• Ablynx NV, of Ghent, Belgium, said it was awarded a €1.855 million (US$2.6 million) grant from the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders. The grant will allow Ablynx to accelerate exploration of new therapeutic applications for its Nanobody technology platform. Work will be conducted in collaboration with research groups at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and academic collaborators in Belgium, Norway, Germany, the UK, Spain and France.

• Accelrys Inc., of San Diego, and Agilent Technologies Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., entered a resale agreement to enable the licensing and integration of their informatics products. The partnership includes the informatics portfolios of both companies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

• BioTrove Inc., of Woburn, Mass., said scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will use the BioTrove OpenArray technology platform to identify bacterial strains in tainted food. The work will start with E. coli and Salmonella and later include other bacteria. The agency purchased the BioTrove OpenArray NT Cycler following a collaboration around the 2006 spinach-based E. coli outbreak.

• Calando Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Pasadena, Calif., majority-owned subsidiary of Arrowhead Research Corp., reported on use of its Rondel polymer technology for delivering siRNA in mice. Data showed the advantages of targeted nanoparticles appear to be associated with uptake into tumor cells, and not to overall tumor localization. The work appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

• Corcept Therapeutics Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif., completed the second closing of a private placement financing agreement announced in August. The total deal entailed the sale of about 4.8 million shares at $2.10 per share, for gross proceeds of about $10.1 million. The second closing, which involved 1.2 million of the shares, was completed after Corcept received shareholder approval. Funds will be used to conduct the next Phase III trial evaluating Corlux for the treatment of the psychotic features of psychotic depression, as well as for other development and corporate purposes.

• Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., said Cubicin (daptomycin for injection) was approved for marketing in Canada. The approved label includes both complicated skin and skin structure infections caused by certain Gram-positive infections, and bloodstream infections. Oryx Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, has licensed rights to the product in Canada. Oryx expects to launch the product in Canada by late November.

• Curis Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., updated progress on its efforts to develop cancer drugs, including the disclosure for the first time the identity of HDAC as a core target in its multitarget-inhibitor drug program. HDAC previously had referred to it only as "Target A" in order to better preserve Curis' competitive position.

• Depomed Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif., and Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Corona, Calif., expanded their co-promotion agreement to grant Watson the right to promote Depomed's ProQuin XR in the obstetrics/gynecology specialty market area. ProQuin XR is a once-daily, extended-release formulation of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride for the treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections. The agreement expands the relationship entered in July for the promotion to both urology and long-term care specialty areas in the U.S. Watson and Depomed plan to re-launch ProQuin XR in the U.S. by the end of this year.

• Elusys Therapeutics Inc., of Pine Brook, N.J., said it was awarded a $12 million contract for advanced development of Anthim, its anthrax therapeutic. The contract was awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Anthim is a monoclonal antibody that targets the protective antigen component of anthrax infection.

• Emisphere Technologies Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y., said it agreed to accept $18 million from Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, to settle pending litigation between the companies. The deal settles a 4-year-old dispute under which Emisphere alleged Lilly breached their contract in work related to use of Emisphere's eligen technology.

• Evogene Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, and Monsanto Co., of St. Louis, entered a collaboration to improve nitrogen use efficiency in corn, soybeans, canola and cotton. Monsanto got exclusive rights to a number of genes discovered by Evogene that are believed to help plants maintain yield with lower applications of nitrogen. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

• GeneGo Inc., of St. Joseph, Mich., said Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., of New York, licensed access to all major GeneGo products. BMS got access to various systems biology technology. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

• GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London, gained European approval for Cervarix, a vaccine against sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer. Cervarix is approved for girls and women ages 10 to 25. The European Commission approval applies to the EU's 27 member states. An application on the product is pending with the FDA.

• Integrated Genomics Inc., of Chicago, and BioBase GmbH, of Wolfenbuttel, Germany, entered a collaboration to expand and curate Integrated Genomics' ERGO microbial genomic database. BioBase scientists in Bangalore, India, will add manually curated functional gene annotations and pathways to the database. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

• Pharmacopeia Inc., of Princeton, N.J., said it will receive a $1 million milestone payment from Schering-Plough Corp., of Kenilworth, N.J. The payment was triggered by Schering-Plough's initiation of a Phase I trial of PS948115, a compound identified from their collaboration that is being evaluated as a treatment for respiratory disease. Pharmacopeia is eligible to receive additional milestone payments from the program, as well royalties on resulting sales.

• Plexera Bioscience LLC, a Bothell, Wash., subsidiary of Lumera Corp., entered a collaboration with Eugene, Ore.-based MitoSciences Inc., which is developing antibodies and assays for understanding mitochondrial function. The deal outlines a commercial path for an antibody array product enabled with Plexera's ProteomicProcessor and MitoSciences' antibodies. The product development is in conjunction with a previous agreement with the Medical University of South Carolina in which researchers there are building a protein expression profiling assay with Mitosciences' antibodies and Plexera's ProteomicProcessor.

• Protherics plc, of London, signed a licensing agreement granting the Korean firm Myungmoon Pharma Co. Ltd. rights to develop anti-inflammatory products using Protherics' sustained-release ReGel delivery system. Protherics will receive a "small" up-front payment and royalties on any resulting sales in Korea. Protherics also has an option to gain rights outside Korea to any products developed under the agreement. Myungmoon said it planned to develop products for arthritis and potentially other indications.

• ReGen Biologics Inc., of Hackensack, N.J., said the FDA determined its Collagen Scaffold device was not substantially equivalent to existing Class II devices already in receipt of FDA clearance. ReGen filed the 510(k) submission in late 2006. The company said it is pursuing the next steps in appealing the decision.

• Sequenom Inc., of San Diego, said it plans to develop a third-generation single molecule nucleic acid analysis technology based on exclusive license rights from Harvard University. The license covers a readout system technology for single DNA molecules based on simultaneous optical probing of multiple nanopores. Financial terms of the agreement include up-front fees to Harvard, as well as potential milestone and royalty payments.

• TorreyPines Therapeutics Inc., of La Jolla, Calif., and Eisai Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, extended for one year their research agreement focused on genetics of Alzheimer's disease. Eisai's has been supporting the research at TorreyPines since 2001. This agreement focuses on discovery of Alzheimer's disease targets using whole-genome family-based association screening. A separate agreement focuses on the discovery of novel compounds to treat Alzheimer's disease. In connection with the extension, TorreyPines will receive an up-front payment and continued research funding. Eisai retained exclusive rights of first negotiation and refusal for gene targets discovered and validated through the research.