• CytoGenix Inc., of Houston, entered a supply agreement for GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Co., to provide DNA production reagents for use in the manufacture of vaccines and therapeutic compounds by CytoGenix. The company will be GE’s exclusive customer for reagents manufactured using CytoGenix’s synDNA cell-free production process. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Genta Inc., of Berkeley Heights, N.J., and Emisphere Technologies Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y., entered an exclusive, worldwide licensing agreement to develop an oral formulation of a gallium-containing compound for treating diseases associated with accelerated bone loss. Emisphere will use its eligen oral delivery technology to supply a finished oral dosage form, and Genta will be responsible for toxicology, clinical studies, regulatory submissions and commercialization. In addition to royalties on net sales, Genta agreed to fund Emisphere’s development activities and to pay performance milestones.

• Schering-Plough Corp., of Kenilworth, N.J., said the Therapeutic Goods Administration of the Department of Health and Aging in Australia revised the indication of Remicade (infliximab) to include the treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis, meaning patients are no longer required to be treated first with methotrexate alone before beginning Remicade therapy. The Australian agency also approved a new indication for psoriatic arthritis. Remicade was developed by Malvern, Pa.-based Centocor Inc., which licensed ex-U.S. rights to Schering.

• Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Inc., of Bethesda, Md., entered a new collaboration to accelerate clinical development of VX-770, an oral drug candidate to treat cystic fibrosis. As part of the agreement, CFFT will pay Vertex about $13.3 million in development support through the fourth quarter of 2007. Vertex anticipates starting clinical studies of the drug next quarter. In January, Vertex received $22 million from CFFT to extend an ongoing collaboration to discover corrector compounds for treating CF. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 13, 2006.)