• Advancis Pharmaceutical Corp., of Germantown, Md., said the FDA approved 333-mg and 750-mg capsules of the antibiotic Keflex (cephalexin capsules). Advancis had submitted a supplemental new drug application for the two new strengths. The company expects to begin marketing the new strengths nationwide with a targeted sales force of about 75 representatives beginning in July.

• Affectis Pharmaceuticals AG, of Munich, Germany, identified a gene called P2RX7 that is associated with bipolar affective disorders. The gene encodes for a receptor protein, the P2X7 receptor, suggesting that it could constitute a promising target in bipolar disorders such as mania and depression, so the company has identified lead compounds. The gene was located on chromosome 12 using pedigree analysis of a French-Canadian population, and the genomic region subsequently was identified using association studies with microsatellite markers in a case/control study from the same population.

• Athersys Inc., of Cleveland, is receiving nearly half of an $8 million award from the state of Ohio given to the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine to support development over the next three years of new cell-based therapies for cardiovascular, cancer and neurological disorders. The company is a founding member of the group, a multi-institutional collaborative initiative established by the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University, the Ohio State University and Athersys. The company will receive about $3.5 million of the grant and apply a portion of the funding toward development activities involving its collaborators. The Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine and its members received an initial $19.5 million state government award in 2003. Separately, Athersys said it received an undisclosed investment from Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, to support the development of cell-based products for treating cardiovascular disease. The initial work will focus on applying Athersys' adult-derived stem cell product, MultiStem, to treat heart attack patients. The companies will jointly manage development activities and will share clinical development costs. Athersys stands to receive milestone payments upon achieving certain development and commercialization events, and the companies will share all eventual profits. After completing preclinical studies, it is expected that clinical trials applying MultiStem toward myocardial infarction could begin next year.

• Avigen Inc., of Alameda, Calif., completed its private placement of common stock with institutional investors, raising about $21.2 million. The company sold 3.9 million shares at $5.37 apiece. RBC Capital Markets acted as sole book-running manager and lead placement agent, while CIBC World Markets was co-placement agent, and investors included Biotechnology Value Fund, Apex Capital, Federated Kaufman Fund and Fort Mason Capital LP. The proceeds will allow the company to develop AV650 for acute muscle spasm, AV411 for chemotherapeutic-induced neuropathic pain and AV513 for hemophilia. (See BioWorld Today, May 12, 2006.)

• D-Pharm Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, raised $10 million in a private round to fund the firm's main product, DP-b99, for acute stroke, which is in Phase II trials, and to complete preclinical development of the lead candidate for Alzheimer's disease. The round was led by Clal Biotechnology Industries, Israel Healthcare Ventures and Pitango Venture Capital. Also joining were existing investors Care Capital, Gemini, Polar Communications and others.

• Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., expanded its portfolio of drug candidates targeting Toll-like receptors to include RNA compounds that activate immune responses through TLR7 and TLR8 and DNA compounds that act to inhibit activity of TLR9. The compounds are the result of an in-house application of Idera's expertise in DNA and RNA chemistry. Preclinical data were presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Immunologists in Boston.

• Illumina Inc., of San Diego, and DeCode Genetics Inc., of Reykjavik, Iceland, formed a strategic alliance under which the companies plan to co-develop and commercialize DNA-based diagnostic tests in several major disease areas including heart attack, diabetes and breast cancer. The alliance will deploy Illumina's platform for high-multiplex single-nucleotide polymorphism genotyping to develop tests for gene variants deCODE has investigated. Under the terms of the agreement, Illumina gets access to disease-related biomarkers for joint validation as diagnostic panels to be sold by Illumina on its forthcoming BeadXpress platform. The companies will share development costs and split the profits from sales of the diagnostics tests.

• Inovio Biomedical Corp., of San Diego, acquired, under a license with Sphergen SARL, of Evry, France, rights to several patent families relating to the use of electroporation technology. The rights Inovio licensed include two patents with broad claims regarding electroporation of nucleic acids in muscle (U.S. Patent No. 6,939,862) and tumor tissue (U.S. Patent No. 6,528,315).

• Nanogen Inc., of San Diego, formed a collaboration with Oy Jurilab Ltd., a Kuopio, Finland-based genomics company, to identify and validate new prognostic markers for Type II diabetes. Jurilab has access to genetic screening of an isolated population in East Finland, which is derived from one of the most genetically homogeneous populations available. Nanogen will gain access to markers identified by Jurilab, and the two companies plan to validate the diabetes associations of the markers in populations outside Finland. Then, Nanogen will develop diagnostic tests for panels of confirmed markers, and the companies will jointly seek licensing opportunities to develop therapeutics based on the genes.

• Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., of New York, announced the re-ranking of the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, to become effective with the market open on Monday, May 22. The re-ranking will result in 15 securities being added, including Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego; Adams Respiratory Therapeutics Inc., of Chester, N.J.; Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Victoria, British Columbia; AVI BioPharma Inc., of Portland, Ore.; Columbia Laboratories Inc., of Livingston, N.J.; Cerus Corp., of Concord, Calif.; CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Newtown, Pa.; Genomic Health Inc., of Redwood City, Calif.; GTx Inc., of Memphis, Tenn.; Inhibitex Inc., of Atlanta; Matrixx Initiatives Inc., of Phoenix; New River Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Radford, Va.; Novavax Inc., of Malvern, Pa.; Solexa Inc., of Hayward, Calif.; and Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Redwood City, Calif.

• Sirna Therapeutics Inc., of San Francisco, filed a shelf registration statement with the SEC relating to a proposed public offering of 10 million shares, 8 million of which would be sold by the company and 2 million sold by Oxford Bioscience Partners, The Sprout Group and Venrock Associates. Underwrites would be granted an overallotment option of 1.5 million shares. UBS Investment Bank and JP Morgan Securities Inc. are acting as joint book-running managers, while CIBC World Markets Corp.; Leerink Swann & Co.; and Brean Murray, Carret & Co. are co-managers. Sirna is developing RNAi-based therapies.