• Advanced Cell Technology Inc., of Alamedia, Calif, has signed an expanded, nonexclusive commercialization agreement with Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The expanded agreement grants Advanced Cell rights to the commercial use of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to develop human therapies, with the exception of neuronal, pancreatic beta cells, and cardiac applications, and enables the marketing of a broad array of research products. The agreement gives the company access to an additional 150 stem cell technology patents and patent applications, adding to the 380 it already owns or licenses. Terms were not disclosed.

• Altea Therapeutics Corp., of Atlanta, entered a research agreement with an undisclosed pharmaceutical company to examine the feasibility of developing a transdermal patch product that delivers certain macromolecular carbohydrates for the treatment of coagulation disorders. Altea also reported that it has demonstrated the transdermal delivery of carbohydrate macromolecules using its transdermal patch technology, and the new research collaboration will focus on additional animal studies to assess the feasibility of the product for clinical development. The agreement allows the companies an option to enter a broader licensing arrangement for clinical development and commercialization. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• AngioGenex Inc., of New York, said that BioCheck Inc., of Foster City, Calif., is developing a diagnostic for the early detection and prognosis of cancer based on the appearance of Id proteins in blood and tumor tissue. The sale of monoclonal antibodies to the Id proteins prepared by BioCheck has begun to generate revenue, and AngioGenex will earn its first milestone payment of $50,000 at the end of the second quarter of this year. The work is being done under a development and marketing deal. AngioGenex has assigned BioCheck exclusive rights to develop and market the cancer diagnostic in return for royalties, with AngioGenex retaining the rights to the antibodies for therapeutic uses.

• Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, sold to an affiliate of BioMed Realty Trust Inc., also of San Diego, three properties owned and occupied by Arena, and assigned to BioMed an option to purchase a fourth property currently leased and primarily occupied by Arena. For the properties and option Arena got $50.1 million. At closing, Arena leased back the three properties sold to BioMed under leases with 20-year terms and two consecutive options to extend the terms for five years each. Arena has the option to purchase from BioMed all of the properties included in the transaction on the 10th, 15th or 20th anniversary of the execution date of the leases.

• Barrier Therapeutics Inc., of Princeton, N.J., said the FDA approved its application to add clinical data to the prescribing information for Solagé (mequinol 2%, tretinoin 0.01%) topical solution. The new information shows that Solagé treatment for solar lentigines (age spots) is safe and effective in patients with darker skin types.

• CyDex Inc., of Lenexa, Kan., has signed an agreement licensing its Captisol enabling technology to Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, for formulation of a selective Aurora kinase inhibitor with potent anti-tumor activity across a number of nonclinical human cancer models. CyDex's patented Captisol technology improves water solubility, bioavailability and complexation characteristics of insoluble and/or unstable drugs. CyDex granted Sunesis global rights to Captisol for a formulation of SNS-314 - a selective small-molecule inhibitor of Aurora kinases that inhibits proliferation of a wide panel of human cancer cell lines. Aurora kinases are overexpressed in several types of cancer, including colon, breast, ovarian, bladder, esophageal, gastric and pancreatic. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Enzo Biochem Inc., of New York, said its Enzo Life Sciences subsidiary entered an agreement with Abbott Laboratories, of Abbott Park, Ill. The deal covers the supply of certain Enzo products for use in the Abbott Molecular FISH product line. The companies also entered into a limited nonexclusive, royalty-bearing cross-licensing agreement of patents for fluorescence in situ hybridization systems, comparative genomic hybridization analysis and labeling and detection technologies. Terms of the molecular diagnostics-related deals were not disclosed.

• GE Healthcare, of Chalfont St. Giles, England, a unit of General Electric, completed a license agreement granting NorDiag ASA, of Bergen, Norway, access to GE patents for the biomagnetic isolation and purification of nucleic acids using magnetic separation technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, said the European Commission approved the use of Herceptin (trastuzumab) in combination with an aromatase inhibitor for the treatment of postmenopausal patients with HER2 and hormone receptor co-positive metastatic breast cancer. That approval was based on data from the international TAnDEM Phase III study, which showed that the addition of Herceptin to hormonal therapy doubled the median progression-free survival from 2.4 months to 4.8 months. Herceptin previously gained approved for treating early and metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer and has demonstrated a survival benefit in both settings. The drug is marketed in Europe by Roche.

