• Abraxis BioScience Inc., of Los Angeles, acquired a sterile injectable manufacturing facility located in Phoenix from Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Corona, Calif. The 200-square-foot facility also includes chemistry and microbiology laboratories. It has the ability to manufacture lyophilized powders, suspension products and aqueous and oil solutions, and currently manufactures products for both Watson and third parties. Abraxis will serve as a contract manufacturer for certain injectable products currently manufactured there for a certain period. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Advanced Cell Technology Inc., of Alameda, Calif., progressed from a letter of intent to a definitive merger agreement in its acquisition of Mytogen Inc., of Charlestown, Mass. ACT will pay $5 million in stock and assume certain Mytogen liabilities, as well as offer warrants to purchase an additional 1.5 million shares of ACT common stock at 75 cents subject to the achievement of certain milestones. Following the acquisition, ACT intends to begin a 160-patient Phase II trial using Mytogen's autologous myoblast stem cell therapy for the treatment of heart failure.

• Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said U.S. and global officials approved the name "deforolimus" for AP23573, Ariad's mTOR inhibitor. Ariad and Merck & Co. Inc., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., recently entered a global collaboration on the product for use in cancer. A Phase III trial of oral deforolimus in patients with metastatic sarcoma is expected to begin this quarter. (See BioWorld Today, July 13, 2007.)

• 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.

• Canopus BioPharma Inc., of Los Angeles, said results from animal trials of StatC, its drug candidate against avian, Spanish and Hong Kong flu strains, demonstrated superiority to Tamiflu (F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.), the leading influenza antiviral. Data showed that StatC given intranasally as a preventative treatment to mice infected with H5N1 was more effective than Tamiflu, with 30 percent of StatC-treated lung samples showing detectable virus compared to 50 percent of Tamiflu-treated samples. Mice treated with StatC also had statistically significant reduction in lung damage compared to the Tamiflu group.

• Cell Therapeutics Inc., of Seattle, completed its acquisition of Tucson, Ariz.-based Systems Medicine Inc., a privately held oncology company, for $20 million in stock. SMi also could get up to $15 million more in the deal based on regulatory milestones. The acquisition of SMi provides CTI with worldwide rights to Brostallicin, a DNA minor groove binding agent in Phase II development. SMi will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of CTI. (See BioWorld Today, July 26, 2007.)

• Cephalon Inc., of Frazer, Pa., reported adjusted second quarter 2007 earnings of $75.6 million, or 93 cents per diluted share, down from adjusted second quarter 2006 earnings of $91.6 million, or $1.37 per diluted share. Shares of Cephalon (NASDAQ:CEPH) fell $4.14 to close at $71, Wednesday. Sales for the quarter were $435.2 million, up slightly from $430.7 million in the second quarter last year. Provigil (modafinil) brought in $214.2 million, up from $177 million in Q206, while Actiq (oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate) sold $64.1 million, down from $172.2 million in Q206 due to generic competition. Cephalon ended the quarter with $704 million in cash and equivalents.

• Codon Devices Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., entered a deal with agricultural biotech company Agrivida Inc., of Boston, for the discovery, development and commercialization of engineered proteins for biofuel applications. In exchange for royalty and performance-based payments, Codon will use its Biologic Engineering Partnering Program to develop enzymes optimized for use in Agrivida's ethanol production technology. Specific terms were not disclosed.

• Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., received approval to market Cubicin (daptomycin for injection) in South Korea for Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteremia, including right-sided infective endocarditis and complicated skin and skin structure infections. The company also expanded the Cubicin label in Taiwan, supplementing a previous approval for complicated skin and skin structure infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria with the new approval for S. aureus bacteremia, including right-sided infective endocarditis. Cubist's marketing partners in South Korea and Taiwan are Kuhnil Pharmaceutical Corp. and TTY BioPharm Company Ltd., respectively. Cubicin is approved in Europe and the U.S. for various infections.

