• Acura Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Palatine, Ill., signed a deal with King Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bristol, Tenn., to develop and commercialize opioid analgesics using Acura's Aversion abuse-deterrent technology platform. As part of the deal, King licensed Acura's Phase III pain drug Acurox. Acura will receive $30 million up front, research and development funding and up to $28 million in milestone payments plus royalties for each of four products initially targeted in the deal. Subsequently, Acura said it expects to pay off its $5 million loan and enact a 1-for-10 reverse stock split. Shares of Acura (OTC BB:ACUR) fell 52 cents, or 26.4 percent, to close at $1.45 on Wednesday.

• Ambit Biosciences Corp., of San Diego, expanded its kinase inhibitor discovery collaboration with New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. for the second time. Detailed financial terms were not disclosed, but BMS will make an up-front cash payment to Ambit. Ambit will use its KinomeScan kinase profiling platform to screen BMS's kinase-focused library. Ambit also gets rights to certain BMS preclinical and clinical compounds. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 24, 2005.)

• BioDelivery Sciences International Inc., of Morrisville, N.C., submitted a new drug application to the FDA for BEMA Fentanyl, a dissolvable polymer formulation of the opioid narcotic fentanyl for breakthrough cancer pain. BDSI expects the FDA's decision in August 2008. Approval would trigger $30 million in milestone payments from marketing partner Meda AB. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 6, 2007.)

• Canopus BioPharma Inc., of Los Angeles, said it plans to move CB5300, an antiviral for hepatitis C, into clinical trials, following successful in vitro screening that identified a family of molecules capable of inhibiting flaviviruses. Researchers performing in vitro examination of bovine viral diarrhea, which was used because HCV can't be grown in human tissue culture, found that Canopus' drug inhibited BVDV. Clinical trials are expected to begin in the next six months.

• Debiopharm Group SA, of Lausanne, Switzerland, licensed ex-Japan development and commercialization rights to cancer drug DACH-Platin Polymeric Micelle (Debio 0507/NC-4016) from Chiba, Japan-based NanoCarrier Co. Ltd. Debiopharm will provide DACH-platin starting material and pay NanoCarrier an up-front fee, milestone payments, manufacturing costs and royalties. NanoCarrier will pay Debiopharm for any data used to support registration in Japan. Separately, Debiopharm and Ipsen SA, of Paris, expanded their agreement under which Ipsen commercializes prostate cancer drug Decapeptyl (triptorelin pamoate). Ipsen licensed rights to a Phase III sustained-release formulation of Decapeptyl for a minimum of five years after the current formulations go off patent in 2010.

• Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., received marketing authorization approval in the UK for Dyloject, (diclofenac sodium), an injectable nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug for pain. In the U.S., the company is conducting two Phase III trials of the drug in post-op pain after elective abdominal surgery and orthopedic surgery, and it intends to file a new drug application in the first half of 2009.

• Metabolon Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., has acquired intellectual property from Cogenics Icoria Inc., a subsidiary of Clinical Data Inc., of Newton, Mass. The portfolio includes issued and pending patents related to metabolomics methods and data analysis as well as carcinogencity and toxicity biomarkers. Metabolon now owns all of the metabolomics-related intellectual property formerly owned by Cogenics Icoria.

• Pharmasset Inc., of Princeton, N.J., entered into a research collaboration and license agreement with the University of Cincinnati's Genome Research Institute. The university granted Pharmasset access to its library of 250,000 compounds and commercial rights to any lead compounds identified for HBV, HIV and HCV. In exchange, Pharmasset will make an annual payment to the university, cover all development expenses, and pay milestones and royalties on resulting products.

• Seattle Genetics Inc., of Bothell, Wash., said MedImmune Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., has exercised its option to obtain an exclusive license to a second antigen target under their existing antibody-drug conjugate collaboration, triggering a $1.5 million payment to Seattle Genetics. The companies entered into the collaboration in April 2005 to provide MedImmune with access to Seattle Genetics' technology for antibodies, targeting up to two antigens. Under the collaboration, MedImmune paid an up-front fee of $2 million for the first target and obtained an option to license a second antigen for an additional fee of $1.5 million. MedImmune also agreed to pay technology access fees, milestone payments and royalties on net sales of ADC products. MedImmune is responsible for research, product development, manufacturing and commercialization of product candidates under the collaboration.

• SuperGen Inc., of Dublin, Calif., said in vivo results showed that MP470, its multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, was found to be cytotoxic to glioblastoma multiforme cell lines in a xenograft model. Evidence suggested the drug inhibits DNA damage repair through suppression of a critical DNA repair protein, Rad51. Preclinical studies also showed MP470 is synergistic with radiation. Data were presented at the radiology and oncology meeting in Los Angeles.

• Vermillion Inc., of Fremont, Calif., presented data it said showed that several of its ovarian cancer protein biomarkers could be used to detect early stage ovarian cancer and to predict survival. In the survival study, researchers used the Kaplan-Meier analysis to show that women with a low panel score were significantly more likely to survive than women with high scores, independent of the stage of the disease (Mantel-Cox p value = 0.002). Researchers analyzed preoperative serum samples from 84 patients diagnosed with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer.

• Zymeworks Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, entered two research collaborations with the laboratory of B. Mario Pinto of Simon Fraser University in conjunction with funding from Accelerate BC, a graduate research internship program, to apply Zymeworks' technology in the field of protein therapeutics. Collaborations will focus on antibody modeling and developing an enzyme-based tuberculosis therapeutic agent. Terms were not disclosed.