• Antisoma plc,of London, said it has started a randomized Phase II trial of AS1411 in addition to standard therapy in acute myeloid leukemia, which will recruit around 70 patients in the U.S. AS1411 was the first anti-cancer aptamer to start clinical trials and now becomes the first to progress to Phase II. AML was selected because cancer cells from AML patients and AML cell lines show particularly high sensitivity to AS1411.

• Astion Pharma A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, said the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products has recommended its drug candidate ASF-1096 for orphan drug status for the treatment of cutaneous lupus erythematosus, a chronic and severe skin disease that causes severe, inflamed lesions in the skin. The designation brings with it fee reductions, scientific advice and 10 years of marketing exclusivity. ASF-1096 is in clinical Phase II trials, and Astion Pharma expects to bring the drug candidate into Phase III within six to 12 months. It also expects to file an application for orphan drug status with the FDA in August 2007.

• Biota Holdings Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, increased its estimated damages in its lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London. The suit alleges GSK failed to properly develop and promote the licensed influenza drug Relenza. Biota said an updated damages assessment filed with the Victorian Supreme Court estimated its losses between A$564 million and A$704 million (US$485 million to US$605 million), net of royalties paid to date by GSK. Witness statements are expected to be filed in October, and the trial is scheduled for April 2008.

• CeNeS Pharmaceuticals plc, of Cambridge, UK, said it granted Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, exclusive rights in Japan to develop and commercialize CNS-705 as a general anesthetic and short-acting sedative. Under this agreement, Ono will pay to CeNeS upfront and milestone payments, as well as royalties on sales of CNS-7056. No financial details were disclosed. CNS-7056 is a short-acting general anesthetic and sedative that acts on GABAA receptors. Preclinical studies demonstrate that the compound rapidly induces deep sedation which is maintained during continuous administration, but the sedative effects rapidly disappear after cessation of administration.

• Curidium Medica plc, of London, a specialist in pharmacogenomics of psychiatric disorders, said it has joined the U.S.-based Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC), an independent, non-profit group that promotes understanding that will lead to the development of sound public policy in the field.

• Genmab A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, regained all rights to the HuMax-TAC antibody following a portfolio review by its partner, Geneva-based Merck Serono SA. The company previously licensed rights to Merck Serono in May 2005. The news comes a month after Merck Serono returned Genmab's late-stage HuMax-CD4, which is in a pivotal study in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, with results expected next year. With regard to HuMax-TAC, Genmab said it intends to review that program internally before deciding future plans.

• GNI Ltd., of Tokyo, said it received approval from the Tokyo Stock Exchange Inc. to list its shares on the Mothers market of the exchange. The target date for GNI's shares to be listed is Aug. 31, once the price for the offering of the company's shares is determined through a book-building process. The company, which has operations in Japan, China and the U.S., uses a reverse-engineering technology to map gene regulatory networks.

• ITI Life Sciences, of Dundee, UK, said Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh has joined its £9.5 million (US$19.3 million) stem cell technologies program, which started in January 2007. Heriot-Watt joins Glasgow and Dundee universities and the Danish biotech company Cellartis AB of Gothenburg, Sweden, in the program, which aims to develop new technologies to automate the production of high quality human stem cells.

• Kreatech Biotechnology BV, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and BioMicro Systems Inc., of Salt Lake City, have formed a partnership in which BioMicro Systems will distribute the Kreatech Universal Linkage System (ULS) microarrays to laboratories in the U.S. and Canada. The ULS allows for the rapid attachment of a variety of labels directly to DNA, RNA and proteins. The products are centered on a proprietary platinum-based system that produces stable labeling under a wide variety of conditions.

• Living Cell Technologies Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, said data on the enhanced longevity of its biocapsule formula, currently being tested in a Phase I/IIa clinical trial in Type I diabetes, was highlighted in a study published by the Journal of BioMedical Materials Research. Living Cell's microencapsulation technology coats pancreatic islet cells to prevent their rejection when transplanted into patients. The formulation was compared in animal studies to a baseline formulation developed using semi-pure alginates. Living Cell's microcapsules retained their physical integrity for at least 215 days, the study endpoint, whereas the baseline formulation was stable for less than 60 days. Both were tested without live cells inside.

