• Affibody AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, entered an agreement to allow the worldwide promotion and distribution of its research reagents by Abcam plc, of Cambridge, UK. Abcam noted that Affibody's new class of affinity ligands complement its existing range of antibodies, while Affibody said the deal widens its global sales channel. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Applied Biosystems, of Foster City, Calif., said at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research that it has entered a collaboration with the Core Genotyping Facility, SAIC-Frederick Inc., a contractor for the National Cancer Institute, on a series of biomarker studies for cancer research. The NCI-funded Core Genotyping Facility will use Applied Biosystems' TaqMan Drug Metabolism Genotyping Assay collection to examine genetic variations in the HapMap and SNP500Cancer samples in order to validate additional cancer biomarkers. Terms were not disclosed.

• Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, said the FDA accepted for filing its new drug application for Neurodex in involuntary emotional expression disorder (IEED), also known as pseudobulbar affect or emotional lability. In addition, the Neurodex NDA will receive priority review. Avanir expects the FDA will take action on the NDA by July 30.

• Biosite Inc., of San Diego, and Oxford Genome Sciences Ltd., of Oxford, UK, entered a collaboration for the evaluation of protein-based disease markers for colorectal cancer that could be used for the development of potential blood-based diagnostic products aimed at expanding personalized therapeutic options in the space, as opposed to fecal occult blood tests and colonoscopy. In the agreement, privately held Oxford Genome will identify at least 25 proteins discovered in blood and tissue samples from relapsing colorectal cancer patients, and Biosite will have the right to develop tests using one or more of those biomarkers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• BioWisdom Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, is paying up to €4 million (US$4.9 million) to acquire the bioinformatics business of LION bioscience AG, of Heidelberg, Germany. SRS product development, support and sales will remain in Cambridge, and LION's U.S.-based sales and support staff will continue to be located in the Boston area.

• Cempra Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Morrisville, N.C., said it licensed exclusive rights to discover, develop and commercialize drugs based on the class of compounds called macrolides and ketolides from Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego. Optimer will receive an undisclosed equity position in Cempra, as well as royalties and milestone payments from any drugs developed or co-developed by Cempra. The agreement includes several preclinical compounds that have been shown to possess potent activity against multidrug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes.

• Centocor Inc., of Horsham, Pa., said the supplemental biologics license application for Remicade (infliximab) for the treatment of pediatric Crohn's disease has been accepted and designated for priority review by the FDA. Centocor is seeking approval for the treatment of moderately to severely active pediatric Crohn's disease in patients who have had an inadequate response to conventional therapies. Remicade, in combination with methotrexate, already is approved in the U.S. for moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis.

• Evotec AG, of Hamburg, Germany, is partnering with the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center to enhance the potential for innovative drug discovery in southwest Ohio. The Computational Medicine Center - an Ohio Third Frontier-funded research collaboration between Cincinnati Children's and UC - has purchased Evotec's ultra-high throughput screening system, including cellular imaging technologies.

• ImClone Systems Inc., of New York, said an arbitrator has decided in favor of the company in a dispute with Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, over rights to develop and commercialize the IgG1 monoclonal antibody IMC-11F8. The decision, which cannot be appealed, leaves the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the drug outside the U.S. and Canada to ImClone. Commercial rights in the U.S., Canada and Japan fall within the scope of ImClone's commercial agreement with New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb & Co., regarding Erbitux. IMC-11F8 is in Phase I testing in Europe.

• Microbix Biosystems Inc., of Toronto, signed a worldwide exclusive agreement with Angiogen LLC, of Chicago, to commercialize a proprietary technology that has shown promise for treating prostate, colon and other human cancers. Angiogen is providing exclusive rights to its patented technology that uses urokinase in a cocktail containing an additional FDA approved small-chemical drug. Once inside the body, this Angiostatic Cocktail generates the anticancer agent Angiostatin 4.5 (AS4.5), which destroys specific blood vessels. Microbix manufactures low molecular weight urokinase and will be the exclusive supplier of the product for oncology indications.

• Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., of Costa Mesa, Calif., will restructure its operations to reduce costs and to focus its research and development resources on select late-stage pipeline products. The broad-based program is focused primarily on the company's research and development operations and selling, general and administrative expenses across all divisions. The company also announced that it expects to report approximate break-even adjusted earnings per share for the first quarter, excluding the impact of any restructuring charges, as a result of slightly lower than anticipated revenues that are consistent with historical trends, and higher selling and research and development expenses. The company reported a Phase III miss for its hepatitis C drug, Viramidine, last month.

• Zygogen LLC, of Atlanta, signed a nonexclusive UK sublicense agreement with DanioLabs Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, for the right to use Zygogen's transgenic Zebrafish (Z-Tag) technology for internal drug screening in the areas of neurological and ophthalmic diseases. Terms call for Zygogen to receive license and royalty payments. Specific terms were not disclosed.