• Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cheshire, Conn., will acquire from the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundations all rights to certain patents related to complement-inhibition technology. The patents cover inventions made by OMRF in the 1980s relating to the treatment of complement system-mediated disorders. Alexion previously had limited license rights to the patents. Alexion will pay OMRF $10 million. The payment will settle claims filed by OMRF and counterclaims filed by Alexion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.

• Axcan Pharma Inc., of Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, said the Federal Minister of Industry has approved the acquisition by an affiliate of Texas Pacific Group Capital of all outstanding common shares of Axcan. Payment to shareholders will be made following the later of the closing of the transaction and the receipt by the depository of duly completed letters of transmittal and related documents. The transaction is expected to close Feb. 25.

• BiPar Sciences Inc., of Brisbane, Calif., has named Hoyoung Huh president and CEO. Huh previously served as chief operating officer and head of the pegylation business unit at Nektar Therapeutics.

• Carrington Laboratories Inc., of Irving, Texas, said its wholly owned subsidiary DelSite Biotechnologies Inc. received a shipment of clinical-grade H5N1 (bird flu) antigen from a major pharmaceutical company to begin production. The vaccine will use DelSite's GelVac nasal powder delivery platform.

• Cell Therapeutics Inc., of Seattle, said it exchanged $8.94 million in aggregate principal of its outstanding 5.75 percent convertible senior subordinated notes due in 2008 and approximately $150,000 in aggregate principal of its outstanding 5.75 percent convertible subordinated notes due in 2008 for approximately 6.85 million shares of the company's common stock. The common stock was issued in a private placement. Approximately $10.7 million in senior subordinated notes and subordinated notes remain outstanding and mature in June 2008.

• Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., said it successfully reduced its 2008 debt to $12.5 million. In August 2007, the company sold 25 percent of its future royalties of the hepatitis drug Pegintron (peginterferon alfa-2b, Schering-Plough Corp.) for $92.5 million. A portion of the proceeds went to eliminating the remaining 2008 debt.

• Evotec AG, of Hamburg, Germany, said the CHDI Foundation Inc., which supports therapies for Huntington's disease, has extended its collaboration with Evotec, which will bring in an extra $37 million in research funds. The partnership, now extended to the end of 2010, is to help the company advance its Huntington's disease drug discovery programs. The collaboration covers Evotec's entire drug discovery offering.

• MethylGene Inc., of Montreal, and Pharmion Corp., of Boulder, Colo., said the FDA has designated the companies' histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, MGCD0103, as an orphan drug for the treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia. MGCD0103 is an orally administered, isotype-selective HDAC inhibitor currently in one Phase I combination clinical trial with Taxotere for solid tumors, two Phase I/II combination trials with Vidaza for hematological malignancies and with Gemzar for pancreatic cancer, and five Phase II clinical trials in hematological malignancies.

• Micromet Inc., of Bethesda, Md., reported that clinical and preclinical data on its BiTE antibodies, published in Drugs of the Future, described how those antibodies recruit T cells to fight disease. Data showed that CD19-specific BiTE antibody MT103 produced complete and partial responses at generally well tolerated and very low doses in late-stage lymphoma patients, while preclinical studies of three other BiTE antibodies demonstrated significant antitumor activity targeting solid tumors by EpCam, EphA2 or CEA antigens.

• MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals, of Germantown, Md., has hired Morgan Stanley as its adviser to explore alternatives to enhance shareholder value. These alternatives could include continuing operations, selling its assets, partnering or collaboration agreements, a merger or sale of the company. Pacific Growth Equities LLC will act as co-adviser with Morgan Stanley.

• Mymetics Corp., of Nyon, Switzerland, said it is part of a European healthcare consortium awarded a €7.5 million (US$11 million) grant from the European Commission to investigate new HIV antigen formulations for triggering broadly neutralizing antibodies in the blood and mucosal compartments, using various adjuvants and platform technologies based on virus-like particles. Mymetics is supporting the consortium through its expertise with vaccination and HIV mucosal immune response and will provide access the HIV virosomes technology.

• NextGen Bioscience Inc., of Cambridgeshire, UK, said it plans to collaborate with Beckpharma Ltd., of London, to focus on the sourcing of cancer treatments, and possibly extending into therapeutic areas. NextGen forms research collaborations to achieve breakthroughs in anticancer treatments and then licenses patented drug product candidates to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

• Pharmaxis, of Sydney, Australia, said it will apply for Australian marketing approval of Bronchitol for patients with bronchiectasis, following a meeting with the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. Bronchitol is being developed as a twice daily therapy for people with the incurable lung condition Bronchiectasis. A Phase III study last year showed a significant improvement in the quality of life for patients treated with Bronchitol, and a significant difference in their mucus clearance.

• Senexis Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, and Oxygen Healthcare Ltd. (O2H), also of Cambridge, agreed to a collaboration, under which O2H will provide synthetic and computational chemistry services for Senexis' drug discovery programs. Senexis focuses on developing treatments and diagnostics for age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's dementia, Type II diabetes and dialysis-related amyloidosis. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

• Sygnis Pharma AG, of Heidelberg, Germany, has received a positive recommendation from the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products of the European Medicines Agency for AX200 for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The company said preclinical trials show that AX200 counteracts neuronal cell death and decelerates the development of ALS. It also advances regenerative processes by stimulating neuronal stem cells.

• Vion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New Haven, Conn., said shareholders approved a reverse stock split of the company's outstanding common stock of not less than 1-for-5 and not more than 1-for-10, with the exact ratio to be set by the board of directors. The shareholders also voted to decrease the total number of shares and the number of shares of common stock the company is authorized to issue.

• West Pharmaceutical Services Inc., of Lionville, Pa., said it has concluded an agreement with Nektar Therapeutics Inc., of San Carlos, Calif., relating to the manufacture and assembly of components for the Exubera inhalable insulin device. Production of the device was suspended in October 2007 following New York-based Pfizer Inc.'s decision to discontinue marketing the product, returning the marketing rights to Nektar. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Under the new agreement, West will be reimbursed for facility, inventory, raw materials and personnel costs consistent with the company's previously announced expectations. West has agreed to maintain the facility for between two and 10 months. West said it expects to recognize an impairment charge of $12.9 million.