• Medical Research Council Technology, of London, and Intellect Neurosciences Inc., of New York, entered an agreement under which MRCT will humanize Intellect's beta-amyloid-specific monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The antibodies are intended as a form of passive immunization to promote clearance from the brain of the endogenous soluble Alzheimer's toxin, beta-amyloid. MRCT, the commercialization business for the UK Medical Research Council, is entitled to potential milestone and royalty payments in the deal.

• Modern Biosciences plc, of London, and the University of Dundee have entered into an agreement to develop a new treatment for cancer, rimcazole. Under the terms of the agreement, the university will grant an exclusive worldwide license to Modern Biosciences to develop rimcazole in cancer, and Modern Biosciences will fund and manage the development program. Revenues generated through commercialization will be shared by the partners. Modern Biosciences expects rimcazole to be in clinical trials in patients within a year. Rimcazole already is in a clinical trial program in schizophrenia, and data from that effort indicated Modern Biosciences will be able to to move into Phase I trials rapidly, the company said.

• Orexo, of Stockholm, Sweden, has entered into a joint venture agreement with ProStrakan Group plc, of Galashiels, UK, in the Nordic territories, establishing a sales operation, which will be owned equally. The new entity will have Nordic sales rights for both Orexo's and ProStrakan's portfolio which will include currently marketed and future products. ProStrakan's existing Swedish affiliate, ProStrakan AB, will be used as the joint venture company. Orexo is investing £1.3 million (US$2.6 million) through a directed share issue, to acquire 50 percent of it. The joint venture company will trade initially as ProStrakan AB from its offices located at Malmo, Sweden.

• Proteome Sciences plc, of Cobham, UK, said it received a notice of allowance for its U.S. patent application in isobaric mass labelling for its tandem mass tags. This follows grants of the corresponding cases in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and most recently, in Europe. The company says it now intends to approach users of isobaric mass labels in the U.S. for commercial licenses.

• Proximagen Neuroscience plc, of London, and Migenix Corp., of San Diego, both received funding from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, as part of $1.2 million in total awards under the MJFF Novel Approaches to Drug Discovery for Parkinson's Disease program. A research team from Migenix will use its award to fund work in rodent models to optimize administration of MX-4565, a nonfeminizing estrogen analogue that has shown effectiveness in protecting nerve cells from toxic stress, while Proximagen will use its award to investigate the potential of the protein osteopontin as a PD treatment. Also receiving money from that program was a researcher at Columbia University who is targeting the autophagy pathway, the disruption of which in animals leads to loss of dopamine neurons. The Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif., also shared in the award, and is using its portion to advance work with fisetin, a neuroprotective small molecule. It plans to test derivatives of fisetin in cell-based and rodent models of PD.

• Qiagen NV, of Venlo, the Netherlands, said it completed its $1.6 billion acquisition of Digene Corp., of Gaithersburg, Md. Digene now is a wholly owned subsidiary of Qiagen affiliate company Qiagen North American Holdings Inc. Trading in Digene stock on Nasdaq was ceased. Separately, Qiagen opened its new subsidiary in Hong Kong.

• Rosetta Genomics, of Rehovot, Israel, has signed a collaboration agreement with Ben Gurion University for development of microRNA-based therapeutic applications for several key viruses, including the Epstein-Barr virus and herpes simplex viruses. A combined research team from Rosetta and the university have identified several virus-specific microRNAs that, when inhibited, lead to a decrease in virus replication in vitro.

• Selexis SA, of Geneva, executed a license-renewal agreement with Diosynth RTP Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., allowing for Diasynth's continued access to the SURE technology platform, including the Selexis Genetic Elements. Under the terms, Diosynth will have the right to use SURE, as well as to receive the latest improvements developed by Selexis to enable faster generation of mammalian cell lines. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Silence Therapeutics plc, of London, expanded its technology license agreement with Fremont, Calif.-based Quark Pharmaceuticals Inc. to provide Quark with options to nonexclusive licenses to develop additional molecules against three specific targets using Silence's AtuRNAi technology. The original deal, signed in April 2005, provided Quark with access to the technology to develop compound RTP801i, which Quark licensed to New York-based Pfizer Inc. in 2006. That product is in Phase I testing in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration. Quark's product portfolio includes one additional siRNA molecule with a structure covered by Silence patents. Specific financial terms of the expanded agreement were not disclosed, though Silence will be entitled to milestone payments and royalties on product sales.