• Acorda Therapeutics Inc., of Hawthorne, N.Y., amended its December 2005 agreement with an affiliate of Paul Capital Healthcare (formerly Paul Royalty Fund) to revise the triggers to receive up to $10 million in additional funding. The company previously received $15 million to support the initial expansion of its sales force from 14 to 32 members, as well as other Zanaflex capsules operations. Proceeds from the recent funding will be used to increase the sales force to 65 people and support additional commercial activities related to Zanaflex capsules. Under the terms, Acorda will receive $5 million at closing, with the potential for $5 million more if it achieves a 2006 sales milestone.

• Archemix Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., granted Ribomic Inc., of Tokyo, a worldwide, nonexclusive, royalty-bearing license for the use of an IgG aptamer for affinity purification uses. Detailed financial terms were not disclosed, but include up-front and milestone payments, and royalties.

• China Biopharma Inc., of Princeton, N.J., signed a letter of intent with HYTE Research LLC, of Iselin, N.J., to jointly develop and commercialize Nano-Poly Enhancement technology for improving the effectiveness and reducing the side effects of human vaccines. The technology would be used to combine with vaccines to achieve the immune-enhancing properties of surface antigen, and might be used to replace chemical adjuvants to vaccines. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but China Biopharma said it will hold 55 percent of the intellectual property rights on the technology.

• Dyax Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., and the Division of Molecular and Health Technologies of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national scientific research agency, entered a collaboration to discover and develop therapeutic antibodies against cancer. Dyax will use its antibody libraries to screen for clinical candidates, and CSIRO will provide reagents and in vitro assays, as well as certain in vivo and preclinical development work. Upon successful completion, CSIRO and Dyax will have the option to advance any antibody leads into the clinic under the terms of a worldwide co-development and commercialization agreement. Specific terms were not disclosed.