• Antares Pharma Inc., of Ewing, N.J., said it has signed a worldwide development and license agreement with an undisclosed global pharmaceutical and consumer products company, with multibillion dollar revenues. The planned product, in the field of opioid analgesia, will be delivered transmucosally using Antares' EasyTec oral disintegrating tablet delivery platform. Antares will receive an up-front payment, clinical and regulatory milestone payments and continued funding where applicable for product development and technology transfer activities during the term of the contract. Antares also will receive royalties on product sales upon commercialization, including minimum royalties. Antares' undisclosed partner accepts responsibility for development and commercialization of the product candidate and will cover the costs of clinical trials, regulatory filings and all manufacturing and marketing.

• Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, announced that its marketing authorization application (MAA) for alitretinoin submitted to various European Union member states was accepted for review under the decentralized procedure. The application supports the proposed use of oral alitretinoin in patients with severe refractory chronic hand eczema. The firm is seeking approval for oral alitretinoin for the treatment of severe refractory chronic hand eczema (CHE) and is based on a clinical program comprising almost 2,000 patients. Recently, a market authorization application for alitretinoin in severe refractory CHE has been submitted with the Swiss health authority Swissmedic.

• Compendia Bioscience Inc., of Ann Arbor, Mich., has received a $2.4 million Small Business Innovation Research fast-track award from the National Cancer Institute to support its development of Oncomine, a dynamic system that combines a rapidly growing compendium of more than 20,000 cancer transcriptome profiles with a sophisticated analysis engine and a powerful web application for data mining and visualization, facilitates rapid and reliable biomarker and therapeutic target discovery, validation and prioritization.

• ConjuChem Biotechnologies Inc., of Montreal, said it has received from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) the order granting the firm's July 9, 2007, Request for Inter Partes Reexamination of U.S. Patent No. 6,924,264. The patent, entitled "Modified Exendins and Exendin Agonists", was issued in August 2005 and is assigned to Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego. In the order, PTO states that a substantial new question of patentability is raised with regard to all 21 claims in U.S. Patent No. 6,924,264, for which ConjuChem has requested reexamination.

• Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Houston, announced the commercial availability of Thelin (sitaxsentan sodium) 100-mg tablets in France for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Encysive received European Union marketing authorization for the drug from the European Commission in August 2006. Thelin is the first selective endothelin A receptor antagonist, and the first once-daily oral treatment available for patients with PAH.

• Genmab A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, amended its ongoing pivotal trial of HuMax-CD4 (zanolimumab) in refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) to include patients with Sezary syndrome. The company also discontinued dosing at 8 mg/kg in favor of 14 mg/kg, which has thus far shown higher response rates. Genmab also said it received orphan drug designation for refractory CTCL in Australia and for refractory nodal T-cell lymphoma in Europe. The drug already has orphan drug status for CTCL in the U.S. and Europe.

• Incyte Corp., of Wilmington, Del., received $10 million from partner Pfizer Inc., of New York, tied to the filing and acceptance of an investigational new drug application for INCB8696, a CCR2 antagonist for multiple sclerosis. The money came from the sale of a convertible subordinated note due in 2014 that bears no interest and is convertible into Incyte common stock at $9.75 per share based on recent average closing prices. It is the second $10 million note Incyte has received under its potential $803 million deal with Pfizer; the company also has received a $40 million up-front payment, a $3 million milestone payment, and approximately $3.1 million in research funding thus far. (See BioWorld Today, Nov. 22, 2005.)

• Karo Bio AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, cut 14 staff positions in an effort to reorganize and focus on core programs. The move is estimated to save SEK20 million (US$3.1 million) annually. The company said it will focus internally on KB2115 for dyslipidemia, KB3305 for diabetes, and an additional program. Karo also has three programs funded by partners.

• Maas BiolAB, of Albuquerque, N.M., received a Small Business Innovation Research grant of $2.1 million over three years from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for the translational project "Intrathecal Cyclosporin for the Treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis." Cyclosporin, a direct mitochondrial neuroprotectant, substantially extends life in ALS mice.

• MGI Pharma Inc., of Minneapolis, and AkaRx Inc., of Paramus, N.J., closed their previously announced license agreement for AkaRx's small-molecule thrombopoietin mimetic AKR-501. The deal called for a $45 million up-front payment to AkaRx and left MGI with the option to acquire the entire company for $255 million any time before Jan. 8, 2010. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 30, 2007.)

• Schering-Plough Corp., of Kenilworth, N.J, said it has received approval from the European Commission for its planned acquisition of Organon BioSciences NV, of Oss, the Netherlands, from Akzo Nobel NV. The $14.4 billion acquisition was announced in March. Schering-Plough still needs to secure certain regulatory approvals, including clearance from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission but expects the transaction to be completed by year-end.