• ActiveSight, of San Diego, signed an agreement with Novo Nordisk A/S, of Bagsvaerd, Denmark, to provide protein crystallography services. ActiveSight will co-crystallize Novo Nordisk molecules with proteins expressed by ActiveSight. Additional details of the agreement were not disclosed.

• Adherex Technologies Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., said data presented at the Pharmacology and Molecular Mechanisms Meeting of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer provided evidence that eniluracil can affect one of the critical enzymes involved in the anabolic pathway for 5-FU. The data were presented by Robert Diasio, of the University of Alabama School of Medicine.

• Amarin Corp. plc, of London, entered a purchase agreement with Tony Ryan for a private equity placement consisting of ordinary shares and warrants, resulting in gross proceeds of $2 million. Amarin will sell 800,000 shares at $2.50 each and issue warrants to purchase an additional 280,000 shares at an exercise price of $3.06.

• Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd., of Petach Tikva, Israel, submitted a draft protocol for a 250-patient Phase IIb study of CF101 in combination with methotrexate in treating rheumatoid arthritis. CF101 is an oral small molecule that showed activity in reducing RA disease symptoms in an earlier Phase II trial.

• CytRx Corp., of Los Angeles, submitted a protocol to the FDA for treating patients in an open-label extension of its ongoing Phase II trial with oral arimoclomol in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The company expects to provide all patients who complete the trial with the opportunity to receive arimoclomol at the highest dose level, three times daily for an additional six months. In the 80-patient, double-blind study, patients are receiving either placebo or one of three dose levels of arimoclomol capsules three times daily for 12 weeks.

• Genitope Corp., of Redwood City, Calif., plans to offer 4.5 million shares in an underwritten public offering through its shelf registration. The company intends to grant the underwriters an overallotment option for another 675,000 shares. Underwriters include WR Hambrecht + Co.; RBC Capital Markets; Brean Murray, Carret & Co. LLC; and Punk, Ziegel & Co.

• GlycoFi, of Lebanon, N.H., and Dartmouth College, produced monoclonal antibodies with human sugar structures in yeast, a first, they said. The research, published online Jan. 22, 2006, and in the February issue of Nature Biotechnology, demonstrated that antibodies with human sugar structures can be produced in glycol-engineered yeast cell lines, and that by controlling the sugar structures of antibodies, their therapeutic potency can be significantly improved.

• Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, said its Dyloject (diclofenac sodium injection) met the primary endpoint in a Phase IIb study, demonstrating a linear dose-response for pain relief over six hours, as measured on the Visual Analog Scale. Patients with moderate to severe pain after oral surgery given a single dose of either Dyloject or Ketorolac tromethamine experienced statistically significant pain relief compared to patients given placebo.

• Metabolic Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, said the low-dose Phase IIb trial of its obesity drug, AOD9604, is proceeding on schedule, with the last subject expected to begin treatment in April or May. The study, known as OPTIONS, is designed to evaluate the drug's efficacy following daily oral delivery at lower doses than previously tested. Treatment is expected to be completed on all subjects by January 2007.

• Migenix Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said it expects to start a combination therapy viral kinetics trial of celgosivir (MX-3253) plus interferon in hepatitis C virus patients early next quarter, with results expected in the second half of 2006. Celgosivir is an orally administered alpha glucosidase 1 inhibitor.

• Nuvelo Inc., of San Carlos, Calif., was granted fast-track designation by the FDA for its lead product candidate, alfimeprase, in acute peripheral arterial occlusion (PAO). Alfimeprase is in Phase III trails for acute PAO and catheter occlusion.

• Nymox Pharmaceutical Corp., of Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., reported that the independent data safety monitoring committee recommended continuation of the company's pivotal Phase II trial of NX-1207 for benign prostatic hyperplasia. In two earlier trials, NX-1207 demonstrated an average of more than 23 percent prostate shrinkage in one month with minimal side effects.

• Paul Royalty Fund, of New York, purchased a royalty interest in Rotarix from three researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Paul Royalty will receive a portion of the royalties that the researchers receive on worldwide product sales. In May 2005, Paul Royalty entered a separate agreement with Needham, Mass.-based Avant Immunotherapeutics Inc. to provide total financing of up to $61 million in exchange for a portion of Avant's royalties on the drug's sales. Rotarix, an oral vaccine developed to prevent rotavirus infection, initially was developed by researchers at CCHMC, then in-licensed in 1995 by Avant, which in turn licensed the vaccine to London-based GlaxoSmithKline plc in 1999. GSK has won approval for Rotarix in Mexico, and has received a positive opinion for approval in the European Union.

• ProMetic Life Sciences Inc., of Montreal, completed the second tranche of its $8.9 million convertible debt financing announced in December. The company issued secured convertible notes in the aggregate principal amount of $1.1 million, and warrants to purchase up to 2.1 subordinate voting shares in the capital of ProMetic. In total, the company has secured notes in the aggregate amount of about $11.2 million, and warrants to purchase up to 20.5 million voting shares. Proceeds will be used to implement ProMetic's reorganization plan during the first half of the year.

• QLT Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, reported a ruling in the ongoing litigation between plaintiff TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc., of Lake Forest, Ill., and its co-plaintiffs and defendants of QLT USA Inc., and Sanofi-Synthelabo Inc., a member of the Sanofi-Aventis Group, of Paris. On Friday, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division issued a decision denying defendants' defense that the 721 patent is unenforceable due to inequitable conduct by the patentees before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The litigation began in 2003, when TAP sued QLT USA and Sanofi-Synthelabo, alleging that QLT USA's Eligard product infringes TAP's patent No. 4,728,271.

• Santarus Inc., of San Diego, published three articles in peer-reviewed journals, which include information on the company's Zegerid powder for oral suspension, an immediate-release formulation of omeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor. In addition, the proceedings of a Santarus-sponsored roundtable were published in a supplement to a peer-reviewed gastroenterology journal.

• SciGene, of Sunnyvale, Calif., along with scientists from Stanford University said results of studies using the BriteSpot Microarray Workstation reveal that the effect of ozone can lead to errors identifying differentially expressed genes when arrays are processed in the presence of nominal levels of ozone within a laboratory. Results of the studies were presented at the LabAutomation 2006 conference in Palm Springs, Calif.

• Stratagene Corp., of La Jolla, Calif., said its PfuUltra II Fusion HS DNA Polymerase and Herculase II Fusion DNA Polymerase products are commercially available.

• Vion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New Haven, Conn., said the European Commission granted orphan designation to Cloretazine in acute myeloid leukemia. Cloretazine is a sulfonylhydrazine alkylating agent in a Phase III trial in combination with cytarabine in relapsed acute myelogenous leukemia. It also is in clinical trials as a single agent for acute myelogenous leukemia and high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome, adult and pediatric brain tumors, small-cell lung cancer and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and in combination with temozolomide in hematologic malignancies.