• Abraxis BioScience Inc., of Los Angeles, completed its acquisition of a Puerto Rican manufacturing facility from Pfizer Inc., of New York. This 56-acre site consists of a validated manufacturing plant for injectable pharmaceuticals, protein-based biologics and metered-dosed inhalers, as well as an active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturing plant. Under the agreement, Abraxis will lease the active pharmaceuticals ingredients plant back to Pfizer. Abraxis, which develops, manufactures and markets injectable products such as Abraxane for metastatic breast cancer, expects to begin commercial manufacturing from the site in the first half of this year.

• Avexa Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, and Novasep, of Paris, signed a manufacturing agreement for the production of apricitabine (ATC), Avexa's nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor for HIV. Terms cover the continued production, process optimization and further scale-up of ATC's active pharmaceutical ingredient, based upon the Varicol continuous chromatography system for use in Phase III trials and in preparation for the product's commercial launch. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Copernicus Therapeutics Inc., of Cleveland, said it will receive up to $5.2 million from Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Inc. (CFFT) to support continued development of a gene therapy for cystic fibrosis. The company is working on a nonviral nanoparticle formulation intended to deliver a normal copy of the CF gene to the affected lung cells of CF patients. The company's first trial, which also was supported by CFFT funding, demonstrated the desired safety profile and encouraging biological changes.

• Galapagos NV, of Mechelen, Belgium, signed a drug discovery collaboration with the University of Bristol, England, in the field of cancer research. Galapagos' service division, BioFocus DPI, will provide lead optimization services for a university research program focusing on destroying cancer cells. The total contract value for Galapagos exceeds €2 million (US$2.6 million).

• Geron Corp., of Menlo Park, Calif., said preclinical data showed that its telomerase inhibitor drug GRN163L induces altered tumor cell adhesion in animal models of lung cancer and suggested that the drug might have additional benefit in preventing metastasis. Based on those results, the company said it plans to initiate a clinical trial this year in lung cancer patients. The animal data was published in Cancer Research.

• KeyNeurotek AG, of Munich, Germany, signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Max-Planck-Innovation GmbH, the technology transfer agency of the Max Planck Society, covering a method to identify drug candidates at the Enzymology of Protein Folding research unit. The partners also amended an existing collaboration for drug development of the field of FK506 binding proteins, which covers the identification and optimization of drug candidates. The cooperation aims at discovering candidates against selected protein targets for acute and chronic diseases of the central nervous system, such as stroke and Parkinson's disease. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Med BioGene Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said it is moving its colorectal cancer genetic screening test into the development phase. To do so, the company expects to acquire a substantial number of tissue and blood samples from patients with pathologically categorized colorectal cancer. Eventually, Med BioGene hopes to advance its product into a multibillion dollar market that currently has no screening tests that are both non-invasive and of high predictive value.

• MultiCell Technologies Inc., of San Diego, said it is advancing its lead colorectal cancer therapeutic candidate into preclinical development. Labeled MCT-475, the antigen-presenting immunoglobulin therapeutic is indicated as a prospective treatment for the metastatic form of the disease, and is intended to be co-administered with MCT-465, a Toll-like receptor agonist.

• Pipex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Ann Arbor, Mich., said the National Institutes of Health awarded a $306,172 grant to support testing of its anti-copper drug candidate, Coprexa (oral tetrathiomolybdate), in Alzheimer's disease. Testing will involve the Tg2576 mouse model of AD and evaluate the safety and efficacy of Coprexa, including the prevention of amyloid pathology, the prevention of amyloid-associated neuronal damage and the attenuation of established beta amyloid pathology.

• Unigene Laboratories Inc., of Fairfield, N.J., received a Phase II Small Business Innovative Research grant from the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases, to provide about $900,000 over two years. Funds will support the continuation of the company's discovery program for therapeutic peptide hormones. Unigene received a Phase I grant in 2003 to collaborate with the University of South Florida on a procedure for identifying such peptides in various plant or animal tissues.