• Acumen Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, achieved a $5 million milestone in antibody collaboration with Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck & Co. Inc. The companies signed a license agreement in 2003 to research and develop disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer's disease and other memory-related disorders. Under the terms, Merck obtained an exclusive license to research and develop antibody products, an option to develop vaccine products and certain diagnostic rights. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 14, 2004.)

• Atrium Biotechnologies Inc., of Quebec, has acquired Philadelphia-based AquaCap Pharmaceutical Inc., the leading developer and manufacturer of liquid filled capsules within the nutritional supplement industry in the U.S. Originally developed for the pharmaceutical industry, this liquid-delivery technology allows for the filling of hard two-piece capsules with oils, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and herbal extracts. The encapsulation process provides for better absorption, stability and bioavailability of the nutrients while avoiding the use of excipients often required in the manufacturing of dry capsules or tablets products. Under the agreement, Atrium purchased AquaCap for $21.5 million.

• Cangene Corp., of Winnipeg, Manitoba, received approval from Health Canada for its HepaGam hyperimmune for the prevention of hepatitis B recurrence following liver transplantation in adult hepatitis B patients who have no or low levels of hepatitis B virus replication. The approval allows the company to market the drug in Canada, though regulators are requiring Cangene to continue with a confirmatory study. HepaGam, a purified antibody specific for the hepatitis B virus, was approved by the FDA last year for treatment following acute exposure to blood containing HBsAg.

• CEL-SCI Corp., of Vienna, Va., has signed a letter of intent with BioProperties Inc., of Irvine, Calif., to acquire and build out to CEL-SCI's specifications a turn-key CGMP drug manufacturing facility for CEL-SCI's cancer product, Multikine. CEL-SCI recently was given the green light by the FDA to start a Phase III clinical trial of head and neck cancer patients with Multikine. The commitment, subject to a final contract, is for $15 million. The facility is expected to cost about $12 to $14 million, to be paid through a long-term lease agreement.

• Discovery Laboratories Inc., of Warrington, Pa., received guidance from the FDA regarding the remaining steps necessary for potential approval of Surfaxin (lucinactant) for the prevention of respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants, and no new trials are required. Discovery anticipates filing its formal response to the April 2006 approvable letter in September or October of this year, followed by a six-month review cycle. The company's stock (NASDAQ:DSCO) closed Monday at $2.66, up 11 cents. (See BioWorld Today, April 26, 2006.)

• Evotec AG, of Hamburg, Germany, has signed two contracts with Solvay Pharmaceuticals, an Oxford, U.K.-based member of the Solvay group. In one agreement Evotec was chosen as Solvay's partner for fragment-based drug discovery. Solvay will access Evotec's proprietary fragment-based screening platform and fragment library to identify fragment hits against a high-priority target. Evotec will produce three-dimensional co-crystals of the fragment hits bound to the protein and will optimize the fragments. Solvay will pay an access fee to use Evotec's screening technology. The second agreement extends an existing library synthesis contract for another 12 months from Jan. 1, 2007. Evotec has been synthesizing and supplying chemical libraries to Solvay, for screening against targets in its drug discovery programs, since January 2001. This is the third time in six years that Solvay has opted to extend the original contract.

• Invitrogen Corp., of Carlsbad, Calif., entered a co-marketing and development deal with Progenitor Cell Therapy LLC, of Hackensack, N.J., to apply Invitrogen's media and cell separation technologies for cell product-based applications. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• MaxCyte Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., said Geron Corp., of Menlo Park, Calif., exercised an option for a clinical and commercial license to use MaxCyte's cell loading system in the manufacture of mRNA-loaded autologous dendritic cell-based vaccines, including Geron's GRNVAC1 telomerase vaccine. The agreement provides Geron with access to MaxCyte's cell loading technology for use in manufacturing GRNVAC1 and future therapeutic cancer vaccine products. Also, Geron and MaxCyte have expanded their relationship to include a commercial license option for the use of MaxCyte's technology in allogeneic dendritic cell vaccines that Geron is developing using its embryonic stem cell technology. The companies entered their deal in February.

• Napo Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, entered a plant screening agreement with Mumbai, India-based Nicholas Piramal India Ltd. to discover diabetes therapeutic agents. NPIL will use its high-throughput screening facility and natural product chemistry expertise, along with biological testing capabilities to identify active compounds from Napo's library of medicinal plant extracts from tropical regions. The companies will jointly own all products developed under the agreements. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Pharmaxis, of Sydney, Australia, has appointed Aldo-Union SA, of Barcelona, Spain, to market and distribute its asthma diagnostic and management tool, Aridol, in Spain. Spain is among the first group of countries selected to review the Aridol marketing application as part of the European Union Mutual Recognition Procedure expected to conclude during the first quarter of 2007. The bronchial challenge testing market is dominated by methacholine and is one of few European markets where testing to assess effectiveness of treatment is performed.

• Quest Diagnostics Inc., of Lyndhurst, N.J., signed a worldwide license agreement with Woburn, Mass.-based U.S. Genomics for rights to develop an advanced screening method for Fragile X syndrome based on jointly developed genetic testing technology. Using U.S. Genomics' applications, Quest plans to develop an automated testing process. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.