• Abraxis BioScience Inc., of Los Angeles, teamed up with the California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles to research nanobiotechnology. Abraxis has agreed to contribute $10 million over 10 years to fund collaborative projects, which will focus on translating new technologies into medical advances.

• Acambis plc, of Cambridge, UK, reached a global settlement with Bavarian Nordic A/S, of Kvistgard, Denmark, regarding smallpox vaccines based on the Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) virus. Bavarian Nordic will grant Acambis a license to some of its MVA patents in return for an undisclosed up-front payment, milestone payments and royalties on certain MVA products. The settlement ends all pending litigation and further appeals.

• Active Biotech AB, of Lund, Sweden, said its cancer immunotherapeutic Anyara has been granted orphan drug status by the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products of the European Medicines Agency. The designation provides a variety of incentives, including market exclusivity for up to 10 years following approval. Anyara is one of the company's lead oncology candidate drugs and is in Phase II/III trials for the indication renal cancer.

• Alfacell Corp., of Somerset, N.J., entered an Eastern European distribution agreement with USP Pharma Spolka Z.O.O., an affiliate of US Pharmacia, of Rockville, Md., for Onconase (ranpirnase). In exchange for $100,000 up front, $1.4 million in a stock purchase agreement, potential milestone payments, reimbursement for product soldnd double-digit royalties, Alfacell granted USP Pharma exclusive rights to market and sell the drug in certain countries. Onconase is currently in a Phase IIIb trial for unresectable malignant mesothelioma.

• BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., of Novato, Calif., received priority review status from the FDA for its new drug application for Kuvan (sapropterin dihydrochloride) in the treatment of phenylketonuria. The priority status provides a six-month review cycle, so a regulatory decision is expected by Nov. 25. If approved, BioMarin and partner Merck Serono SA, of Geneva, intend to launch Kuvan in December. (See BioWorld Today, May 25, 2007.)

• Cell Therapeutics Inc., of Seattle, is raising $20.25 million through a registered offering of 3 percent convertible preferred stock and warrants. Series C shares will be sold for $1,000 and will convert to common stock at $3.90 per share. Purchasers also will receive warrants, exercisable at $4.53 per share, to purchase common stock in an amount equal to 50 percent of their total investment divided by $3.90. Rodman & Renshaw LLC served as the sole placement agent for the offering. The proceeds will supplement the $48.7 million in cash, equivalents and securities that Cell Therapeutics had at the end of the first quarter, as well as the $37.2 million raised in an April offering. The company recently said it is in the process of purchasing a marketed cancer drug to supplement its late-stage oncology pipeline. Shares of Cell Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CTIC) fell 11.9 percent, or 54 cents Thursday to close at $4.01. (See BioWorld Today, April 13, 2007, and July 26, 2007.)

• Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., received a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use regarding the proposed expansion of the Cubicin (daptomycin for injection) label to include right-sided infective endocarditis due to Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), as well as S. aureus bacteremia associated with right-sided infective endocarditis or complicated skin and soft-tissue infections (cSSTI). The final decision regarding the label expansion is expected in September. Cubicin is approved in Europe for cSSTI caused by Gram-positive bacteria and in the U.S. for various complicated skin and skin structure infections and bloodstream infections. Cubicin is partnered with Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG in Europe.

• Delphian Pharma, of San Francisco, said scientists at Duquesne University and the Medical University of South Carolina have reported discovery of novel compounds with potent anti-tumor activity, and which are active on cancer cells resistant to other anti-tumor agents. While cancer cells can develop protein pumps that expel cancer drugs, the Duquesne compounds restored the sensitivity of drug resistant cells to other anticancer agents by inactivating the pumps. Delphian has licensed the Duquesne technology and is developing a portfolio of duel-action anticancer compounds. The clinical studies are in the current online version of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

• Elixir Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., presented data from its ghrelin antagonist program and its sirtuin program at the Center for Business Intelligence's 3rd Annual Obesity Drug Development Summit in Arlington, Va. Elixir researchers have demonstrated that knockout mice missing the gene for the ghrelin receptor (GhrR) resist diet-induced obesity and diabetes. After 15 weeks on a high-fat diet, the normal (control) mice gained 10 percent more weight than GhrR knockout mice on the same diet. The majority of the weight difference was observed in white adipose tissue. Strikingly, liver fat content was significantly lower and liver function was improved. In the Sirtuin program, in vitro and in vivo animal studies demonstrated that targeting the human SIRT enzymes with small-molecule modulators may have clinical utility across a wide range of disease states, including metabolic disease.

• F. Hoffmann-La Roche, of Basel, Switzerland, said the European Commission has approved Mircera to treat anemia associated with chronic kidney disease. The approval means a single marketing authorization with unified labeling for all 27 EU member countries. The commission's decision follows a positive opinion by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use in May, recommending the product. Mircera is the first ESA approved in the EU that offers dosing once every two weeks to correct anemia in patients not previously treated.

• GPC Biotech AG, of Martinsried, Germany, was the subject of a class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The suit alleges the company issued a series of materially false public statements over the past few years related to development of the cancer drug satraplatin. An FDA panel voted Tuesday that the agency should wait for the overall survival data before considering approval in hormone-refractory prostate cancer. (See BioWorld Today, July 23, 2007, July 25, 2007, and July 26, 2007.)

• Myriad Genetics Inc., of Salt Lake City, has introduced a new product, TheraGuide 5-FU, to help predict which cancer patients are likely to suffer serious toxic reactions to the drug 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) or the oral form of the drug, capecitabine. More than 500,000 Americans with breast cancer, colon cancer, skin cancer or head and neck cancer are treated with 5-FU each year, and about 30 percent experience severe toxicity. TheraGuide 5-FU is an analysis of the genetic variations in two genes, DPYD and TYMS, which increase a patient's risk for toxicity to 5-FU chemotherapy.

• Osiris Therapeutics Inc., of Baltimore, entered a partnership with Genzyme Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., to develop treatments for acute radiation syndrome. The companies will focus initially on mesenchymal stem cell drug Prochymal, which is in Phase III trials for Crohn's disease and graft-vs.-host disease. The two companies will collaborate on the preparation and execution of government purchase agreements, with Osiris contributing drug and data while Genzyme contributes product development and commercialization expertise. Financial terms were not disclosed, although Genzyme will receive a royalty on Prochymal sales under government contracts.

• Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tustin, Calif., has been notified by Nasdaq that for the past 30 business days the company has not met the $1 minimum closing bid price requirement. Nasdaq said the company will be given until Jan. 22, 2008, to regain compliance.