• Genta Inc., of Berkeley Heights, N.J., received a staff determination letter from Nasdaq stating that the company's common stock is subject to delisting from the NASDAQ Global Market because the closing bid price is not in compliance with the $1 minimum requirement. Genta intends to exercise its right to appeal the letter to a listings qualification panel, and that appeal request automatically will stay the delisting until the panel reaches a decision. The company expects to present a plan to regain compliance at a Nasdaq hearing, expected to occur within 45 days following the appeal.

• GPC Biotech AG, of Martinsried, Germany, is consolidating its drug discovery efforts to one location, a move that involves closing the company's facility in Waltham, Mass., and reducing staff by about 16 percent. The drug discovery programs being managed in Waltham will be moved to Munich, Germany. The company said it is continuing to build its clinical development and commercialization groups based in Princeton, N.J. GPC said reasons for the move included the acquisition of the assets and the hiring of many research scientists from Munich-based Axxima Pharmaceuticals AG in 2005, as well as the ending this year of a five-year collaboration with Altana Pharma, of Bad Homburg, Germany, to build a research institute in Waltham.

• Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., said its Supprelin-LA (histrelin acetate subcutaneous implant) 50 mg was approved by the FDA. Supprelin-LA is indicated for the treatment of central precocious puberty, the premature onset of puberty in children. The FDA approval was based on the review of data from clinical studies conducted in children ages 4 to 11. A total of 47 children, 44 female, 3 male, were studied in two trials over nine to 18 months of treatment. A long-term follow-up study is on-going. The most commonly reported adverse reaction was implant site reaction.

• Medarex Inc., of Princeton, N.J., said it expects to receive an undisclosed milestone payment from its licensing partner, Amgen Inc., of Thousand Oaks, Calif., for the advancement of an antibody into a Phase II clinical trial. The antibody was generated using Medarex's UltiMAb technology and is the second UltiMAb-derived antibody to be advanced into Phase II clinical development by Amgen. Medarex could receive future milestone payments and royalties if the product proceed to commercialization. Two additional UltiMAb antibodies are in Phase I development by Amgen.

• Monogram Biosciences Inc., of South San Francisco, has licensed most of its microfluidics patent portfolio to Caliper Life Sciences, of Hopkinton, Mass., on an exclusive basis. The intellectual property licensed to Caliper originates from ACLARA BioSciences, which merged with Monogram in December 2004. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The agreement brings the Caliper patent estate to more than 335 U.S. patents.

• Novavax Inc., of Rockville, Md., reported positive study results from a live virus challenge to ferrets inoculated with its pandemic influenza vaccine, paving the way for clinical trials to begin on schedule later this year. In the study, ferrets were inoculated with the company's virus-like particle vaccine made from an Indonesian strain of H5N1 avian influenza. The ferrets, which Novavax said represent the most relevant influenza animal model for humans, were then challenged with live H5N1 virus. All ferrets that received the Novavax vaccine survived, even those that received the lowest dose.

• Phyton Biotech Inc., of East Windsor, N.J., acquired from The Dow Chemical Co., of Midland, Mich., a technology and intellectual property platform for the engineering of glycosylation in pharmaceutical protein products, namely the humanizing of monoclonal antibodies. That acquisition will be enhanced through a research collaboration with the Dutch research institute Plant Research International, part of Wageningen University & Research Centre. Financial terms were not disclosed. The announcement also coincides with the installation of a second 75,000 liter bioreactor at Phyton's German cell fermentation facility.

• Shire plc, of Baskingstoke, UK, said the Drug Enforcement Administration classified Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine, formerly known as NRP104), as a Schedule II controlled substance, following the earlier recommendation of the FDA, clearing the way for launch. Vyvanse is a prodrug for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder partnered with New River Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Radford, Va., which Shire took over for $2.6 billion in cash. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 21, 2007.)