• Advitech Inc., of Quebec, completed the treatment phase in its clinical trial of XP-828L, an orally administered growth factor complex treatment for mild to moderate psoriasis. The main objective was to evaluate the product's efficacy and safety, and Advitech expects to release data July 5.

• American Pharmaceutical Partners Inc., of Schaumburg, Ill., said that a new drug submission for Abraxane was filed with the Therapeutic Products Directorate of Health Canada. The submission seeks Health Canada's approval to market Abraxane in Canada for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

• Avantogen Ltd., of Sydney, Australia, said Endocyte Inc., of West Lafayette, Ind., will pay its first milestone payment to the company for Avantogen's submission of a drug master file to the FDA for its vaccine adjuvant GPI-0100. Avantogen reported the submission on April 7 in Australia. Endocyte is Avantogen's partner and licensee for the use of GPI-0100 in an immunotherapy for kidney cancer.

• Biopure Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., received notification from the Nasdaq Stock Market that it has regained compliance with the $1 minimum bid price requirement for continued listing on the exchange. The company, which is developing Hemopure for cardiovascular ischemia, had a closing stock (NASDAQ:BPURD) price Wednesday of $1.53, down 3 cents.

• Borean Pharma A/S, of Aarhus, Denmark, raised a total of €5.5 million (US$6.7 million) in a Series A private equity financing, including the most recent €1.5 million from new investor ABN Amro. Sander van Deventer, of ABN Amro, will join the company's board. Borean develops compounds and antibody analogues that can be produced in E. coli.

• CardioVascular BioTherapeutics Inc., of Henderson, Nev., said its Phase I trial results to date show that CVBT's drug candidate Cardio Vascu-Grow appears to be safe and well tolerated as a treatment for coronary heart disease.

• CeMines Inc., of Golden, Colo., said new data confirmed the sensitivity and specificity of its CellCorrect LAb detection kit designed to diagnose lung cancer. The data also showed the presence of diagnostically informative autoantibodies in the blood of breast, colon and stomach cancer patients.

• Cephalon Inc., of Frazer, Pa., completed its previously announced acquisition of all the outstanding stock of San Diego-based Salmedix Inc., and will update its 2005 guidance if needed when it releases second-quarter earnings in August. Cephalon said last month it was buying out Salmedix for $160 million in cash and taking on $40 million in milestone payments. Salmedix, which developed investigational cancer drugs, now is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cephalon.

• Codexis Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., signed an agreement with Matrix Laboratories Ltd., near Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, India, a provider of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) to the global pharmaceutical industry, for the development and commercialization of API for a pharmaceutical product.

• Compound Therapeutics Inc., of Waltham, Mass., said that John Mendlein was appointed CEO to accelerate the development of its oncology product pipeline based on a new class of pharmaceuticals, AdNectins. Prior to joining Compound, Mendlein was chairman and CEO of Affinium Pharmaceuticals, where he remains chairman.

• DOR BioPharma Inc., of Miami, announced positive interim results from its ongoing Phase I trial of RiVax, a vaccine against ricin toxin. Early results demonstrate that the vaccine is safe and immunogenic. Volunteers developed antibodies after immunization with three monthly injections of vaccine. RiVax is a form of ricin that consists of a fragment of the toxin that has proved to be nontoxic but retains the capacity to elicit protective immunity.

• Duska Therapeutics Inc., of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., acquired the exclusive rights to P2 receptor-based technology aimed at the development of a therapeutic to treat glaucoma. Scientists in Europe, who licensed the technology to Duska, have demonstrated in an animal glaucoma model in vivo that increased intraocular pressure leads to the release of adenosine 5'-triphosphate into the extracellular space in the eye, as well as up-regulation of the P2X7 receptor and its activation by ATP.

• Fabre-Kramer Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Houston, said it is reacquiring from NV Organon, of Oss, the Netherlands, a unit of Akzo Nobel, all rights related to Gepirone ER, a once-daily product in development to treat depression. Under the agreement, Organon is returning all related rights, including sponsorship of the new drug application, which was determined by the FDA in June 2004 as not approvable. Fabre-Kramer is assuming certain obligations for ongoing pediatric trials, and will provide Organon milestone payments in the event of an FDA approval.

• Genzyme Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., and Bone Care International Inc., of Madison, Wis., said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission granted early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 with respect to the proposed merger of the companies. Genzyme and Bone Care signed a definitive agreement in early May in which Genzyme will acquire Bone Care in an all-cash transaction valued at $33 per fully diluted share, or $600 million. The transaction is subject to approval by Bone Care's shareholders at a June 30 meeting. (See BioWorld Today, May 5, 2005.)

• GlycoGenesys Inc., of Boston, said a London professor revealed how GCS-100 targets cells from chronic lymphocytic lymphoma patients and a variety of lymphoma cell lines to induce cell death. GCS-100 appears to bind to galectin-3, believed to be overexpressed in lymphomas and solid-tumor cancers. The findings were presented at the International Conference on Malignant Myeloma in Lugano, Switzerland.

• Immunomedics Inc., of Morris Plains, N.J., plans to appeal a Nasdaq decision that the company violated rules in connection with its financing that closed in April. The appeal temporarily will prevent a delisting. Also, the company will try to amend the terms of the notes and the warrants issued in the financing, in order to regain compliance with Nasdaq rules. Immunomedics raised $36 million in April by issuing 5 percent senior convertible notes due 2008 and common stock warrants.

• Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., said results from a pilot Phase II study of Sanctura XR, the once-daily formulation of Sanctura, exhibited similar efficacy to previous results of the marketed version that is administered twice per day. Sanctura XR also was found to improve all of the symptoms and signs of overactive bladder compared to placebo. Indevus is planning a Phase III program this summer and expects to submit a new drug application during the second half of next year.

