• Aruna Biomedical Inc., of Athens, Ga., exclusively licensed technology from the University of Georgia Research Foundation to develop and commercialize neural cells derived from human embryonic stem cells. Aruna will offer researchers access to human neural cells that relate to normal and diseased conditions. Aruna anticipates launch of its first product, human neural progenitor cells, early this year.

• BioVeris Corp., of Gaithersburg, Md., entered a new license agreement with Baxter Healthcare Corp., of Deerfield, Ill., giving BioVeris exclusive rights to Neisseria meningitidis group Y and Haemophilus influenzae type b components for use in new vaccine candidates. BioVeris said the candidates are expected to reduce the number of injections a child would receive during an office visit. Baxter got a license fee and is eligible to receive milestone payments, sales royalties and other fees. In December, BioVeris licensed from Baxter nonexclusive rights to use Neisseria meningitidis group C vaccines as a component in new vaccine candidates.

• ICOS Corp., of Bothell, Wash., said shareholders approved terms of the revised merger agreement with Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis. Lilly is paying $34 per share, or about $2.3 billion, for ICOS. Lilly's original offer was $32 per share. The deal is expected to close today. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 18, 2006.)

• Illumina Inc., of San Diego, completed its acquisition of Hayward, Calif.-based Solexa Inc. in a stock-for-stock merger valued at about $600 million. The companies signed the merger agreement in November to create a firm that specializes in genome-scale technology for genotyping, gene expression and sequencing. Under the terms, Solexa stockholders will receive 0.344 of a share of Illumina common stock for each Solexa share. (See BioWorld Today, Nov. 14, 2006.)

• Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Vancouver, British Columbia, is selling 17.6 million units at C$0.17 per unit for gross proceeds of C$3 million (US$2.54 million). Each unit consists of one share and half a warrant. Each whole warrant will be exercisable for 12 months at C$0.29 per share. Inflazyme expects data this quarter from its Phase IIb CAPSICS study of IPL512,602 in asthma patients, and from the Phase IIa trial of partner Helicon Therapeutics Inc., of New York, of IPL455,903 in age-associated memory impairment.

• MorphoSys AG, of Martinsried, Germany, expanded its marketing deal with Tokyo-based GeneFrontier Corp. to cover generation of HuCAL-derived fully human antibodies for proteome research and target validation with a Japanese research organization. GeneFrontier will use MorphoSys' HuCAL Gold antibody library to generate antibodies against targets provided by the partner. MorphoSys gets undisclosed compensation for access to its technology. It would share commercialization rights to resulting antibodies.