all conditions have been completed for its acquisition of all issued and outstanding stock of Inhibetex Therapeutics Inc. As previously announced, Inhibition, formerly known as Organic Soils.com Inc., changed its name in connection with the acquisition. Inhibition is a development-stage company focused on biotechnology research, development and potential commercialization of technologies and products for treating cancer, including an initial focus to investigate the effect of IKC isozymes on the regulation of brain cancer cells.

• Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., said the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a study on the rapid identification and strain typing of respiratory pathogens for epidemic surveillance. The study was authored by scientists from Isis' Ibis division and collaborators at the Naval Health Research Center and San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp., who used the TIGER biosensor system to identify the infectious agents responsible for a severe outbreak of respiratory disease. The publication describes results obtained from analysis of throat swabs taken during an outbreak at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.

• Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC, of Raritan, N.J., received a not-approvable letter from the FDA regarding a supplemental new drug application for Risperdal (risperidone) to treat psychosis of Alzheimer's disease. The company is evaluating the letter before determining its next steps. Risperdal Consta, which was co-developed by J&J and Cambridge, Mass.-based Alkermes Inc., received FDA approval in 2003 for schizophrenia.

• Large Scale Biology Corp., of Vacaville, Calif., submitted a plan of compliance to Nasdaq following notice the company's stockholders equity of $9.4 million, as reported for the year ended Dec. 31, was less than the $10 million required for continued listing. For the quarter ended March 31, the company's stockholders equity was reported at $5.6 million.

• Lorus Therapeutics Inc., of Toronto, said it has published peer-reviewed results from studies on the mechanism of Virulizin-mediated cancer activity, which appear online in Cancer, Immunology, Immunotherapy. Lorus said Virulizin, its lead drug candidate in a pivotal Phase II trial for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, has produced promising efficacy and safety data, and appears to work by stimulating the host's intrinsic antitumor immunity and activating the immune system.

• MDS Nordion, of Ottawa, Ontario, and Macrocyclics Inc., of Dallas, entered a collaboration to develop bifunctional chelates for use in molecular imaging and targeted therapeutic pharmaceuticals. The three-year collaboration will focus on chelate structures, linkers and conjugation methods to enable the use of a wider range of targeting vectors by the research community. The objective is to develop and make available chelates that have performance features, such as high efficiency radiolabeling at room temperature, while maintaining stability comparable to industry-standard chelates.

• Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, of Boca Raton, Fla., initiated the first human study of its vaccine in development to prevent Staphylococcus epidermidis infections in at-risk patients, which include neonates, patients with in-dwelling catheters and patients undergoing certain types of surgery. The Phase I trial will evaluate the safety and immune response of the vaccine in up to 48 patients at four dosage levels. Results are expected in the second half of the year.

• Nuvelo Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., finalized the design of the Phase III program for its lead product candidate, alfimeprase, for the treatment of central venous catheter occlusion. The Phase III program, known as SONOMA (Speedy Opening of Non-Functional and Occluded Catheters with Mini-Dose Alfimeprase), includes two overlapping, multinational trials. The company began a Phase III trial in peripheral arterial occlusion in April. (See BioWorld Today, April 19, 2005.)

• Pharmacopeia Drug Discovery Inc., of Princeton, N.J., entered an amended license agreement with Columbia University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, both in New York, covering the company's core tagging technology used in its combinatorial chemistry encoding technology known as Encoded Combinatorial Libraries on Polymeric Support, or ECLiPS. The company also said it has resolved a prior dispute with Columbia and Cold Spring Harbor regarding the payment of certain royalties under a pre-existing license agreement.

• Sepracor Inc., of Marlborough, Mass., presented four Lunesta brand eszopliclone posters at the 158th annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Atlanta. Two Lunesta posters reported the findings of a study in patients with co-existing insomnia and depression. The results of a Phase IIIb/IV, 545-patient, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 10-week study evaluated the efficacy and safety of eszopiclone in patients with major depressive disorder and insomnia. Averaged over the double-blind period, patients treated with eszopiclone showed statistically significant improvements in time to sleep onset, wake time after sleep onset and total sleep time, compared to those patients taking placebo.

• Targeted Genetics Corp., of Seattle, said the University of Iowa Research Foundation was issued another U.S. patent related to the company's adeno-associated virus technology platform. The company's stock (NASDAQ:TGEN) rose 28.2 percent Thursday, or 20 cents, to close at 91 cents. The patent covers the use of two AAV vectors to deliver DNA sequences that, once inside a cell, are used to produce or regulate a single protein.

• University of Massachusetts Medical School at Worcester and Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives are forming a proteomic consortium to bring together scientific and technological resources, through which scientists can analyze the functions and interactions of proteins produced in cells. The consortium fills an important gap left open last year when Charles River Proteomics decided to withdraw from the proteomics market and close its Worcester location, they said.