• A.P. Pharma Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., received a $2.5 million payment from an affiliate of the Paul Royalty Fund, which stems from the company's October agreement to sell its royalty rights to dermatology products Regin-A Micro and Carac. A.P. Pharma was paid $25 million from the Paul Royalty Fund affiliate upon closing of the transaction, with a remaining $5 million to be paid in milestones over a four-year period. Funds are being used to support ongoing development of APF530, which is in Phase III testing for the prevention of acute and delayed onset chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.

• Abbott Laboratories, of Abbott Park, Ill., received marketing authorization from the European Commission for the use of Humira (adalimumab) as a treatment for severe Crohn's disease. Abbott said Humira is the first self-administered biologic for the treatment of Crohn's disease. The tumor necrosis factor-alpha blocker agonist was approved by the FDA for Crohn's disease in February. It also is approved for three other autoimmune indications.

• Affymetrix Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., said the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium in the UK used its GeneChip microarray technology to complete the world's largest whole-genome association project to date. The research team analyzed the genetic information of more than 17,000 individuals to find genes associated with seven common complex human diseases. Details of the results were published in the June 7, 2007 issue of Nature. Researchers detected 24 genetic associations across bipolar disorder, coronary artery disease, Crohn's disease, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, Type I diabetes and Type II diabetes.

• Agilent Technologies Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., has completed the acquisition of Stratagene Corp., of Cedar Creek, Texas, for about $250 million, or $10.94 per share of common stock. The acquisition will have no impact on Agilent's earnings-per-share guidance. Agilent's revenue guidance for the third quarter is now $1.38 billion to $1.42 billion. Agilent specializes in life science research and diagnostic products, and Stratagene has products in fields spanning molecular biology, genomics, proteomics, drug discovery and toxicology. Stratagene employs more than 450 people worldwide, who now have joined Agilent. Agilent and Stratagene also announced the sale and licensing for $6.6 million of some Stratagene assets to a new company, Decisive Diagnostics (a subsidiary of Catalyst Assets LLC), which was formed by Joseph A. Sorge, former chairman, CEO and founder of Stratagene.

• Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Victoria, British Columbia, said the FDA granted fast-track designation for CellCept (mycophenolate mofetil) in lupus nephritis. Fast-track status is designed to expedite the application and review process for products that have the potential to address a serious or life-threatening condition. Aspreva said that enrollment in CellCept's Phase III study was completed in September, with preliminary results from the induction phase expected toward the end of June.

• Cambria Biosciences LLC, of Woburn, Mass., entered a research collaboration with Pfizer Animal Health, a division of New York-based Pfizer Inc., to guide the discovery and development of new classes of antiparasitic drug products. Cambria will use its chemical genetics platform to elucidate the molecular targets that have responded to Pfizer's candidate parasiticidal compounds. Specific terms were not disclosed, but the agreement calls for Pfizer Animal Health to make milestone payments to Cambria.

• Cardio3 BioSciences, of Braine l'Alleud, Belgium, and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., entered a collaboration related to the licensing of Mayo Clinic research, know-how and intellectual property in the field of cardiac commitment of stem cells. That research has focused on the guided commitment of adult as well as embryonic stem cells. The scope of the license covers heart failure of ischemic and non-ischemic origin. Cardio3 plans to enter immediately into the last phase of preclinical work and move the program into human testing as early as the second quarter of 2008.

• Centocor Inc., of Horsham, Pa., and Schering-Plough Corp., of Kenilworth, N.J., said the European Commission approved Remicade (infliximab) for severe, active Crohn's disease in pediatric patients, ages 6 to 17, who have not responded to conventional therapy, such as corticosteroids, or who are intolerant to, or have contraindications for, such therapies. The approval follows a positive opinion in March by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use.

• Coronado Biosciences Inc., of San Diego, hired Raymond Tesi as president and CEO. He previously was executive vice president of clinical development at Cellerant Therapeutics Inc., and before that he held senior positions at SangStat Medical Corp. Coronado is developing next-generation therapies for treating cancer.

• Cortex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Irvine, Calif., negotiated a five-year extension on a milestone under its exclusive Ampakine license agreement with the University of California in Irvine, to extend the date for filing a new drug application until Oct. 10, 2012. Under its agreement with the university, Cortex has worldwide rights to Ampakine compounds for all neurological and psychiatric applications for which the university has patent rights.

