• Avexa, of Melbourne, Australia, has been awarded a A$4.3 million (US$3.5 million) Australian government grant to develop a new generation of HIV antiviral drugs using fragment based drug design, a nontraditional research methodology. Avexa will work with the government's molecular and health technologies division to discover inhibitors of the HIV integrase enzyme, which conventional techniques are unable to identify. The program also can be applied to other antiviral targets. The grant program provides funding for up to half of eligible project expenditures for early-stage R&D. It also will help fund discovery and preclinical development required to advance candidates to proof-of-concept studies.

• Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, said the Swiss regulatory agency granted partner Janssen-Cilag AG, a London-based Johnson & Johnson company, accelerated assessment of the planned market authorization application for ceftobiprole in the treatment of complicated skin and soft tissue structure infections. A new drug application for ceftobiprole was submitted to the FDA earlier this month.

• Bioenvision Inc., of New York, received a letter from investor SCO Capital Partners LLC objecting to the proposed $345 million acquisition by Genzyme Corp., of Cambridge, Mass. In the letter, SCO Chairman Steven Rouhandeh said the deal does not adequately reflect the long-term value of Bioenvision's pipeline. He also said the deal was ill-timed considering a dilutive financing completed in April, pending approval of Evoltra in acute myeloid leukemia, and current share price. SCO owns 13.4 percent of Bioenvision as of May 3. Bioenvision shares (NASDAQ: BIVN) traded up 29 cents to close at $5.88 on Wednesday. (See BioWorld Today, May 30, 2007.)

• Biotech Holdings Ltd., of Vancouver, British Columbia, signed an agreement for the distribution of Sucanon, a Type II diabetes drug, in four markets in Latin America. Sucanon already is sold in Mexico. The four additional markets - Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Costa Rica - will be served by an undisclosed private company based in Colombia that focuses on sales of antibiotics. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

• BioWa Inc., of Princeton, N.J., granted Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, a non-exclusive license to its Potelligent platform for the development of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity enhanced antibodies. In exchange, BioWa will receive unspecified up-front, license and development milestone fees as well as royalties. BioWa is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese firm Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Ltd.

• Cardiome Pharma Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said its partner, Astellas Pharma Canada Inc., an affiliate of Deerfield Ill.-based Astellas Pharma US Inc., filed a new drug submission with Health Canada for approval of the intravenous formulation of vernakalant hydrochloride for acute conversion of atrial fibrillation. A decision is expected in mid-2008. In December 2006, the companies filed a new drug application in the U.S., and the FDA is expected to render its decision in October of this year. Under the companies' 2003 collaboration, Cardiome granted Astellas exclusive rights to develop and commercialize vernakalant in North America. Cardiome retains alls rights to intravenous formulations of the drug outside of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

• CytRx Corp., of Los Angeles, said its drug candidate iroxanadine has demonstrated the ability to dramatically accelerate the healing of skin wounds in diabetic animals. Based on those preclinical results and earlier clinical study data, the company plans to move into a Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers in the first half of 2008, subject to FDA clearance. Preclinical studies on wounded diabetic mice showed that those treated with oral iroxanadine achieved wound closure in a median 14 days, and untreated diabetic mice had median closure in 23.5 days. The company said it hopes to accelerate the clinical program with three significant (one potentially pivotal, two Phase II) clinical trials expected to begin during the next 12 months.

• Enzo Life Sciences Inc., of Farmingdale, N.Y., has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Axxora Life Sciences Inc., of San Diego, a privately owned manufacturer and marketer of life sciences research products, for approximately $16.3 million in cash. Axxora will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Enzo, which is itself a subsidiary of Enzo BioChem Inc. Axxora had revenues of approximately $16 million and 60 employees worldwide in 2006, and has wholly owned subsidiaries in the U.S., Switzerland, Germany and the UK. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in early June.

• Howard G. Smith law offices, of Bensalem, Penn., has filed a securities class action lawsuit on behalf of all shareholders of Dendreon Corp., of Seattle, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The complaint alleges that Dendreon violated SEC laws by issuing "material misrepresentations" about the company's business and prospects, thus artificially inflating the price of Dendreon stock. Earlier this month the company's stock fell 64 percent after the FDA issued an approvable letter on Provenge for prostate cancer.

• Neuralstem Inc., of Rockville, Md., said three rats paralyzed due to spinal ischemia returned to near-normal ambulatory function six weeks after receiving human spinal stem cells it developed. Researchers reported the results online in the Journal of Neuroscience. Three other rats from the nine injected with hSSCs, while not able to stand up two months after treatment, showed significant improvement in the mobility of all three lower extremity joints and increased muscle tone. In all the grafted animals, the majority of transplanted hSSCs cells survived and became mature neurons. The study was conducted at the University of California at San Diego.

• Neuro-Hitech Inc., of New York, said Georgetown University has granted it an exclusive license to technology and patents covering drug combinations and methods for treating, preventing or reversing neuronal dysfunction in severe neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The drug combination comprises Neuro-Hitech's Huperzine compounds, such as Huperzine A, and nicotinic compounds, known enhancers of cognitive function. Huperzine A is expected to complete U.S. Phase II human trials late this year. Terms were not disclosed.

• Stem Cell Innovations Inc., of Houston, and TNO, of Leiden, The Netherlands, will collaborate in a program sponsored by a Dutch-sponsored effort to develop new strategies to control human stem cell differentiation into cartilage and cardiomyocytes. Stem Cell Innovations has produced 17 lines of human pluripotent stem cells, and TNO specializes in combining fundamental disease biology research with developing new applications. Terms were not disclosed.

• Symbollon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Framingham, Mass., said UK regulatory authorities agreed with the company's plan to focus its drug candidate IoGen on symptomatic relief of moderate or severe pain and tenderness in patients with cyclic mastalgia and to use placebo-controlled studies. Symbollon said that will allow the company to submit its ongoing Phase III study in support of regulatory marketing approval. Data from the Phase III trial are anticipated for release in the first quarter of 2008, and regulatory submission in both the U.S. and Europe is expected in 2009.

• ViRexx Medical Corp., of Edmonton, Alberta, signed two collaboration agreements for its Chimigen chimeric antigen vaccine technology: one with the National Institute for Nanotechnology to study nanoparticle-forming properties and one with Defense Research and Development Canada Suffield to study biodefense applications. Both collaborations are supported through unspecified network and financial contributions by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). Specific terms were not disclosed.