• Advanced Life Sciences Holdings Inc., of Woodridge, Ill., completed its previously announced private placement of 10.2 million shares and warrants to purchase up to 5.1 million additional shares to new and existing investors for gross proceeds of about $36 million. The company expects to use these funds to advance its lead product, cethromycin, a ketolide antibiotic to treat respiratory tract infections that is in Phase III trials. (See BioWorld Today, March 1, 2006.)

• Celgene Corp., of Summit, N.J., said the FDA granted a priority review designation to its supplemental new drug application for Revlimid (lenalidomide) for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The PDUFA date is June 30. The company is seeking to market Revlimid in combination with dexamethasone, and the sNDA is based on two Phase III studies demonstrating a statistically significant time-to-disease-progression over placebo.

• DNAPrint Genomics Inc., of Sarasota, Fla., entered a research sponsorship agreement with the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences for the potential development of Ritalin-like compounds as possible medications for drug abuse, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression. These compounds are analogs of Ritalin, and are designed to take effect slowly but last longer than the existing ADHD drug.

• Generex Biotechnology Corp., of Toronto, concluded a positive pre-new drug submission meeting with the Regulatory Affairs Division of the Biologics and Genetic Therapeutics Directorate of Health Canada for Oral-lyn, its oral insulin spray for treating diabetes. The company expects that the submission, plus the April 2005 approval of Oral-lyn in Ecuador, will advance similar filings in the U.S. and Europe.