• Active Biotech AB, of Lund, Sweden, received SEK5 million (US$704,846) from Vinnova's (Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems) Research and Grow program. The funds will be used for preclinical work on drugs to treat autoimmune/inflammatory diseases, which will be performed in collaboration with Lund University.

• Amphion Innovations plc, of London, invested £1 million (US$1.9 million) in Myconostica Ltd., a spinout from the University of Manchester. Myconostica specializes in rapid molecular diagnostic tests for infectious diseases, in particular life-threatening respiratory fungal infections. Amphion's investment gives it a stake of 35 percent. Clinical studies are due to start early in 2007 with approvals expected later in the year.

• Arrow Therapeutics plc, of London, said A-831, a small-molecule inhibitor of hepatitis C entered Phase I development. A-831 targets the NS5a protein on the virus and is the first such product to enter the clinic. Another Arrow compound, also targeting NS5a, but with a completely different structure, is due to enter preclinical development shortly. The company's lead product against respiratory syncytial virus is in Phase IIa studies and partnered to Novartis AG, of Basel, Switzerland.

• BioAlliance Pharma SA, of Paris, appointed Nicolas Fellman finance director. Fellman has 10 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry and previously was treasury, tax and audit manager of Pfizer France.

• Galapagos NV, of Mechelen, Belgium, extended the target discovery alliance between its service division, BioFocus DPI, and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Inc. for 15 months. That agreement exceeds €800,000 (US$1 million) in research fees and builds further on the alliance initiated in April 2005. BioFocus DPI is applying its SilenceSelect adenoviral library and expertise in assay design to discover drug targets for cystic fibrosis therapies.

• Genetix Group plc, of New Milton, UK, finally got the approval of shareholders of Applied Imaging Corp., to buy the company for about $25.8 million in cash (£13.6 million). Genetix went in at the beginning of September with a bid of $19.3 million, but was forced to increase its offer for the San Jose, Calif.-based company several times before it finally won the agreement of shareholders last week.

• Innate Pharma SA, of Paris, launched its IPO Oct. 19, and the overallotment option has been taken up in full. Bryan, Garnier & Co. Ltd., of London, and SG Corporate & Investment Banking, a subsidiary of Paris-based Société Générale, took up 831,325 new shares, and now the total number of Innate Pharma shares in circulation is 24.75 million, with about 27 percent in free float. The overallotment increases the gross proceeds of the IPO from €29.9 million to about €33.7 million (US$44.4 million), before the deduction of their commissions and expenses. Innate Pharma's shares are on Eurolist Compartment C of the Paris Euronext. Shares were offered at €4.50, slightly above the midpoint of the indicative price range of €4.15 to €4.80, and the company's shares were selling at more than €5 in recent trading.

• Mayne Pharma Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, agreed to acquire the remaining worldwide rights to Nipent (pentostatin for injection) for a total of $8 million to Dublin, Calif.-based SuperGen Inc. Under the terms, SuperGen will receive about $3.75 million up front, with $1.25 million to be paid upon certain events and the remaining $3 million over a five-year period on the anniversary of the closing date. Nipent is approved for hairy-cell leukemia. Mayne gained North American rights to the drug from SuperGen in August for $34 million.

• Nippon Shinyaku Co. Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, and Pharmion Corp., of Boulder, Colo., completed an exclusive license agreement for development and commercialization rights to Vidaza (azacitidine for injectable suspension) in Japan. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though the agreement requires Nippon to pay both royalties and milestones to Pharmion and also places the responsibility on Nippon for funding and conducting any additional studies needed for Japanese regulatory approval. Vidaza is marketed in the U.S. for myelodysplastic syndromes.

• OctoPlus NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, granted an exclusive license to OP-145 for chronic middle ear infection for the Korean market to Green Cross Corp., of Seoul, South Korea. The Phase II peptide is designed to break the recurring cycle of infection causing chronic middle ear infection. Terms of the deal call for Green Cross to make an up-front payment, milestone payments and pay royalties to OctoPlus, which will retain manufacturing rights to the bulk material.

• Palau Pharma, of Barcelona, Spain, brought in €40 million (US$51.3 million) through a private placement to fund its internal research and development operations. Palau, a spinout of Grupo Uriach's R&D unit, intends to focus on drug development for inflammatory and autoimmune conditions. The financing was led by Grupo Uriach and a group of four investors - Invercartera (Grupo Caixa Catalunya), Caja Duero, the Cerqueda family and Najeti Capital - with the latter acquiring a minority stake in Palau.

• Peakadilly NV, of Ghent, Belgium, changed its name to Pronota NV, effective immediately. Following the recent close of Series A financing at €14.5 million (US$18.4 million), the company is increasing capacity of both equipment and employees, and said the name change is part of its positioning to become recognized as a major player in protein biomarker discovery and application.

• Virax Holdings, of Melbourne, Australia, announced further progress with building the consortium of industrial donors it is pulling together to finance a trial of its HIV/AIDS vaccine VIR 201 in South Africa. The consortium now includes, BHP Billiton, the cornerstone investor; Gold Fields Ltd.; Harmony Gold Mining; Lonmin plc; Mitsubishi Materials Corp.; Nippon Mining and Metals Co. Ltd.; Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd.; and Rio Tinto. Virax has formed a South African nonprofit organization for corporate donors with operations in South Africa and other African countries in which HIV/AIDS is endemic, to provide funding for a Phase I/IIa trial. CEO David Beames commented, "Although our funding task is not yet complete, we are confident that the caliber of the current participants will help attract further South African corporate donors." The proposed trial will involve 140 HIV-positive subjects in five well-established HIV clinics across four provinces in South Africa. Virax has lodged an application with the South African Medicines Control Council to conduct the trial. The project will be nondilutive to Virax, which is to contribute its intellectual property.