• Acambis plc, of Cambridge, UK, announced results of a Phase I trial of its modified vaccinia Ankara smallpox vaccine, MVA3000, in 88 healthy adults who had not been vaccinated against smallpox previously. A comparator group of 22 subjects were given placebo. In subjects vaccinated at the highest dose level, 97 percent produced antibodies after two doses. MVA3000 is designed for immunizing people who are immunocompromised and cannot be given the full strength vaccine.

• Alimentary Health Ltd., of Cork, Ireland, entered an exclusive research, development and cross-licensing agreement with Mead Johnson, a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., of New York, covering nutritional applications of novel ingredient technologies for infants and children. The companies will contribute intellectual property and will jointly fund development programs.

• Althea Technologies Inc., of San Diego, was awarded a contract from Lorantis Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, to manufacture the protein component of HepVax, a hepatitis B therapeutic vaccine. Althea will produce the material in the company's cGMP manufacturing facilities in San Diego. Althea will provide development and manufacturing services to Lorantis.

• Antisense Pharma GmbH, of Regensburg, Germany, completed patient recruitment for the Phase IIb trial of its TGF-beta2 antisense inhibitor, AP 12009, in high-grade glioma. More than 140 patients with anaplastic astrocytoma or glioblastoma have been included in the study. AP 12009 is being given after recurrence, and the treatment is compared to standard-of-care chemotherapy with either temozolomide or PCV. The drug also is in trials for the systemic treatment of patients with pancreatic carcinoma and malignant melanoma.

• Arysta LifeScience Corp., of Tokyo, and Bayer CropScience, of Monheim, Germany, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, reported agreements that represent a further expansion of their existing cooperation. Arysta will acquire amitraz, a broad-spectrum acaricide and selective insecticide sold under the name Mitac from Bayer CropScience, for global distribution. Arysta also will be granted an exclusive license for marketing fluoxastrobin, a Bayer CropScience fungicide, for crop uses in the U.S., Canada and Japan, as well as an exclusive license for marketing the compound globally for non-crop uses.

• BioVex Ltd., of Oxford, UK, treated the first patient in its Phase I/II trial of ImmunoVEXtrimelan in malignant melanoma. The study is designed to evaluate the vaccine in 50 patients, with initial results expected during the first half of 2006. ImmunoVEXtrimelan is the first cancer vaccine to enter the clinic from BioVex's ImmunoVEX platform.

• Biovitrum AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, said shareholders have made the formal decision required to complete the acquisition of Cambridge Biotechnology Ltd., of Cambridge, UK. CBT currently focuses on obesity, pain and inflammation.

• Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, reported results from its Ebola vaccine studies conducted with the Vaccine Research Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Army Institute of Infectious Diseases. Data confirmed previously published studies showing that a dose of the vaccine protected monkeys against Ebola. The new results used vectors developed with Crucell's adenoviral vector and PER.C6 cell line technology.

• Cytopia Pty. Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, received approval from Australian regulatory officials to begin testing its cancer drug CYT997 in up to 30 patients with advanced, incurable solid tumors. The primary goals are to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the drug, assess its behavior in vivo and to establish a safe dosing level for Phase II trials.

• Diversa Corp., of San Diego, is collaborating with BITeomics (Bio Integration Technology Inc.), of Dalian, China, to identify and assess opportunities for Diversa's enzyme products within the Chinese oil and gas industry. One of the opportunities being explored is the use of Diversa's heat tolerant Pyrolase enzymes for hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

• DxS Ltd., of Manchester, UK, said AstraZeneca plc, of London, validated DxS' Scorpions rapid genotyping technology in the analysis of mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor gene (EGFR). Mutations in the tyrosine kinase domain of EGFR may explain variations in response to AstraZeneca's Iressa in non-small cell lung cancer.

• Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Houston, signed new agreements with Revotar Biopharmaceuticals AG, of Brandenburg, Germany, regarding bimosiamose and certain follow-on compounds. Encysive will reduce its ownership in Revotar to about 14 percent, and will license to Revotar the worldwide rights to bimosiamose and receive royalties on future revenues. Encysive has agreed to cancel an outstanding loan and accrued interest of about $3.7 million owed by Revotar. Bimosiamose has been studied in asthma, psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.

• GPC Biotech AG, of Martinsried, Germany, and Ingenium Pharmaceuticals AG, of Munich, Germany, received a grant totaling €2.2 million (US$2.9 million) in committed funding from the German Ministry for Education and Research through its BioChancePLUS program. The companies will split the grant evenly through 2007. The funding will support collaborative drug discovery efforts to establish proof of concept for the activity of specific kinase inhibitors in animal models covering several diseases areas.

• Imperial College London raised £20 million (US$37.9 million) in a private placement with institutional investors to fund its technology transfer arm, Imperial Innovations. Imperial College retains a 71 percent stake in Imperial Innovations, which has a 15-year exclusive agreement to commercialize the college's research.