• Genzyme Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., said it will build a new biomanufacturing plant in Lyon, France, for the production of Thymoglobulin (anti-thymocyte globulin [rabbit]), a treatment used in transplantation. The facility is needed to meet the anticipated long-term demand for the product, both for its existing use and in potential new indications. The 140,000-square-foot building is expected to replace the company's smaller plant in nearby Marcy l'Etoile, and Genzyme anticipates hiring 50 people in addition to the 165 employed at the existing plant. Genzyme also is completing the development of a new plant in Belgium for the production of monoclonal antibodies and proteins and expanding other facilities, including its Allston Landing protein manufacturing plant in Boston.

• The House of Representatives passed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 on a vote of 247-176, and will send the bill on for the president's signature. The Senate passed the bill in April on a 63-34 vote. The bill would open embryonic stem cell research to federal funding. Similar legislation previously passed by Congress was vetoed last year by President Bush. The president put out a statement Thursday expressing disappointment with the House's action. He is expected to veto the legislation.

• Innovive Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, said the FDA has granted a fast-track designation for the company's drug candidate Tamibarotene, a fully synthetic retinoid being developed for relapsed or refractory acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), a type of acute myelogenous leukemia. The designation applies to the use of Tamibarotene in patients with relapsed or refractory APL following treatment with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and arsenic trioxide. A pivotal Phase II study of Tamibarotene will begin this summer. ATRA is the current standard of care for first-line treatment of APL in combination with chemotherapeutic agents, but has been associated with retinoic acid syndrome, a serious and sometimes fatal complication that occurs in up to 25 percent of patients due to a rapid increase in white blood cells.

• Medical Solutions plc, of Nottingham, UK, conditionally agreed to acquire all of Geneservice Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, for £3.86 million (US$5.2 million) payable in cash and loan notes. Geneservice, which was formed through a management buyout of the UK Medical Research Council's sequencing facility, has about 35 employees and provides genomics products and services. Medical Solutions specializes in histopathology and cytology products and services. The deal is contingent on Medical Solutions stockholder approval.

• Mymetics Corp., of Nyon, Switzerland, reported its HIV vaccine elicited neutralizing IgA mucosal antibodies in a non-human primate model. Findings showed that more than 90 percent of primates vaccinated with virosomes expressing the HIV-1 gp41 peptide produced mucosal IgA antibodies in the genital and intestinal compartments, and those mucosal antibodies were capable of preventing HIV transcytosis, a process by which HIV crosses the membrane epithelium of the mucosa, by 60 to 90 percent. Mucosal IgA produced against the HIV gp41 protein after vaccination was determined to be as good or better than the best anti-HIV neutralizing monoclonal antibodies on the market, when comparing the amount of antibodies required for neutralizing 50 percent of the viruses.

• Pacific Edge Biotechnology Ltd., of Dunedin, New Zealand, is working with the Ludwig Institute's Centre for Clinical Sciences in Melbourne, Australia, to complete the development of a prognostic tool for the segregation of patients with invasive melanoma. The collaboration aims to overcome the difficulty in identifying patients with aggressive disease by developing a gene expression profile that is able to distinguish between patients with good and bad outcomes. So far, the team has determined a 15-gene expression signature that has a predictive accuracy of about 90 percent, and it has filed a provisional patent. Further validation studies on independent samples are expected to be completed in the third quarter.

• Phenomenex Inc., of Torrance, Calif., has obtained exclusive distribution rights in the U.S., Canada and countries in the European Union for ProteomeLab IgY enrichment products for proteomics and biomarker discovery from Beckman Coulter, of Fullerton, Calif.,

• Samaritan Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Las Vegas, said it received a $250,000 Small Business Technology Transfer grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. Funds will be used for continued development of compounds in the areas of viral replication suppression and neuronal protection. Samaritan is working on the project with the University of California at San Diego.

• Sangamo BioSciences Inc., of Richmond, Calif., said data from its zinc finger DNA-binding protein therapeutic in HIV/AIDS demonstrate that ZFN-modified human T cells are protected from HIV infection and have a selective survival advantage in a mouse model of HIV challenge. Researchers determined that ZFN-modified cells engrafted normally in the mouse and that the proportion of modified cells present at the end of the experiment was statistically significantly higher in mice in the presence of HIV infection. The ZFP nuclease technology is designed to make human primary T cells resistant to infection by permanently modifying the DNA sequence encoding CCR5, an essential co-receptor for HIV entry into immune cells. Sangamo expects to start a Phase I trial in the second half of this year to test its therapeutic.

• Velcera Inc., of Langhorne, Pa., has entered into a global licensing agreement with Novartis Animal Health, of Basel, Switzerland, for the latter to develop, register and commercialize a canine product using Velcera's oral mucosal drug delivery technology, Promist. No specific financial terms were disclosed, but it calls for up-front payments, milestone payments along the development path and royalties based upon Novartis sales.