• Acacia Research Corp., of Newport Beach, Calif., announced its CombiMatrix Group received a one-year contract from the U.S. Air Force for the development and production of microarrays to detect pathogens that cause upper respiratory infections and pathogens that infect wounds. The first array to be developed under the new contract would identify a number of upper respiratory infections.

• Acusphere Inc., of Watertown, Mass., closed its offering of about 3.6 million shares of its common stock for estimated net proceeds of about $17.5 million, after deducting fees and commissions and estimated offering expenses. Piper Jaffray & Co. acted as sole manager.

• Altus Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., announced positive results from its Phase I trial for ALTU-238, a long-acting crystalline formulation of recombinant human growth hormone that uses Altus' proprietary protein crystallization and formulation technology. In the trial, ALTU-238 showed no burse release and significantly extended time to reach maximum serum growth hormone concentration. Increases in serum IGF-1 levels with a single injection of ALTU-238 were comparable to those achieved in subjects receiving the same amount of growth hormone with seven daily injections of Nutropin AQ.

• Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, announced positive results from a European pivotal clinical study of Adhibit adhesion prevention gel for the reduction of surgery-induced scars following surgery to remove fibroids from the uterus. The incidence of patients who suffered from adhesions was 100 percent greater in the group receiving the current standard of care, compared to the group receiving Adhibit. Safety data also indicated fewer adverse events occurring with the Adhibit group than the control group.

• ArQule Inc., of Woburn, Mass., said in an update that it would focus on a corporate strategy of organic growth founded on a drug discovery capability combining strengths in biology and validated chemistry and its product portfolio that offers opportunities in cancer therapeutics. Also, it will exit its chemistry services business. The company's chemistry services contributed revenues of about $46 million and $49 million in 2005 and 2004, respectively, it said.

• AVI BioPharma Inc., of Portland, Ore., initiated an exploratory safety and efficacy clinical trial using its Neugene antisense compound AVI-4065. The study will assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and viral response to daily subcutaneous administration of AVI-4065 among healthy volunteers and patients with chronic active hepatitis C virus. It will include 80 subjects: 40 healthy adult volunteers in the first phase of the study and 40 patients with chronic active HCV in the second phase.

• Bioenvision Inc., of New York, announced positive interim results from its Phase II study of BIVN-401 in adults with refractory, chronic hepatitis C virus infection. At 50 days, a majority of the patients had shown a reduction in viral load of more than 70 percent. More than half of the patients had a clearance greater than 90 percent.

• CuraGen Corp., of Branford, Conn., said it expects to complete this week the enrollment of patients in the Phase II randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial evaluating a single dose of velafermin for the prevention of oral mucositis (OM) in cancer patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation. To date, more than 200 patients have been treated with velafermin in the trial, and the last patient is expected to be enrolled by the end of September. Velafermin is a growth factor that appears to promote both epithelial and mesenchymal cell proliferation in vitro and is active in animal models of OM, the company said.

• Cytori Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, said research results illustrated that human adipose-derived adult stem cells can differentiate into cells displaying the phenotype of nucleus pulposus cells. The nucleus pulposus, which forms the soft gel-like center of an intervertebral disc, is adversely affected in degenerative disc disease. The data were presented at the 20th annual North American Spine Society conference in Philadelphia.

• DiObex Inc., of San Francisco, said the FDA has granted fast-track status to Very Low Dose Glucagon (VLD-Glucagon) to prevent hypoglycemia associated with insulin intensification in Type I diabetes, for which there are no approved therapies. Preliminary data from its initial multicenter Phase I/II trial, completing enrollment in the U.S., demonstrated that VLD-Glucagon can prevent or delay the onset of hypoglycemia in the face of substantially increased doses of insulin in patients with Type I diabetes.

• Dynogen Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Waltham, Mass., initiated a Phase II proof-of-concept trial of DDP733 in patients with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome, and the first patients have been dosed. DDP733 is an oral, locally acting, prokinetic compound that has shown a favorable safety and efficacy profile in preclinical and clinical studies. The current trial is a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled study.

