• Advanced Magnetics Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., closed a second registered direct sale of common stock and warrant units to affiliates of Vivo Ventures LLC, of Palo Alto, Calif. Each unit, priced at $47.50, comprised five shares of common stock and a warrant to purchase one share. The company sold a total of 347,370 shares, and issued warrants to purchase 69,474 shares. Net proceeds, in addition to an earlier $13 million offering, will total about $16.7 million. Advanced Magnetics develops superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, as well as technology to develop therapeutic iron compounds and imaging agents.

• Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, executed a license agreement with Histogenics Corp., of Malden, Pa., for the use of Angiotech's biomaterial ChondroGEL in cartilage, ligament, meniscus and tendon repair including related osteochrondal defects. Angiotech will receive warrants to purchase Histogenics shares, retains all drug-loaded rights to ChondroGEL and will share any revenue from sales of products developed by Histogenics using ChondroGEL. Angiotech also entered an agreement with Broncus Technologies Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., allowing the latter to use Angiotech's paclitaxel technology with its Exhale system to treat emphysema. Broncus received a worldwide nonexclusive license for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-related disorders. Warrants for Broncus' preferred stock will cover up-front and milestone payments, with a royalty on sales of eligible products.

• Biogen Idec Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland, saw their stocks fall Thursday following reports of a possible fourth case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) linked to Tysabri, the multiple sclerosis product pulled off the market in February after the companies reported deaths linked to PML. A third PML case was reported in March. Shares of Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) lost $1.70 to close at $38.07, while shares of Elan (NYSE:ELN) fell 14.3 percent, losing $1.14 to close at $6.85.

• CardioVascular BioTherapeutics Inc., of Henderson, Nev., said its preclinical animal studies yielded positive evidence for minimizing the stroke-affected area in the brain using the company's drug candidate, Cardio VascuGrow, compared to control groups. Treated animals had significantly less neurological defects as assessed by several behavioral tests.

• Celladon Corp., of La Jolla, Calif., said its collaborators presented successful results of heart failure trials conducted in large animal models using Celladon's therapeutic agents targeting the sarcoplasmic reticulum ATPase2a pump. The SERCA2a pump is a central control point for progression of heart failure, and treatments targeting that pathway basically reversed the deterioration in cardiac function in experimental models, Celladon said.

• Cephalon Inc., of Frazer, Pa., priced its public offering of $800 million in aggregate principal amount of 2 percent convertible senior subordinated notes due 2015. The notes are convertible prior to maturity into cash and shares of common stock at a conversion price of $46.70 per share. Cephalon also granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase an additional $120 million principal amount to cover overallotments. Following the offering, the company intends to purchase all of its outstanding 2.5 percent convertible notes due 2006 at a price of 97.5 percent of the principal amount. Cephalon said it expects to use any remaining proceeds to repay or repurchase other outstanding indebtedness or for working capital and other corporate purposes.

• Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., and the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium initiated a Phase I trial of CHIR-258 in multiple myeloma. CHIR-258 is an orally available kinase inhibitor designed to inhibit receptors in the fibroblast growth factor pathway, as well as the vascular endothelial growth factor and platelet-derived growth factor. Chiron has two other ongoing trials of the product in solid tumors and acute myelogenous leukemia.

• Cytochroma Inc., of Markham, Ontario, said results from a Phase Ia study for CTA018, a novel vitamin D analogue developed for psoriasis, indicated that three doses appeared to reduce the severity of psoriatic plaques with no local tolerability concerns. The study involved 17 healthy subjects with mild to moderate plaque psoriasis and was designed to characterize the local efficacy and safety of three concentrations of CTA018. The company is concluding a Phase Ib study to assess the drug's systemic safety and pharmacokinetics.

• Exiqon A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, completed a third funding round, raising $20 million, which is earmarked for developing its pipeline, for increasing sales and marketing capacities and for repaying loans. The investors included Teknoinvest, of Norway, as lead investor and Scandinavian Life Science Venture, Nobel Group, LD Pensions, BioFund and Danske Bank, all of which participated in the previous round of financing. To date, the firm has raised $37 million.

• Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Suffern, N.Y., submitted an investigational new drug application to initiate clinical trials on a new transdermal product developed by Ferring and Vyteris Holdings (Nevada) Inc., of Fair Lawn, N.J., to treat female infertility. In September, Vyteris and Ferring entered a license and development agreement and a supply agreement for a product that uses an FDA-approved hormone to induce ovulation in women with ovulation disorders. The product uses Vyteris' Actyve transdermal drug delivery technology.

• Geneva Bioinformatics (GeneBio) SA, of Geneva, entered an agreement with Hitachi Software Engineering Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, to distribute GeneBio's Phenyx software platform within the Japanese market. The agreement allows GeneBio to further solidify its business relationship with Hitachi Software.

• Genmab A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, said in laboratory experiments HuMax-CD20, among other things, appeared to induce more effective killing of targets expressing low levels of CD20 than rituximab. When low levels of CD20 are present on tumor targets, rituximab (Rituxan, Genentech Inc.) does not appear effective in killing the tumor cells. However, HuMax-CD20 is effective when CD20 is expressed at both high and very low levels.

