• Affymetrix Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., and Children's Research Institute in Milwaukee, entered a five-year alliance designed to help the institute build processing capacity to analyze up to 25,000 samples using different Affymetrix arrays. The goal is to demonstrate the clinical utility of array-based molecular diagnostics, and to leverage arrays to make molecular diagnostic tests better, faster and more economical. Affymetrix's GeneChip microarray technology will be used to analyze genomic information of consenting patients.

• Ambrilia Biopharma Inc., of Montreal, signed a licensing and distribution agreement with Shin Poong Pharmaceutical Co., of Seoul, South Korea. Shin Poong got Korean rights to Ambrilia's sustained-release formulation of octreotide (Sandostatin LAR, Novartis AG) for the treatment of acromegaly, a product in Phase III trials. Ambrilia is entitled to an up-front payment along with potential milestone payments. It will manufacture and supply the product to Shin Poong in exchange for a contractual price that includes royalties.

• Amgen Inc., of Thousand Oaks, Calif., completed its $300 million all-cash acquisition of Cambridge, Mass.-based Alantos Pharmaceuticals Inc., a private company developing drugs for treating diabetes and inflammatory diseases. Amgen acquired Alantos' dipeptidyl peptidase IV, or DPP-IV, inhibitor in Phase IIa trials for the treatment of Type II diabetes, and a matrix metalloproteinases platform for osteoarthritis. The acquisition was announced in June. (See BioWorld Today, June 7, 2007.)

• Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd., of Toronto, said its common shares have been approved conditionally for listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Amorfix currently is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. Listing remains subject to certain documentary and filing requirements. Amorfix is a theranostics company developing therapeutic products and diagnostic devices targeting brain-wasting diseases.

• Arcxis Biotechnologies, of Pleasanton, Calif., received a $1 million Phase II award from the Department of Homeland Security to continue developing its BioPhalanx Analyzer, a portable instrument designed to rapidly detect biothreats in the field. It will combine the company's micro preparation cards for rapid sample preparation, its micro channel-based microarrays for sensitive nucleic acid detection and tentacle probes for the design of several specific assays targeted at potential biothreats.

• AVI BioPharma Inc., of Portland, Ore., said it discussed results of five preclinical studies using Neugene antisense against various viral diseases, at the annual meeting of the American Society for Virology. Topics included inhibition of measles virus by antisense morpholino oligomers; antiviral effects of antisense morpholino oligomers in murine hepatic and pulmonary coronavirus infection models; treatment of AG129 mice with antisense morpholino oligomers increased survival times following challenge with dengue 2 virus; peptide-conjugated phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers inhibited alphavirus replication and prevented lethal encephalitis in VEEV-infected mice; and inhibition of influenza A virus replication in mice.

• Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, said a new drug submission for ceftobiprole was filed with Canadian regulatory authorities by partner Janssen-Ortho Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company. The submission is for the use of ceftobiprole in the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections. Market applications for the use of ceftobiprole in the treatment of severe skin infections also have been filed in the U.S. by Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC and in Europe by J&J company Janssen-Cilag International NV.

• Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc., of Hercules, Calif., signed two multiyear agreements with Quest Diagnostics Inc., of Lyndhurst, N.J. The deals call for Bio-Rad to place BioPlex 2200 systems and autoimmune test reagents, as well as its HIV-1/HIV-2 PLUS O EIA assay, for use at reference laboratories. Terms of the agreements were not disclosed.

• Bioxel Pharma Inc., of Sainte-Foy, Quebec, said it made its first significant paclitaxel delivery to the Asia region, with a $200,000 sale of product to a generic pharmaceutical company. Bioxel in late 2006 began a marketing push into Asia.

• CardioVascular BioTherapeutics Inc., of Las Vegas, said it successfully completed work on protein drug candidate, human fibroblast growth factor, in an animal model in the new indication of bone growth. Research showed FGF-1 was almost 20-fold more potent, on a weight basis, than human parathyroid hormone in stimulating bone formation in mice. CVBT said it would now start a development program for FGF-1 as a treatment for osteoporosis.

• Elixir Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., presented preclinical data from its ghrelin antagonist program and its sirtuin program at an event in La Jolla, Calif. Elixir's lead ghrelin antagonist, EX-1350, has demonstrated a variety of beneficial effects in preclinical studies, notably decreasing body weight, improvements in blood glucose and insulin levels, and reductions in fatty liver. Elixir intends to initiate a Phase I trial in 2008. In addition, Elixir said it is evaluating a number of sirtuin activators and inhibitors for their potential to address diverse metabolic and age-related diseases.

• Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Houston, retained the investment banking firm Morgan Stanley to assist in evaluating strategic alternatives to maximize stockholder value. The move followed the receipt from the FDA of the third approvable letter on Thelin for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension, a letter saying the efficacy needed for approval was not established. The company said it does not expect to publicly disclose further information regarding the status of the review until a definitive transaction is entered into or the process is completed. Encysive's stock (NASDAQ:ENCY) gained 33 cents Tuesday, or 19.4 percent, to close at $2.03. (See BioWorld Today, June 19, 2007.)

• Evotec AG, of Hamburg, Germany, said it expanded its sterile pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Glasgow, Scotland. The company has doubled its capacity for the aseptic GMP manufacture of pharmaceuticals to be used in clinical trials. The expansion is in response to demands from clients for clinical supplies of liquid and lyophilized drug product, Evotec said.

• Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said published preclinical data demonstrated its Toll-like receptor 9 agonist in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin, Genentech Inc.), an antivascular endothelial growth factor monoclonal antibody, resulted in cooperative antitumor activity in animal models of colon cancer. The paper was published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. Results suggested the TLR9 agonist, in addition to being an immune modifier, also affects the epidermal growth factor receptor and VEGF pathways.

• Lumera Corp., of Bothell, Wash., formed a wholly owned subsidiary known as Plexera Bioscience LLC. The subsidiary will serve as the operations unit of Lumera's bioscience business and will be led by Joseph Vallner as chairman and CEO. Lumera has engaged Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. to assist it in evaluating partnering and financing alternatives over the coming months. In early 2006, Lumera created a separate bioscience operating unit, now Plexera, which will remain focused on providing tools, content and methods to simplify and accelerate proteomic discovery for therapeutic antibodies as well as predictive biomarkers.

• Neugenesis Corp., of Burlingame, Calif., said it was awarded a multimillion-dollar Phase I contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop expression technologies that will accelerate recombinant protein production for the rapid manufacturing of vaccines and drugs. Neugenesis collaborated on the winning proposal with the nonprofit SRI International, of Menlo Park, Calif.; Xcellerex Inc., of Marlborough, Mass.; and BioPharm Services, also of Marlborough. The research program, named RHA2PD (Rapid and High-level Antigen and Antibody Production for Defense), is part of DARPA's U.S. military preparedness efforts for biological threats, such as pandemic flu and other infectious disease. The goal of the 3.5-year, three-phase program is development of a commercially viable system that can produce up to 3 million doses of a vaccine or a monoclonal antibody therapeutic in a 12-week period.

• Pharmacopeia Drug Discovery Inc., of Princeton, N.J., said it identified a lead compound for advancement six months ahead of the original schedule in its collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London. The compound is being evaluated as a treatment for inflammatory pain, and will now enter lead optimization. As a result of the identification, Pharmacopeia will receive a $500,000 milestone payment from GSK. Their deal entitles Pharmacopeia up to $83 million in milestone payments per drug development program. (See BioWorld Today, March 31, 2006.)

• Protox Therapeutics Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, entered an agreement with Dompe Farmaceutici SpA, of Milan, Italy, for the clinical manufacture and commercial supply of PRX321, its lead product candidate in development for the treatment of primary brain cancer. Dompe will manufacture PRX321 at its facility in Italy for the upcoming pre-pivotal trial and has committed to supply commercial batches for five years following product registration. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. PRX321 is a targeted protein in which interleukin-4 is linked to a Pseudomonas exotoxin. Positive results were seen in a Phase IIa trial.

• Rosetta Genomics Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, expanded its Israeli research facility. The company is adding new laboratories to meet research and development needs for its microRNA-based diagnostic programs. The company said it expects to grow to about 70 employees by the end of the year.

• Veridex LLC, a subsidiary of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson, said the FDA approved the first intra-operative and gene-based test to detect the spread of breast cancer into the lymph nodes. The GeneSearch Breast Lymph Node Assay can detect the spread of cancer into the lymph nodes more accurately than existing rapid methodologies and, as a result, has the potential to reduce the need for second surgeries for breast cancer patients, it said.

• Xcellerex Inc., of Marlborough, Mass., said it received a Phase I contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for the Accelerated Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals program. The three-phase program is focused on technologies for producing emergency therapeutics and vaccines, rapidly and cost effectively, in order to respond to a wide range of biological threats for military personnel. Phase I is focused on optimizing host strains that will express a model vaccine and antibody, and demonstrating small-scale production. Xcellerex said total funding for that contract and a separate one of which it was included, with Neugenesis Corp., exceeds $13 million. Xcellerex will serve as the prime contractor on this contract, in which the company is collaborating with Dowpharma, of San Diego; BioPharm Services, of Marlborough, Mass.; and deltaDOT Ltd., of London.