• Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, closed its previously announced acquisition of Lake Forest, Ill.-based American Medical Instruments Holdings Inc. for about $785 million in cash. Angiotech said the transaction provides it with global manufacturing, marketing and sales capabilities and enhances its ability to capitalize on its product pipeline in a range of therapeutic areas.

• Bayer AG, of Leverkusen, Germany, said it intends to make a takeover offer of €16.3 billion (US$19.6 billion) to the stockholders of Berlin-based Schering AG. The company is willing to pay €86 in cash for each Schering share or American depository share, representing a 39 percent premium to Schering’s share price prior to the hostile bid by Darmstadt, Germany-based Merck KGaA, and 12 percent above the $17.4 billion Merck offer. Bayer’s supervisory board has approved the proposed transaction, and Schering’s board said it intended to recommend acceptance by company stockholders. Merck pulled out of the bidding Friday.

• BioWa Inc., of Princeton, N.J., licensed its Potelligent technology to South San Francisco-based Genentech Inc. for use in research and developing select Genentech antibodies for potential therapeutic applications that might include enhancement of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. Under the terms, BioWa will provide Genentech exclusive commercial rights to use the technology, in exchange for access fees, plus milestones and royalties on any products developed and marketed by Genentech.

• Cephalon Inc., of Frazer, Pa., said the FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted not to recommend FDA approval of Sparlon (modafinil) tablets for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents. The committee voted unanimously that the drug is effective for its intended use, but advised the company to collect additional safety data. Sparlon is a new formulation and dosage strength of modafinil, the active ingredient in Provigil, marketed to treat excessive sleepiness in adult patients with sleep disorders. Following the decision, Cephalon reduced its 2006 sales guidance by $100 million to the $1.45 billion - $1.5 billion range but did not change its earnings per share guidance for 2006, which remains between $3.80 and $4. Shares of Cephalon (NASDAQ:CEPH) fell 13 percent Friday, losing $9.38 to close at $63.93.

• Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, agreed to acquire Accumin, a diagnostic for the direct measurement and quantitation of total, intact urinary albumin, from AusAm Biotechnologies Inc., of Santa Monica, Calif. Terms of the agreement, expected to close on or before April 5, call for Keryx to issue about 200,000 shares of its common stock and agree on a capped royalty arrangement for product sales. Accumin, which identifies abnormal levels of albumin in urine from kidney disease patients, is commercially available in the U.S. and Europe.

• Northfield Laboratories Inc., of Evanston, Ill., was named in a class-action lawsuit filed by the New York-based law firm of Schiffrin & Barroway LLP, on behalf of all who purchased the company’s common stock between Feb. 20, 2004, and Feb. 21, 2006. The complaint alleges the company failed to disclose and misrepresented material adverse facts related to the development of its PolyHeme blood substitute. News released Feb. 22, 2006, reported that 10 of the 81 patients who received the product suffered a heart attack within seven days, and two of those cases resulted in death. That news drove the company’s stock down from $12.23 to $10.54 over a three-day period. Shares (NASDAQ:NFLD) closed at $9.47 Friday, down 25 cents.

• Paion AG, of Aachen, Germany, initiated a new plasminogen activator program intended to serve as a long-term life cycle management tool for Desmoteplase, a plasminogen activator for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. The program also will investigate the new product as a mid-term option for indications not within the profile and development of Desmoteplase. Paion expects the lead compound from the program to enter neurotoxicity testing this year.

• Pharming Group NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, agreed to acquire the outstanding share capital of DNage BV, of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on aging diseases and cancer. The transaction, expected to be completed by the end of May, will call for Pharming to pay 4 million shares in several installments to existing DNage shareholders, in addition to 600,000 warrants, future milestone payments based on DNage-produce development, and royalties on future product sales. DNage’s lead product is in preclinical development for Cockayne disease.

• Serologicals Corp., of Atlanta, agreed to acquire Linco, a privately owned life science company based in St. Louis, for $64.5 million in cash for the business plus an additional $10.3 million for the land and buildings occupied by the unit. The addition of Linco, which consists of Linco Research Inc. and Linco Diagnostic Services Inc., is expected to strengthen Serologicals’ Luminex-based Multiplexing portfolio. The deal is expected to close in April.