• Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, reached an agreement with the holders of a majority of the principal amount outstanding of the company's 7.75 percent senior subordinated notes to extend, to May 12 the date by which implementation of the previously announced recapitalization transaction must take place pursuant to the recapitalization support agreement, dated Oct. 29, 2010. The company also entered an agreement with holders of a majority of the principal amount outstanding of its senior floating rate notes due 2013 to extend, to May 12, the date by which the company must close its offer to exchange new senior secured floating rate notes due 2013 for all of its existing floating rate notes under an Oct. 29, 2010, floating rate note support agreement.

• AstraZeneca plc, of London, reported that the orphan drug vandetanib is now available to U.S. patients for the treatment of medullary thyroid cancer that cannot be removed by surgery or that has spread to other parts of the body. Vandetanib was FDA approved on April 6 and is available exclusively through the pharmacy business unit of Biologics Inc., of Manassas, Va., an integrated oncology management company.

• Cellceutix Corp., of Beverly, Mass., presented four posters at the 102nd annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Orlando, Fla., showing how new compounds could affect p53 function. Cellceutix's compound Kevetrin was the only one of the four that showed success against a broad spectrum of cancers.

• Kadmon Pharmaceuticals LLC, of New York, and Nano Terra Inc., of Brighton, Mass., entered an agreement under which Kadmon has been granted a perpetual, worldwide exclusive license to three clinical-stage product candidates owned by Nano as well as rights to Nano's drug discovery platform, Pharmacomer technology. The product candidates and technology platform will be transferred to a newly formed joint venture, NT Life Sciences, co-owned by Kadmon and Nano, which will act as the licensor and recipient of any licensing or royalty fees subject to the agreement. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The candidates, SLx-2119, SLx-4090 and SLx-2101, are in early- to mid-stage clinical development for a variety of diseases.

• KemPharm Inc., of North Liberty, Iowa, said that its attention deficit hyperactivity disorder candidate, KP106, will be formulated in an oral film dosage form in collaboration with MonoSol Rx LLC, of Warren, N.J.. MonoSol acquired exclusive manufacturing rights for the drug in exchange for a share of royalties. It will be responsible for the costs of developing the formulation and manufacturing the drug. The oral film dosage form is considered to be advantageous because it deters abuse and addresses other problems connected with pediatric pill dosage forms of the same ingredients.

The FDA has approved a special protocol assessment for arboclofen placarbil, by XenoPort Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif. Xenoport is developing the drug for treatment of spasticity in multiple sclerosis. The company also completed an end of Phase II meeting with the FDA regarding additional studies it will carry out for its new drug application for arboclofen placarbil. The FDA said that Xenoport's pivotal trial could be the basis of its NDA. It will initiate that trial later this quarter.