• Affymax Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., said partner Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, dosed the first patient in a clinical trial of Hematide to treat anemia in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The study is expected to enroll about 100 non-small-cell lung cancer, prostate cancer or breast cancer patients who have relapsed or progressed after previous treatment and who are anemic and receiving a taxane-containing chemotherapy. Patients will be dosed every three weeks until four weeks after discontinuation of their chemotherapy regimen, the occurrence of dose-limiting toxicity, documented disease progression or change in chemotherapy regimen. Hematide is a synthetic, pegylated peptidic compound designed to bind to and activate the erythropoietin receptor to act as an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent. Affymax and Takeda are developing the drug jointly under a 2006 collaboration.

• Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, has initiated a Phase I clinical trial of a second-generation oral niacin receptor agonist in a collaboration with Merck & Co., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., to discover drugs for atherosclerosis and other disorders. No details of the trial were revealed. Arena also announced that a preclinical investigation of MK-0354, a first-generation niacin receptor agonist being evaluated for indications other than atherosclerosis, was discontinued for compound-specific reasons.

• Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners Inc., of Coral Gables, Fla., started enrolling patients in its 180-subject Phase II study of CPP-109 in cocaine addiction. The drug is an oral small molecule designed to inhibit psychostimulant-induced dopamine release. Patients in the 12-week trial will be randomized to receive CPP-109 or placebo, with the primary objective of demonstrating that treatment with CPP-109 results in a greater number of patients who are cocaine-free during their last two weeks of treatment. Catalyst also will measure secondary endpoints based on reductions of cocaine use and craving.

• Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, and Biogen Idec, of Cambridge, Mass., announced that a Phase III clinical study of Rituxan (rituximab) in biologic-naïve patients met its primary endpoint of a significantly greater proportion of Rituxan-treated patients achieving an American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 20 response at week 24, compared to placebo. The study enrolled patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis who had an inadequate response to prior treatment with methotrexate, a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug. Although the study was not designed to compare the Rituxan doses, treatment efficacy appears to be similar between both Rituxan doses. Further analyses of the data are ongoing and will be submitted for presentation at an upcoming medical meeting.