• GPC Biotech AG, of Martinsried, Germany, said that the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products of the European Medicines Agency has recommended the granting of orphan medicinal product designation for the anticancer monoclonal antibody 1D09C3 for the treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma.

• Hawaii Biotech Inc., of Honolulu, launched a vaccine program designed to protect native Hawaiian bird species from the West Nile virus. More than 300 bird species have been affected by West Nile virus since the mosquito-borne disease hit the U.S. in 1999.

• Helix BioPharma Corp., of Aurora, Ontario, opened two additional German sites for its Phase II trial of topical interferon alpha-2b, and expects to immediately begin enrolling patients. The study, which began in November, is designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of topical interferon alpha-2b in women with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions that are positive for papillomavirus infection.

• Iconix Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., completed a study for Scios Inc., of Fremont, Calif. Scios provided Iconix with tissue samples from experiments, and Iconix used its DrugMatrix and DrugSignature technologies to generate a detailed understanding of the compounds' biological properties.

• Inspire Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Durham, N.C., submitted an amendment to its new drug application for diquafosol tetrasodium to treat dry eye disease. A formulation of dinucleotide discovered by Inspire scientists, it functions as an agonist at the P2Y2 receptor, stimulating release of natural tear components. Inspire previously filed an NDA in June 2003 and received an approvable letter from the FDA in December of that year. The amendment includes analyses of ocular surface staining, including corneal and conjunctival staining. Separately, Inspire said results from a Phase I trial of INS50589 Antiplatelet demonstrated no drug-related serious adverse events and that the drug was well tolerated. Inspire said the data also showed rapid onset of platelet aggregation inhibition during intravenous infusion, robust pharmacological activity and rapid onset of activity on discontinuation of the infusion.

• Introgen Therapeutics Inc., of Austin, Texas, said Phase II and Phase III data of Advexin and INGN 225, respectively, were presented in St. Louis at the 8th annual meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy. The data emphasize the potential application of Advexin as a monotherapy and in combination with other therapies to treat numerous cancers. Clinical data of INGN 225 further demonstrated the use of p53-based targets combined with standard therapies in developing novel cancer treatments.

• Manhattan Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, said that positive preclinical data on Oleoyl-estrone, its lead product, will be presented at the 14th European Congress on Obesity June 1-4 in Athens, Greece. Oleoyl-estrone is believed to be a signaling molecule that acts on the hypothalamus to communicate satiety.

• Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, of Boca Raton, Fla., opened its new vaccine manufacturing facility in Boca Raton for the production of StaphVAX (Staphylococcus aureus polysaccharide conjugate vaccine) to meet global demand. StaphVAX is in Phase III development to prevent S. aureus infections in end-stage renal disease patients.

• Neurion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Pasadena, Calif., was awarded a $500,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to support its ongoing development of anxiety drugs. Neurion said its GABA(A) research program is focused on the GABA(A)-alpha2 receptor subtype associated with anxiety but without affecting memory or causing sedation. The award will fund commercialization of the company's technology that enables the understanding of molecular interactions that define drug selectivity.

• New River Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Radford, Va., provided an update on its pipeline at the Friedman Billings Ramsey 9th Annual Growth Investor Conference. The presentation included results from preclinical testing on New River's second compound under development, NRP290, a hydrocodone derivative for the treatment of pain. The data showed that the bioavailability of hydrocodone and hydromorphone levels of NRP290 when taken orally was comparable to hydrocodone bitartrate in dogs, but that there was reduced bioavailability of hydrocodone and hydromorphone at increasing doses of NRP290 when take orally.

• Phylogica Ltd., of West Perth, Australia, said it discovered compounds that protect brain cells under simulated stroke conditions. It said it found a number of its proprietary phylomers were able to rescue the cells from death. Phylomers are small fragments of protein.

• Sangamo BioSciences Inc., of Richmond, Calif., said company research published in the June 2, 2005, issue of Nature showed advancement in the ability to specifically and efficiently modify the human genome and provides a foundation for potential therapeutic approaches to a variety of genetic and infectious diseases. The data demonstrated the use of the company's zinc finger DNA-binding technology to correct a disease-causing gene in primary human cells. In the study, Sangamo scientists showed the use of engineered zinc finger nucleases to correct errors in the DNA sequence of the IL2R-gamma gene that causes X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency disease. Gene correction was site specific and eliminated the need for integration of any foreign DNA sequence, Sangamo said.

• Targeted Genetics Corp., of Seattle, said its academic collaborators presented results of preclinical studies of adeno-associated virus vectors in models of Huntington's disease and for expression of large proteins at the 8th annual meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy in St. Louis. Results demonstrated that RNA interference therapy might have a beneficial impact on the symptoms and progression of Huntington's disease. Another study demonstrated that AAV vectors might be optimized based on the size of the delivered gene. The company's stock (NASDAQ:TGEN) rose 10.3 percent Thursday, or 8 cents, to close at 86 cents.

• Vaso Active Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Danvers, Mass., entered a memorandum of understanding concerning a settlement of a pending consolidated securities class-action lawsuit. Under the terms, the company will pay into escrow $1.1 million in cash and $750,000 in two-year 5 percent subordinated callable notes convertible at $1.75 per share. The settlement needs court approval. The suit was filed in April 2004 claiming Vaso Active's officers and directors issued false and misleading statements concerning core products.