• Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc., of Wellesley, Mass., amended its strategic alliance license agreement with GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London, for the use of Coley's VaxImmune vaccine adjuvant product in the development of certain infectious disease vaccines. Coley will be able to enter into additional nonexclusive licenses with other vaccine developers for the use of VaxImmune in infectious disease vaccines. The amendment does not modify the agreement relating to GSK's cancer program with VaxImmune.

• Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, was awarded an additional contract totaling more than $20 million for its Quinvaxem pediatric vaccine. The contract was awarded by a supranational organization for Latin America and covers sales in 2007. It is in addition to the contract awarded to Crucell earlier this month by supranational organizations totaling more than $230 million for both its Quinvaxem and Hepavax-Gene pediatric vaccines. Quinvaxem combines antigens for protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae Type B.

• DOV Pharmaceutical Inc., of Somerset, N.J., said its license agreement with Merck & Co. Inc., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., for DOV 21,947 and DOV 216,303 has been terminated. DOV has regained all rights to the compounds, enabling the company to increase its focus on its reuptake inhibitor program and to pursue broad partnership opportunities. There were no payments due to Merck upon the termination.

• Innovive Pharmaceuticals, of New York, acquired exclusive North American rights to develop and commercialize Tamibarotene, a synthetic retinoid to treat acute promyelocytic leukemia. The company acquired the license from TMRC Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, to develop and commercialize Tamibarotene to treat APL, with an option to include the use of the drug in other oncology indications. TMRC received an up-front fee and will be eligible to receive milestone and royalty payments. Innovive plans to start a pivotal study in the U.S. in the first half of 2007, and to file a new drug application in early 2008.

• Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said the FDA granted full approval of Velcade to treat patients with mantle cell lymphoma who have received at least one prior therapy. In the U.S., about 10,000 people have the disease, and Velcade is the first drug to be approved for relapsed MCL. The approval is based on data that showed an overall response rate of 31 percent and a complete response rate of 8 percent. Velcade currently is the market leader in multiple myeloma for patients who have received one prior therapy.