• Ecopia BioSciences Inc., of Montreal, said its discovery team increased the company's count of new chemical entities from 19 to 59. The NCEs were discovered by Ecopia's scientists in the 12-month period ended Sept. 28, using its Decipher technology.

• Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc., of Chadds Ford, Pa., said the FDA on Tuesday informed Endo's partner, Noven Pharmaceuticals Inc., that it will not approve Noven's pending abbreviated new drug application for its developmental transdermal fentanyl patch based on the FDA's assessment of potential safety concerns related to the higher drug content in the Noven product vs. the reference-listed product, Duragesic. As a result, Endo expects that it will incur a write-off, which will include about $5 million of its current transdermal fentanyl patch inventory and about $6 million, which represents the unamortized portion of the up-front license fee that Endo paid Noven in February 2004.

• Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, provided information on the pending re-examination of the Cabilly, et al. U.S. Patent No. 6,331,415 ( 415 patent), which was ordered by the U.S. Patent Office July 7. On Sept. 13, the U.S. Patent Office issued an initial action rejecting the claims of the 415, or Cabilly, patent. That action is a "routine and expected next step" in the re-examination procedure, Genentech said. Genentech plans to respond within 60 days from the mailing date of the action. The request for re-examination came from a third party filing on May 13. Genentech said a "final resolution" may take from several months to several years, and the patent remains valid and enforceable while the re-examination is pending. Jennifer Chao, analyst with Deutsche Bank, wrote in a report that "Cabilly is vulnerable and DNA shares will see increased volatility." She wrote that the office said "the 415 claims significantly and inappropriately extends, by more than 12 years, the right to exclude others from practicing technology for recombinant expression of chimeric immunoglobulins."

• Glycominds Ltd., of Thessaloniki, Greece, announced positive study results for its technology on multiple sclerosis patients. The technology has shown that it is possible to predict whether a patient will imminently develop an active form of MS after the first neurological event using a blood test. The test identified the 36 percent of patients who later suffered additional clinical events in the two-year period following their first symptoms.

• Illumina Inc., of San Diego, said it is collaborating with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, UK, and the Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium on the design of a custom Sentrix BeadChip that is designed to enable researchers to study the impact of those single nucleotide polymorphisms that cause amino acid changes on a range of disease samples.

• Inex Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, received notice yesterday that Stark Trading and Shepherd Investments International Ltd. filed a petition in the Supreme Court of British Columbia seeking to have Inex declared bankrupt and that a receiving order be made in respect of the property of Inex. Stark has asked for the petition to be heard Oct. 11. Stark is the majority holder of certain promissory notes issued by Inex International Holdings, a subsidiary of Inex. The promissory notes are not due until April 2007 and can be repaid in cash or in shares, at Inex's option, at maturity, Inex said. The company said it would "defend against these allegations vigorously." As of June 30, Inex had about $15.2 million in working capital.

• MedImmune Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., entered an agreement with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop investigational pandemic influenza vaccines. Under the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, MedImmune scientists will work with NIAID to produce and test versions of the company's attenuated, live intranasal influenza vaccine for use against different types of potential pandemic influenza strains, including one based on H5N1, a strain of avian influenza.

• Nanogen Inc., of San Diego, is selling 6.8 million shares of its common stock to institutional investors at $2.94 per share, plus 1 million warrants exercisable at $4 per share for five years. Nanogen will net about $18.9 million from the sale, which is being conducted through Nanogen's shelf registration statement filed in June. The sale was expected to close Wednesday. Nanogen plans to use proceeds for working capital, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes. Seven Hills Partners LLC is acting as lead placement agent to Nanogen. Stonegate Securities Inc. is acting as co-placement agent. Nanogen develops diagnostic products

• Nektar Therapeutics, of San Carlos, Calif., said the initial purchasers of the company's 3.25 percent convertible subordinated notes due in 2012 have exercised their option to purchase an additional $40 million worth of notes, increasing the total amount sold to $315 million. Nektar may use net proceeds to repurchase additional outstanding convertible subordinated notes from a limited number of purchasers, and for general corporate purposes.

