• Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc., of Wellesley, Mass., received a $3 million milestone payment from partner GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London, associated with the initiating of GSK's Phase III trial in non-small-cell lung cancer of an immunotherapeutic cancer vaccine containing Coley's VaxImmune vaccine adjuvant. GSK launched the trial in June to evaluate the MAGE-A3 ASCI (antigen-specific cancer immunotherapeutic) in patients with early-stage, completely resected NSCLC. As one of the components, VaxImmune, a Toll-like receptor 9 agonist, is intended to increase an antitumor response. The study's primary endpoint is disease-free survival.

• Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., said it will receive up to $9.9 million from nonprofit CHDI Inc. for the discovery and development of an antisense drug to treat Huntington's disease. CHDI previously funded Isis's efforts to prove the feasibility of such a drug. The funding will be provided over three years and will support identification of a drug as well as investigational new drug-enabling studies. Isis has the right to continue clinical development of any drugs arising from the collaboration.

• Oxford BioMedica, of Oxford, UK, and Sigma-Aldrich, of St. Louis, said they received a key ruling in their patent infringement lawsuit against Open Biosystems Inc., of Huntsville, Ala. During the pending suit, the district judge adopted the plaintiff's definitions of all disputed claim terms.

• Pathway Diagnostics Inc., of Malibu, Calif., launched SensiTrop, its molecular heteroduplex tracking assay for determining the co-receptor tropism status of HIV infected patients. Pathway performs the SensiTrop assay in its CLIA-approved laboratory on samples received from national referral laboratories. Recently, Pfizer Inc., of New York, won FDA approval of Selzentry (maraviroc), the first in a novel class of antiretroviral drugs based on blocking the CCR5 co-receptor of HIV. Selzentry, in combination with other antiretroviral agents, is indicated for treatment-experienced adult HIV patients with only CCR5-tropic HIV-1 detectable who have evidence of viral replication, and HIV-1 strains resistant to multiple antiretroviral agents. The FDA label states that when initiating therapy, tropism testing and treatment history should guide the use of Selzentry.

• RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of Bethesda, Md., said two research papers were published regarding its wound healing peptide thymosin beta 4. A paper in Clinical Ophthalmology reviewed the peptide's role in corneal wound healing, while a paper in Protein Expression & Purification showed the drug can increase re-epithelialization, vessel growth and collagen accumulation in dermal wounds. Thymosin beta 4 is in Phase II trials for dermal wound healing.

• Tapestry Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Boulder, Colo., said it will reduce its employee base by 28 percent, or 14 positions, as part of an effort to focus on ongoing Phase II trials of the taxane TPI 287 in pancreatic and prostate cancer as well as planned Phase II trials in glioblastoma multiforme. The restructuring is expected to save Tapestry $11 million through the end of 2008, although the company will incur a one-time restructuring cost of approximately $470,000.

• Transition Therapeutics Inc., of Toronto, received $7.5 million from its development partner Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland. The money was the second half of a $15 million up-front payment associated with Elan's license of the Alzheimer's disease drug ELND-005/AZD-103 for up to $200 million. The drug was found to be safe in Phase I trials and the companies expect to begin Phase II in late 2007 or early 2008. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 28, 2006.)

• Trellis Bioscience Inc., of South San Francisco, identified monoclonal antibodies from human blood against a target protein of the respiratory syncytial virus. The antibodies were isolated directly from the antibody-producing B cells of RSV-infected patients using the company's Cellspot technology, and Trellis is moving the antibodies into animal models of RSV infection. Those findings were presented at the RSV conference in Marco Island, Fla.

• Xanthus Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., received orphan drug designation in Europe for Xanafide (amonafide malate) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The drug, an ATP-independent topoisomerase II inhibitor, previously received orphan drug designation in the U.S. for AML. Earlier this month, Xanthus initiated an open-label, randomized, active-controlled Phase III trial comparing Xanafide plus cytarabine to daunorubicin plus cytarabine in secondary AML. (See BioWorld Today, June 13, 2007.)