• Inimex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, completed key research and development milestones ahead of schedule, triggering the release of C$4 million (US$3.2 million) in funds from Series A investors. The company is developing first-in-class products that selectively modulate the innate immune response. It first will target pneumonia. Last year, it announced a C$8 million Series A venture financing.

• Invitrogen Corp., of Carlsbad, Calif., priced a $325 million senior convertible notes offering to qualified institutional buyers. The 3.25 percent notes are due in 2025, and the initial purchasers have an overallotment option for up to an additional $25 million in notes. Invitrogen plans to use proceeds to pay off about $124 million borrowed from Bank of America N.A., and for potential acquisitions and general corporate purposes.

• Kalypsys Inc., of San Diego, and The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., entered an agreement in which Scripps will access Kalypsys' ultra-high-throughput screening technologies as a key enablement for the newly created Scripps site in Florida.

• Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Jamaica Plain, Mass., and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said they have developed a human monoclonal antibody that is designed to neutralize multiple variants of the rabies virus. The findings could lead to a more cost-effective method of producing a biologic.

• MPM BioEquities Advisor LLC, of South San Francisco, said it is voting its 1.1 million shares against the proposed acquisition of Corixa Corp., of Seattle, by London-based GlaxoSmithKline plc. MPM has informed Corixa of its belief that the company's shareholders are not receiving a fair value from the proposed acquisition. The proxy vote on the merger proposal, in which GSK has offered to pay Corixa $300 million in cash, or $4.40 per share, is set for July 12. (See BioWorld Today, May 3, 2005.)

• Napo Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, said it has granted AsiaPharm Group Ltd., of Singapore, an exclusive license to develop and commercialize products derived from crofelemer in China. Crofelemer targets gastrointestinal indications and is in advanced development in the U.S. to treat AIDS-related diarrhea and diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome. Under the agreement, AsiaPharm will contribute process development, manufacturing and pediatric formulation expertise, and has made an equity investment in Napo. AsiaPharm also will make royalty payments from sales of crofelemer-derived products in China.

• Novasite Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, acquired PsycheNomics Inc., a drug discovery company focused on central nervous system diseases. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition provides Novasite with CNS drug leads that will complement the company's existing pipeline and its core structure-function analysis and single-cell screening technologies. James Hauske, founder of PsycheNomics, will join Novasite as executive vice president of drug discovery.

• Palatin Technologies Inc., of Cranbury, N.J., and Mallinckrodt Inc., of St. Louis, said they have extended their marketing agreement for Palatin's infection imaging agent, NeutroSpec, to include exclusive marketing and distribution rights in Europe. The original agreement granted Mallinckrodt an exclusive license to sell NeutroSpec worldwide, excluding Europe.

• ProImmune Ltd., of Oxford, UK, donated reagents based on its Pro5 MHC (major histocompatability complex) Pentamer technology to researchers at the MRC Human Immunology Unit in Oxford for an HIV vaccine development program. ProImmune's technology is designed to detect and separate T cells from blood samples, according to the specific disease cells they recognize, to track immune system responses.

• Protein Sciences Corp., of Meriden, Conn., said preliminary results of its first field efficacy study of FluBlOk, an influenza vaccine produced in insect cells without live viruses, eggs or preservatives such as thimerosa, showed that the drug met its primary endpoint by demonstrating safety and by inducing titers against influenza in all vaccinated subjects that correlate with protection. FluBlOk was shown to be more than 85 percent efficacious against culture-positive influenza illness, which was statistically significant compared to placebo.

• Sigma, a division of Sigma-Aldrich, of St. Louis, launched a new and improved version of the Anti-Flag M2 Affinity Purified Antibody.

• Symbollon Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Framingham, Mass., and Bioaccelerate Holdings Inc., of New York, started enrolling patients in the first Phase III pivotal trial of IoGen, an oral dosage form of Symbollon's iodine technology, in patients with moderate to severe periodic breast pain associated with symptomatic fibrocystic breast disease. The study will evaluate the clinical effects of IoGen vs. placebo in about 175 women. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 23, 2004.)

• The Medicines Co., of Parsippany, N.J., said the FDA has approved new prescribing information for Angiomax (bivalirudin). The expanded label now includes patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention in addition to those undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. The company has an additional supplemental new drug application filed with the FDA for the use of Angiomax in patients with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and thrombosis syndrome.

• Tioga Pharmaceuticals, of San Diego, announced its formation and Series A financing by Forward Ventures, of San Diego. Tioga has been formed to develop asimadoline, a small molecule discovered and developed by Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, for the treatment of pain in irritable bowel syndrome and other gastrointestinal diseases. Tioga has acquired all rights to asimadoline from Merck and will be raising additional funds to conduct Phase IIb efficacy trials.

• Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said the underwriters have exercised in full their overallotment option to purchase about 1.8 million shares of common stock at $13 per share, for additional gross proceeds of $22.9 million. In total, the company has raised $175.7 million through the sale of 13.5 million shares. The underwriters included Merrill Lynch & Co., JPMorgan Securities Inc. and UBS Securities LLC. (See BioWorld Today, June 9, 2005.)

• YM BioSciences Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, said its subsidiary, CIMYM Inc., partnered with Kuhnil Pharmaceutical Co., of Seoul, South Korea, to expand the development program for nimotuzumab (TheraCIM-hR3), its monoclonal antibody against the EGF receptor for certain patients with non-small-cell lung cancer. Kuhnil expects to file an investigational new drug application in Korea this year for a Phase II study in NSCLC patients who are unfit for chemotherapy, and CIMYM expects to file in Canada and elsewhere for additional studies of the drug.