• NeoRx Corp., of Seattle, received a letter from the Nasdaq Stock Market advising that the company has regained compliance with the Nasdaq SmallCap Market minimum bid price requirement by maintaining a closing bid price of $1 per share or greater for at least 10 consecutive trading days. NeoRx is a cancer therapeutics development company.

• Oncolytics Biotech Inc., of Calgary, Alberta, started patient enrollment in its U.S. trial investigating the systemic delivery of Reolysin as a treatment for patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors. The trial is an open-label, dose-escalation Phase I study. Reolysin is a formulation of the human reovirus as a potential cancer therapeutic.

• Osteologix Inc., of Copenhagen, Denmark, announced positive results from its completed Phase I trial of its NBS-101 compound to treat osteoporosis. NBS-101 showed bioequivalence to strontium ranelate at a dose substantially lower than the strontium ranelate product, which should allow for the administration of NBS-101 as a once-daily oral tablet. The study also provided evidence that NBS-101 had the dual effect of reducing degradation of bone while having a positive effect on bone formulation.

• Panacos Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Watertown, Mass., filed a preliminary prospectus supplement to its two shelf registration statements relating to a proposed underwritten public offering of 8 million shares of its common stock. The company expects to grant underwriters an overallotment option for an additional 1.2 million shares. SG Cowen & Co. LLC and Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. are acting as joint book runners for the offering, while Needham & Co. LLC and Leerink Swann & Co. are acting as co-managers.

• Procyon Biopharma Inc., of Montreal, completed the amended continuation of a Phase IIa trial to investigate the feasibility of administering its synthetic peptide PCK3145 once per week as opposed to three times per week in metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer patients. Two additional cohorts of four patients were treated either at 15 mg/m2 or 60 mg/m2 once a week, corresponding to the 5 mg/m2 and the 20 mg/m2 dose given three times a week in the original study. Results for the amendment further confirm the safety and tolerability of PCK3145, it said.

• Sepracor Inc., of Marlborough, Mass., presented results from its second six-month, Phase IIIb/IV study of Lunesta (eszopiclone) in adult patients with chronic insomnia at the American Neurological Association annual meeting in San Diego. The 828-patient, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating safety and efficacy of Lunesta also included a two-week discontinuation phase in which all patients were administered placebo. Nightly use of Lunesta 3 mg resulted in statistically significant improvement compared with placebo in patient-reported measures of sleep latency, sleep maintenance, total sleep time and sleep quality.

• Sonus Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bothell, Wash., initiated a pivotal Phase III trial of Tocosol Paclitaxel. The two-arm, randomized study is being conducted under a special protocol assessment that Sonus completed with the FDA in June. The trial will enroll about 800 women with metastatic breast cancer, who will receive either Tocosol Paclitaxel or Taxol on a weekly dosing schedule. The study's primary endpoint is objective response rate, and the new drug application would be submitted based on analyses of data for that endpoint. Secondary endpoints of progression-free survival and overall survival are included in the trial design, and patient follow-up for those endpoints will continue following NDA submission. The trial will be conducted at about 150 sites in North America, Western and Eastern Europe, South Africa and Israel. The Company is anticipating that patient enrollment in the trial will be completed during the summer of 2006. Tocosol Paclitaxel is a vitamin E-based emulsion formulation. (See BioWorld Today, July 11, 2005.)

• YM BioSciences Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, said updated data from a Phase II monotherapy trial of nimotuzumab in children with resistant or relapsed high-grade gliomas were reported at the 37th congress of The International Society of Pediatric Oncology in Vancouver, British Columbia. Nimotuzumab produced cytotoxic efficacy and evidence of survival benefit in children with heavily pretreated relapsed high-grade gliomas, especially those with diffuse, intrinsic pontine glioma.