• Cardiome Pharma Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said its co-development partner, Astellas Pharma U.S. Inc., of Deerfield, Ill., resubmitted the new drug application to market the intravenous formulation of vernakalant hydrochloride for the acute conversion of atrial fibrillation. Pursuant to the amended agreement, a $10 million milestone payable to Cardiome has been triggered. (See BioWorld Today, June 1, 2006.)

• Cell Signaling Technology Inc., of Danvers, Mass., entered an alliance with London-based AstraZeneca plc to use its rabbit monoclonal antibody technologies to develop RmAbs to AstraZeneca oncology targets. CST will validate antibodies and immunoassays for monitoring target and small-molecule activity. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• CODA Genomics Inc., of Laguna Hills, Calif., expanded its collaboration with Viventia Biotech Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, to apply its Translational Engineering protein expression solutions to antibody projects within Viventia. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• MedImmune Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., and BioWa Inc., of Princeton, N.J., entered a licensing and collaboration agreement to develop and commercialize new inflammatory disease therapies targeting the interleukin-5 receptor. Initially, the companies will focus on developing BIW-8405, a monoclonal antibody in Phase I trials for asthma.

• Provid Pharmaceuticals Inc., of North Brunswick, N.J., is receiving a $750,000 investment from the Edison Innovation Fund in Trenton, N.J., a state fund managed by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Funds will be used to expand Provid's drug discovery services and to advance its research and development efforts in the field of peptide mimetics.

• PsychoGenics Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y., entered a drug discovery and development agreement with Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, under which Lilly will provide drug candidates that PsychoGenics will evaluate, using its proprietary drug discovery technologies, for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. The agreement provides either party the option to exclusively develop any drug candidate emerging from this collaboration, with the non-developing party receiving milestones and royalties commensurate with the stage of development. Other terms were not disclosed.

• Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Madison, N.J., said the FDA has accepted the file and granted priority-review status to the firm's new drug application for Torisel (temsirolimus) for advanced renal-cell carcinoma. Torisel is the first mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) inhibitor to be filed for approval for the treatment of a cancer, and inhibits the mTOR kinase, a protein that regulates cell proliferation, cell growth and cell survival.