• Adnexus Therapeutics Inc., of Waltham, Mass., was awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. The grant supports the continued design and development of the Adnectin product class by focusing on compounds with multiple functions.

• Aida Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Hangzhou, China, said the company it is acquiring, Shanghai Qiaer Biotechnology Co. Ltd., of Shanghai, China, which recently completed Phase I trials of the genetic cancer treatment drug Rh-Apo2L. Aida expects to complete Phase II and III studies by the end of 2007.

• AnorMed Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said its board recommends shareholders reject and not tender their shares to the unsolicited offer by Genzyme Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., to acquire all of the outstanding shares of AnorMED for $8.55 per share in cash. The company's strategic initiatives committee unanimously recommended rejection. AnorMed's stock (AMEX:AOM) closed Tuesday at $10, up 6 cents. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 31, 2006.)

• Biothera, of Eagan, Minn., was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research Advanced Technology grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a new drug to treat bone marrow injury from acute radiation exposure. The grant is for Phase I of a five-year $3.6 million program. With data generated through the SBIR grant program, the company intends to file a new drug application with the FDA to treat myelosuppression.

• China Biopharmaceuticals Holdings Inc., of Beijing, said the firm and shareholders of Suzhou Hengyi Pharmaceuticals of Feedstock Co. Ltd., of Suzhou, China, agreed to rescind and terminate the agreement under which CBH acquired 75.8 percent of the ownership interest of Hengyi. The consideration of 1.2 million shares of CHB's common stock and the capital contribution of $620,000 will be returned to CHB, which said Hengyi does not fit into its future growth strategy.

• Evotec AG, of Hamburg, Germany, licensed the complete product line of ChemAxon, of Budapest, Hungary. With the JChem platform, Evotec has built applications enabling its scientists to perform and share drug discovery and optimization processes across all facilities, directly from their workbench. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, said it requested re-examination of the data supporting the filing of Tarceva to treat pancreatic cancer following the recent negative opinion from the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use. The filing was for the use of Tarceva in combination with gemcitabine chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer. The FDA approved Tarceva for the indication last November based on the same data submitted in Europe. Tarceva is approved in the U.S. and the European Union for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer after failure of at least one prior chemotherapy regimen.

• Logical Therapeutics Inc., of Pittsburgh, entered a licensing and collaboration agreement with Medinox Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., for a Phase I non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent called LT-NS001. Logical gained an exclusive license to develop and market the product in North America, Europe and Australia, and in return, Medinox is receiving an up-front payment and is eligible to receive future payments upon achievement of certain development and regulatory milestones, as well as royalties. Logical plans to develop LT-NS001 for mild to moderate inflammatory conditions such as osteoarthritis and low back pain syndrome.

• Neurocrine Biosciences Inc., of San Diego, said the FDA requested that the company supplement the pharmacokinetic/food effect profile of immediate-release indiplon capsules to include several meal types. Neurocrine will begin such a study shortly after further consultation with the agency, which requested no other clinical trials for the re-submission of a new drug application. That's expected to be filed before the end of the second quarter of next year. A meeting with the FDA about modified-release indiplon tablets has been scheduled toward the end of next month.

• Northfield Laboratories Inc., of Evanston, Ill., filed a shelf registration statement with the SEC to sell up to $100 million of its securities.

• Pharmos Corp., of Iselin, N.J., signed a definitive agreement that includes revised terms for the acquisition of Vela Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Ewing, N.J., for $6 million in cash and 6.5 million common shares. The number of Pharmos shares to be issued to Vela stockholders was reduced from 11.5 million, and the cash payment is $1 million more. The revised agreement also includes additional performance-based milestone payments in connection with the development of Vela's lead drug, dextofisopam for irritable bowel syndrome. Dissident shareholder Lloyd Miller agreed to support the transaction as it is now structured, and it is expected to close late this month or early next month, after which Miller will join Pharmos' board.

• Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Raleigh, N.C., and Debiopharm Group, of Lausanne, Switzerland, signed an exclusive license agreement granting Salix the right to sell, market and distribute Sanvar IR in the U.S. Debiopharm developed Sanvar to treat acute esophageal variceal bleeding. The product is undergoing a confirmatory Phase III trial in the U.S. to treat EVB secondary to portal hypertension. Under terms of the agreement, Salix is required to make an up-front payment and regulatory and sales performance milestone payments to Debiovision that could total up to $14 million.

• Syntaxin Ltd., of Salisbury, UK, entered a second exclusive research and license arrangement with Allergan Inc., of Irvine, Calif., to develop clostridial endopeptidase-based compounds, an agreement that builds on the partners' existing collaboration in the field of pain by expanding the joint programs to include other types of nerve cells. Under the new agreement, Syntaxin and Allergan will jointly fund research efforts using Syntaxin's technology to engineer clostridial endopeptidase-based proteins that are specific for target cells. The deal includes up-front and milestone payments to Syntaxin, along with royalties paid to Syntaxin upon commercialization by Allergan of any resulting compounds.