• Adimab Inc., of Lebanon, N.H., initiated three new research collaborations with Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, and Human Genome Sciences Inc., of Rockville, Md., for the use of its antibody discovery platform technology. Adimab also achieved a technical milestone from its collaboration with Novartis AG, of Basel, Switzerland.

• AdventRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. requested a meeting with the FDA about its docetaxel formulation, ANX-514. The San Diego-based company said that transitory elevations in total docetaxel concentrations for ANX-514 do not affect safety and efficacy of the drug compared to Taxotere, a brand name formulation of docetaxel.

• Alcon Inc., of Huenenberg, Switzerland, said its board approved a merger agreement with Novartis AG, of Basel, Switzerland, whereby Novartis will pay $168 per share for the Alcon shares it does not currently own. Upon completion of the merger, Alcon will become the second largest division within Novartis.

• Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, said it identified a preclinical candidate for its newest lysophosphatidic acid (LPA)-related program, autotoxin, an enzyme upstream from LPA receptors that has been implicated in a number of diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, glioblastoma, lung, breast, ovarian and thyroid cancers. The company said it identified an orally bioavailable and highly selective autotoxin inhibitor. The company said its other LPA-related drug targets include LPA1 receptor antagonist AM152, which is currently in Phase I trials.

• BioAlliance Pharma SA, of Paris, has been awarded a grant from the French state Research National Agency, ANR, and a label award from both clusters of excellence, Medicen Paris Region and Atlanpole, for two new applications of its mucoadhesive Lauriad technology. The projects are dedicated to the development of new biological products based on the Lauriad technology allowing mucous penetration of a biologically active compound. A first funding from the ANR is allocated to the development of a Lauriad mucoadhesive tablet containing a small interfering RNA targeting the androgen receptors intended for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer.

• Bionovo Inc., of Emeryville, Calif., reported that metastasis suppressor CC3/TIP30 is related to the survival and adaptation of cancer cells in adverse conditions. Results were published in Cell Cycle. The research has implications for Bionovo's ongoing work developing drugs that disrupt the metabolic pathways of cancer cells.

• Epitomics Inc., of Burlingame, Calif., has signed a contract with SAIC Frederick Inc., operating under contract with the National Cancer Institute of the U.S. National Institutes of Health to develop several dozen rabbit monoclonal antibodies to support the Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer program. The goal of the project is to develop high affinity and renewable reagents to capture tryptic peptides derived from human plasma protein biomarkers, and then use the captured peptides to quantify the biomarkers by mass spec platforms such as SISCAPA (stable isotope standards and capture by anti-peptide antibodies) and iMALDI (immuno-Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization) assays. Epitomics has successfully completed the first phase of the project to generate and affinity purify rabbit polyclonal antibodies against these biomarkers.

• Envoy Therapeutics Inc., of Jupiter, Fla., reported that it achieved a milestone in its alliance with Merck and Co. Inc., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., by executing its bacTRAP technology in diabetes-relevant tissues. Envoy is now eligible for a cash payment from Merck.

• Lundbeck Inc., of Deerfield, Ill., has launched a Huntington's disease (HD) research initiative to identify and ultimately commercialize therapies that may slow or halt progression of the disease. The research will be driven by collaborations with academic institutions and companies with promising compounds in development. HD is a hereditary neurodegenerative disease characterized by a triad of progressive motor, cognitive and emotional symptoms.

• Myotec Therapeutics Ltd., of London, and Hybrid BioSystems Ltd., of Oxfordshire, UK, have merged to form PsiOxus Therapeutics Ltd. The newly combined firm, whose lead drug candidate is MT-102, a dual-action anabolic catabolic transforming agent in Phase II development as a treatment for cachexia, a cancer-wasting disease, will be supported with an additional financing round of £3.6 million (US$5.8 million), led by Imperial Innovations, with participation from all of the major investors from both of the merged predecessor companies.

• Osteologix Inc., of Glen Allen, Va., said its board determined that the expense and management attention required for SEC compliance and reporting outweigh the benefits for the company and its shareholders in light of the history of the low trading volume of the firm's common stock on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board and the resulting very limited liquidity in its shares, and therefore, plans to file a Form 15 to voluntarily deregister its stock and suspend its reporting obligations as of Jan. 1, 2011. Osteologix said it wants to minimize its corporate overhead expense, while focusing its business activities on maximizing the value of its licensing agreement with the Servier Research Group, of Melbourne, Australia, while continuing to seek development partners for its U.S. strontium malonate drug development program.

• Repligen Corp., of Waltham, Mass., received a $1.4 million research grant from the Muscular Dystrophy Association to support the ongoing development of RG3039, an inhibitor of an RNA processing enzyme which targets increased production of survival motor neuron, a protein of deficient levels in patients with spinal muscular atrophy, an inherited neurodegenerative disease in which patients experience a loss of muscle function, often leading to death.