• Isotechnika Inc., of Edmonton, Alberta, said the European Orphan Medicinal Products committee adopted a positive opinion on orphan designation for ISA247 in chronic, noninfectious uveitis, and the decision is expected to be adopted by the European Commission within 30 days. Orphan drug designation provides fee reductions, scientific advice and 10 years of marketing exclusivity in the European Union after approval. ISA247 is a calcineurin inhibitor that is in Phase III testing in psoriasis and in a Phase IIb kidney transplant trial.

• 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.

• Medistem Laboratories Inc., of Scottsdale, Ariz., published a paper in the Journal of Translational Medicine proposing the combination of cord blood expanded CD34+ cells and mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of autism. The company filed a patent application titled "Stem Cell Therapy for Autism" and plans to seek regulatory approval in the U.S. to conduct a Phase I clinical trial. Shares of Medistem (OTC BB:MDSM) rose 2 cents, or 11.8 percent, to close at 19 cents, Wednesday.

• Migenix Corp., of San Diego, and Proximagen Neuroscience plc, of London, 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 research at 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, and plans to test derivatives of fisetin in cell-based and rodent models of PD.

• Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc., of Bothell, Wash., said Lonza Group AG, of Basel, Switzerland, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court alleging that Northwest infringed upon certain Lonza patents related to gene expression technology. Northwest denied the infringement and said its DCVax-Brain personalized dendritic cell vaccine for glioblastoma does not use gene expression technology. Shares of Northwest (OTC BB:NWBO) gained 2 cents to close at $2.97, Wednesday.

• 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.

• QRxPharma, of Winchester, Mass., has reached a collaborative research and licensing agreement with the University of Alabama directed at re-engineering existing drug therapies for new clinical applications including the treatment of dystonia, Parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders. The technology licensed relates to a particular gene shown to suppress the harmful misfolding of proteins within cells. Preclinical research at the University of Alabama demonstrated that coexpression of a gene coding for a protein named Torsin decreases the misfolding of other proteins associated with neurological diseases. QRxPharma's goal is to re-engineer existing drugs with a known history of use that activate the Torsin system, which potentially could ameliorate those diseases at a causative level.

• Selexys Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Oklahoma City, selected contract manufacturing company Cytovance Biologics LLC, also of Oklahoma City, for a range of process development services supporting acceleration of its anti-adhesion antibody programs. Selexys plans to advance initially its anti-P-selectin program in sickle cell disease. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Senomyx Inc., of San Diego, has expanded its collaborative research, development, commercialization and license agreement with Ajinomoto Co. Inc., of Tokyo, for Senomyx's existing novel flavor ingredients. Under the terms of the expanded agreement, the two companies will work on an exclusive basis to develop and commercialize novel flavor ingredients in additional product categories and geographies not previously licensed by Senomyx. Ajinomoto has agreed to pay Senomyx an initial license fee, and upon commercialization Senomyx will be entitled to royalty payments based on sales. The royalty obligation also includes predetermined minimum royalty payments payable to Senomyx. Specific terms were not disclosed.

• Sinovac Biotech Ltd., of Beijing, entered an exclusive promotion service agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (China) Investment Co. Ltd. GSK China and Sinovac will market and promote Anflu, a seasonal influenza vaccine developed and manufactured by Sinovac. GSK China's sales team will focus on the distribution of the adult dosage formulation while Sinovac will sell the pediatric formulation, using its established sales force in the pediatric market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

• SurModics Inc., of Eden Prairie, Minn., has acquired Brookwood Pharmaceuticals Inc. from Southern Research Institute, both of Birmingham, Ala., for $40 million in cash at closing and up to an additional $22 million in cash upon the successful achievement of specified milestones. Brookwood is a drug delivery company that provides polymer-based technologies for biotech and pharmaceutical products. Currently Brookwood has about 30 customer-paid development projects in progress with pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device clients. It generated $12.7 million of revenue in calendar year 2006, mostly from research and development fees. SurModics said the acquisition is expected to be neutral to modestly accretive to its fiscal 2008 earnings and significantly accretive thereafter.