• Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and Bioneer Inc., of Daejeon, South Korea, said Alnylam has granted Bioneer a nonexclusive license to provide RNAi research products under the Kreutzer-Limmer patent family. The family, owned exclusively by Alnylam, covers small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and their use to mediate RNAi in mammalian cells. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Bavarian Nordic A/S, of Kvistg rd, Denmark, established Bavarian Nordic Inc. in Washington to expand cooperation with U.S. authorities on vaccines, including Imvamune smallpox vaccine, as well as the company's HIV and cancer vaccines. The company will play a central role in the registration of Imvamune smallpox vaccine with the FDA. Espen Kateraas has been appointed general manager, vice president, as of July 1. Elizabeth Dempsey Becker, director of public affairs and communications for Bavarian Nordic A/S, will be employed in Washington to strengthen the government affairs area.

• Chimerix Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., acquired Leroy Townsend's lifetime library of chemical lead compounds from the University of Michigan, including an option to all associated intellectual property. The library consists of lead candidates designed toward key antiviral and oncology targets, and Chimerix will incorporate promising candidates from the antiviral library into the company's technology platform.

• Entelos Inc., of Foster City, Calif., and Hoffman-La Roche Inc., of Nutley, N.J., entered a two-year collaboration in metabolic disease research. Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will provide research and development funding and milestone payments, and Entelos will conduct biosimulation research using its Metabolism PhysioLab platform, which uses a "virtual patient" approach to predict the effects of a drug on metabolic pathways and/or biomarkers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, said the European Commission has approved Herceptin (trastuzumab) for patients with early stage HER2-positive breast cancer following surgery and standard chemotherapy. In the U.S., the drug is marketed by Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco.

• Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, reported data suggesting that the farnesoid X bile acid receptor (FXR), such as its lead product, INT-747, might have therapeutic use in inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Data presented at the Digestive Disease Week conference in Los Angeles, demonstrated that INT-747 prevents the development of intestinal inflammation and fibrosis in IBD mouse models. INT-747 is in Phase I trials to treat liver damage caused by fibrosis and cholestasis in chronic liver disease.

• KineMed Inc., of Emeryville, Calif., entered a strategic alliance with CMIC Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, a contract research organization providing clinical development services in Asia. The goal of the alliance is to identify compounds for indications discovery and potential joint development. CMIC will seek compounds within Japanese pharmaceutical firms for indications discovery, which KineMed will undertake by applying its proprietary technologies AquaTag and KineMarker. KineMed may then pursue collaborative development with a Japanese pharma partner or in-license agents for its own development programs. CMIC has the option to become KineMed's partner and to fund clinical development for the Japanese market through Phase IIa trials.

• Lev Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, entered an exclusive license agreement with Hannu Suomela relating to methods for producing plasma-derived intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). Suomela, who is from Vantaa, Finland, is the inventor of the underlying technology and holder of a pending U.S. patent application. IVIG is used to treat patients with certain immune system disorders.

• Peplin Ltd., of Queensland, Australia, is raising about A$40 million (US$30.1 million) primarily to fund the ongoing clinical development of PEP005 Topical for actinic (solar) keratosis and non-melanoma skin cancer. The company will complete an international placement of 37.5 million shares at A$0.71 cents per share and 11.25 million four-year options to certain international institutional investors, led by MPM Capital, to raise about A$26.6 million. Also, the company will complete a fully underwritten non-renounceable rights issue of about 19.6 million new shares to existing Peplin shareholders at A$0.71 per share, together with 5.9 million four-year options to raise about A$13.9 million.

• Rosetta Genomics Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, and U.S. Genomics Inc., of Woburn, Mass., signed a discovery and co-development agreement for a microRNA-based, non-invasive early detection test for lung cancer. The collaboration combines U.S. Genomics' patented Trilogy 2020 platform and Direct miRNA assay with Rosetta Genomics' microRNAs.