• Arius Research Inc., of Toronto, said it will disclose data demonstrating that its CD9 antibody, AR40A746.2.3, not only targets leukemia cancer stem cells but also leads to a reduction in their capacity to self-renew or give rise to further leukemia. CD9 appears to be an important driver for leukemia and potentially other cancer stem cells, which often survive treatment, continue to multiply and go on to seed new tumors. Cancer studies have demonstrated that the presence of CD9 can be linked to lower survival rates. AR40A746.2.3 has previously been found to control tumor growth and improve survival in pre-clinical breast and pancreatic cancer models. The data will be presented in a poster at the American Association for Cancer Research, Conference on Cancer Stem Cells in Los Angeles.

• Cellartis, of Gothenburg, Sweden, said it has entered into a research collaboration with Pfizer Inc., of New York, for the development of a novel model system for detecting human toxicity in vitro. The goal is to generate a predictive developmental screening model for new chemical entities using the Cellartis human Embryonic Stem cell platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Cellegy Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Quakertown, Pa., has entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp., of San Diego. Adamis is a privately held specialty pharmaceuticals company working on products for the prevention of viral infections, including influenza. Adamis markets and sells a line of prescription products for a variety of allergy, respiratory disease and pediatric conditions, and also owns an independent contract packager of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is expected to close during the second or third quarter of this year. If the deal is approved by stockholders, a reverse merger would take place, and Adamis CEO Dennis Carlo is expected to become CEO of the combined company.

• Dara BioSciences Inc., of Raleigh, N.C., and Point Therapeutics Inc., of Wellesley Hills, Mass., said their respective shareholders have approved a merger of the two companies, thus consummating the transaction. Dara will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "DARA."

• GeneGo Inc., of St. Joseph, Mich., has entered into a collaboration with the Netherlands Toxicogenomics Center. The five-year, €25 million (US$36.4 million) program will use toxicogenomics to develop highly predictive 'omics-based screens, to evaluate chemical safety for human health, replacing, reducing or refining animal experiments, and improving the scientific basis of chemical risk assessment.

• Labopharm Inc., of Laval, Quebec, said its once-daily tramadol product has received regulatory approval from the Korea Food and Drug Administration and from the Australian Department of Health and Aging. That brings to 27 the number of countries that have approved the drug. Labopharm also said it has signed a licensing and distribution agreement for its once-daily tramadol product for Turkey with F. Frik Ilac San.

• Plasticell, of London, has entered into an agreement with King's College London to exploit and market two human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines. The agreement gives Plasticell a license to make, have made, use and sell the hESC lines KCL-001 and KCL-002. Having previously obtained rights to six hESC lines owned by Axordia Ltd, Plasticell is now in a position to exploit commercially eight different hESC lines, four of which are currently available from the UK Stem Cell Bank.

• Shire plc, of Basingstoke, UK, said Elaprase (idursulfase), a human enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of Hunter syndrome, has been approved for commercial sale by the Mexican Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risk. Mexico is the first Latin American country to approve the drug.

• ValiRx, of London, has signed a letter of intent with Clarity Imaging International Inc. to secure the distribution rights Clarity holds for the human papillomavirus (HPV) Geneotype Diagnostic Test Kit for the European Economic Area and Switzerland. The kit currently tests for 39 subtypes of HPV.