• ActivBiotics, of Wellesley Hills, Mass., said it has launched a development strategy to advance its benzoxazinorifamycins as leading antibacterial drug candidates in combination antibiotic therapy, which includes the sale of assets, including Rifalazil and other new chemical entities. The bidding for the assets is set for March 14.

• Addex Pharmaceuticals, of Geneva, Switzerland, said it has achieved its first preclinical milestone in a Parkinson's disease collaboration and license agreement with Merck & Co., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., through its affiliate Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Ltd. The collaboration is focused on developing an emerging class of oral drugs, allosteric modulators, that target the metabotropic glutamate receptor 4 (mGluR4) for Parkinson's disease and other undisclosed indications. Addex will receive $250,000 for achieving the first preclinical milestone. Additional milestones of up to $61 million would be payable if a second and third product is developed. Merck is responsible for clinical development.

• Attagene Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., said its flagship technology Factorial, a method for simultaneously reporting on the activity of a large panel of transcription factors, was described in an online publication of Nature Methods. When introduced into the cell, the reporter constructs produce a spectrum of reporter RNA messages that mirror the activities of the evaluated transcription factors. These reporter messages are quantified by using an unconventional detection approach.

• Bruker BioSciences Corp., of Billerica, Mass., said its stockholders have approved the acquisition of the companies comprising the Bruker BioSpin Group. All proposals were approved with overwhelming majorities. In addition, stockholders approved amendments to the company's certificate of incorporation to change the name of the company to Bruker Corp. Tony W. Keller and Dirk D. Laukien were named to the board.

• Cepheid, of Sunnyvale, Calif., and Instrumentation Laboratory, of Lexington, Mass., have released the Xpert HemosIL FII & FV assay as a European CE IVD Mark product. The assay detects Factor II and Factor V Leiden genetic variations associated with thrombophilia, delivering the results in 30 minutes. The test is expected to be available beginning March 4.

• Cytokine PharmaSciences Inc., of King of Prussia, Pa., has granted Marillion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Malvern, Pa., exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize Pilobuc buccal insert for the treatment of xerostomia, and treatment with numerous medications and radiotherapy for head and neck cancers. Pilobuc is a buccal formulation of pilocarpine shown in clinical trials to deliver the drug with reduced adverse effects compared with other routes of administration. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Eden Bioscience Corp., of Bothell, Wash., is effecting a 1-for-3 reverse stock split of outstanding shares, reducing the company's outstanding shares from about 8.1 million to 2.7 million shares. The move was approved to help Eden regain compliance with Nasdaq's $1 minimum bid price rule for continued listing.

• Esbatech AG, of Zurich, Switzerland, said it has achieved high concentrations of its antibody fragments in all segments of the eye with topical delivery via eye drops. Those data were confirmed in several independent preclinical in vivo tests. Anticipated therapeutic concentrations of the antibody fragments were observed in the anterior chamber and in the posterior segments including vitreous humour, retina and choroid. Esbatech's lead antibody fragment ESBA105 is a TNFa antagonist that is scheduled to enter clinical development later in 2008.

• Invitrogen Corp., of Carlsbad, Calif., extended its partnership with Chroma Therapeutics Ltd., of Abingdon, UK, and agreed to use its SelectScreen platform to perform biochemical screening on Chroma's multitargeted kinase inhibitors. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Kamada Ltd., of Ness Ziona, Israel, signed two development agreements with PARI Pharma GmbH, of Munich, Germany, including one for the joint clinical development of aerosolized AAT in cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis, in addition to alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Under the terms, PARI granted Kamada an exclusive license to use an optimized eFlow Electronic Nebulizer to deliver AAT in clinical trials. The second deal involved a long-term supply agreement for eFlow for the marketing, distribution and commercialization of AAT, pending successful development. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• NexGenix Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc., of New York, said data from its Hsp90 inhibitor program showed that NXD30001, a radicicol-based Hsp90 inhibitor, demonstrated efficacy in breast cancer tumor xenograft models without evidence of liver and kidney toxicity. Those data were presented at the GTCBio Cancer Drugs Research & Development meeting in Phoenix.

• Oncothyreon Inc., of Bellevue, Wash., presented data it said demonstrated the effectiveness of PX-478 in a preclinical model of human lung cancer. Oncothyreon's PX-478 is a small-molecule inhibitor of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1 alpha currently in a Phase I trial in advanced metastatic cancer and lymphoma. Treatment with oral PX-478 for five days resulted in significant inhibition of tumor growth, marked reduction in lymph nodes metastases, decreased volume of pleural effusions and significantly improved survival. PX-478 was effective in models of both non-small-cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer that express HIF-1 alpha. The data were presented at the 8th Annual Targeted Therapies of the Treatment of Lung Cancer meeting in Santa Monica, Calif.

• OPKO Health Inc., of Miami, and Pathogenics Inc., of Hingham, Mass., reported preclinical data demonstrating the potential of N-Chlorotaurine (NCT) in Acanthamoeba keratitis, showing that NCT had clear in vitro amoebicidal activity at concentrations that likely are to be well tolerated in humans. Data also showed that co-treatment with ammonium chloride appeared to further enhance NCT's antiparasitic activity, including its activity against Acanthamoeba cysts, resulting in the complete loss of viability of the infection-causing parasites. The study was published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

• Organogenesis Inc., of Canton, Mass., said it is acquiring NanoMatrix Inc., of Baton Rouge, La., which designs scaffolds for the purposes of regenerative medicine based on the fabrication technique known as electrospinning, a method of producing and assembling nano-scale fibers into 3-dimensional scaffolds. NanoMatrix's core technology makes it possible to mimic the 3-dimensional architectural structure that is essential for the body's natural growth and repair processes, Organogenesis said. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

• Rexahn Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Rockville, Md., received a $217,761 grant through the Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program to continue its joint development with researchers at the University of Maryland in Baltimore to create polymer-drug conjugates for targeted delivery of cancer drugs. That funding follows a similar grant the company received last year, which was applied toward the successful first phase of the project.

• Theravance Inc., of South San Francisco, said the FDA has cancelled a Feb. 27 meeting of its Anti-Infective Drugs Advisory Committee to discuss the firm's new drug application for telavancin for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections. The FDA said it needed more time to review and resolve several outstanding issues. The agency said it intends to continue evaluating the application for telavancin and will reschedule the meeting, as needed. The FDA also cancelled a meeting scheduled for the next day with the same committee, which was expected to review ceftobiprole medocaril, made by Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, of Raritan, N.J., for the same indication.

• Tracon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, and the Ireland Cancer Center of University Hospital Case Medical Center treated the first patient in a Phase I trial of TRC102, a cancer drug aimed at reversing resistance to Temodar (temozolomide, Schering-Plough Corp.) chemotherapy by targeting a specific DNA repair pathway. The study is designed to enroll patients with advanced cancer who are receiving Temodar. The drug also is expected to start a similar Phase I study in combination with Alimta (pemetrexed, Eli Lilly & Co.) later this year. Tracon gained rights to the compound from Case Western Reserve University in 2006.

• Verenium Corp., of Cambridge, Mass. said it has entered into a securities purchase agreement with institutional investors to raise about $54 million through the issuance of senior convertible notes maturing April 1, 2012. The financing also includes an exchange of $16.7 million of new notes for $18.5 million of the company's existing 5.5 percent convertible senior notes. The company expects to receive net proceeds of approximately $45 million from the financing to be used for general working capital purposes.