• Acacia Research Corp., of Newport Beach, Calif., said a wholly owned subsidiary in its Acacia Technologies group acquired rights to patents relating to purifying nucleic acids. Those patents generally relate to methods and equipment used to purify plasmid DNA products, and may be used in production of nucleic acids for DNA vaccines and gene therapies. Neither the terms nor the licensor was disclosed.

• Amarin Corp. plc, of London, said it received a Nasdaq deficiency letter indicating it was not in compliance with the minimum bid price requirement for continued listing. Amarin will be provided with 180 calendar days, until Dec. 3, to regain compliance, which would be achieved by its American depositary shares closing at $1 or more for at least 10 consecutive business days.

• Callisto Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, said it filed a complaint in the Supreme Court of the state of New York against Donald Picker, its former executive vice president for research and development. It is seeking $80 million in damages. Among the allegations are that Picker breached his employment agreement by failing to reveal he was negotiating employment with Tapestry Pharmaceuticals Inc. while representing Callisto in negotiations on an agreement between the companies, and that Picker misappropriated confidential files and materials from Callisto's offices.

• eXegenics Inc., of Miami, completed its name change to Opko Health Inc. The company also said its common stock has been approved for listing on the American Stock Exchange, where it is expected to begin trading today under the symbol "OPK." Opko Health recently was reconstituted as a specialty health care company focused on ophthalmic diseases through a three-way merger of eXegenics Inc. and the private companies Acuity Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Froptix Inc. (See BioWorld Today, March 28, 2007.)

• Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of The Woodlands, Texas, published findings from a research project with scientists at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia in the June issue of the journal Immunity. They described a novel and surprising role for ribosomal protein L22 in the development of T lymphocytes, showing that deletion of the ubiquitously expressed Rpl22 gene resulted in the up-regulation of p53, a key tumor suppressor gene that triggers apoptosis and cell death. Further, it was determined that the up-regulation of p53 was responsible for blocking alpha-beta+ T-cell development, thereby creating an immune-deficient state.

• Pharmos Corp., of Iselin, N.J., said it entered into an agreement to settle several class-action lawsuits that began in January 2005 and currently are pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. The lawsuits relate to statements purportedly made by Pharmos and its officers regarding the effectiveness of dexanabinol in treating traumatic brain injury. The settlement, which would be covered in its entirety by Pharmos' insurance, has been reached with no admission of liability by any party. The settlement remains subject to court approval.

• Renovis Inc., of South San Francisco, said two milestones were reached in its research collaboration with Pfizer Inc., of New York, to develop vanilloid receptor 1 antagonists for treating pain and other conditions. A second product from the VR1 program was put into investigational new drug application-enabling studies, and they completed certain studies with a previously nominated compound. The progress triggered about $4.5 million in milestone payments to Renovis.