• Inte:Ligand GmbH, of Vienna, Austria, and Molecular Networks, of Erlangen, Germany, announced the integration of the Corina software for the generation of 3-dimensional molecular models into Ilib Diverse, the virtual compound library generation platform of Inte:Ligand. The companies also announced their intention to share complementary technology.

• IntegraGen SA, of Paris, will be part of an EU consortium, EuroHear, which has been awarded €12.5 million (US$16.2 million) to research hearing impairments. IntegraGen's role will be to identify genes that predispose individuals to presbycusis, the most common form of inherited hearing impairment, and the company intends to apply its GenomeHIP technology as part of genome-wide linkage studies.

• Metabolex Inc., of Hayward, Calif., extended its multiyear research collaboration with Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc. (formerly Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.) to validate drug targets with the goal of advancing candidates into development for Type II diabetes and obesity. Under the one-year extension, Metabolex will receive research funding and screening and development milestones from Astellas. The companies initiated the research collaboration in late March 2002. Metabolex retains co-promotion rights in North and South America and could receive royalties on sales of any products that emerge.

• Micromet AG, of Munich, Germany, started a Phase I trial to test the combination of its antibody MT201 with Taxotere (docetaxel) in patients suffering from relapsed or primary refractory breast cancer. The antibody also is in two Phase II monotherapy studies for prostate cancer and metastatic breast cancer.

• Microsens, of London, said partner Idexx Laboratories Inc., of Westbrook, Maine, received European Commission approval for its bovine spongiform encephalopathy postmortem test, which is based on Seprion's technology.

• Mologen AG, of Berlin, placed a new stock offering of 600,000 shares with institutional investors. The sale brought the company about €2.2 million (US$2.8 million) in cash proceeds. Mologen is developing DNA-based vaccines and therapies.

• MorphoSys AG, of Munich, Germany, reported results from its MOR102 antibody for chronic inflammatory diseases. A preclinical study on the effectiveness of MOR102 against psoriasis in animal models designed to compare it with already approved biologics did not show any statistically significant difference between compound-mediated effects and spontaneous healing observed in the negative control group.

• Neose Technologies Inc., of Horsham, Pa., and BioGeneriX AG, of Mannheim, Germany, entered a research, license and option agreement to use Neose's GlycoPEGylation technology to develop a long-acting, next-generation version of a marketed therapeutic protein. Neose will receive further up-front and research payments, and could receive milestone payments totaling up to $61.5 million, as well as royalties. Earlier this year, the companies announced a supply and option agreement for the protein.

• Neurotech SA, of Paris, reported positive results from an open-label Phase I trial of its lead product, NT-501, at the 77th annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. NT-501 uses Neurotech's encapsulated cell technology as a device to deliver ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) to eyes of visually impaired patients with retinitis pigmentosa. Results confirm that CNTF can be safely delivered into the vitreous of patients with RP and that the ECT device was well tolerated by patients.

• NsGene A/S, of Ballerup, Denmark, raised DKK30 million (US$5.2 million) in new funding from a consortium of Danish and Swedish investors. The cash, together with European Commission research grants, will allow it to move preclinical programs in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease into Phase I/II trials over the next 18 months. NeuroSearch A/S, also of Ballerup, which spun out NsGene in 1999, contributed DKK8.1 million of the total and has slightly raised its stake, from 25 percent to 25.3 percent.

• OpGen Inc., of Madison, Wis., signed an exclusive distribution agreement with the Japanese company M&S Instruments Inc. The agreement will provide Japan's life sciences researchers with access to Optical Mapping, OpGen's whole-genome analysis system. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Peplin Ltd., of Brisbane, Australia, said the results of research in anti-leukemia properties of Peplin's lead compound, PEP005, were published in Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology. The company said that the paper postulates a mechanism of action via the activation of the delta isoform of protein kinase C, which could provide a biomarker for a test to identify patients who could benefit from that therapy.

• Pharmagene plc, of Royston, UK, said it stopped clinical development of PGN1164, the lead compound in its irritable bowel syndrome program, after preliminary data in the Phase I study showed variable pharmacokinetics in man. The company said it has other compounds and remains in discussions to partner the program.

• Pharming Group NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, reported clinical results from Phase II/III studies with recombinant human C1 inhibitor for the treatment of hereditary angioedema. Patients treated with rhC1INH showed a three-minute median time to beginning of relief and a four-hour median time to resolution. Time to beginning of relief was between 15 minutes to two hours, and time to resolution was between one hour and 24 hours in treated patients.

• ProStrakan Group plc, of Galashiels, UK, acquired APS Pharma GmbH, of Munich, Germany, for €2.7 million (US$3.5 million). The company is expanding its pharmaceutical marketing arm to support R&D programs in bone biology, hormonal disorders and steroid chemistry.

• Protemix Corp., of Auckland, New Zealand, said a study published in Diabetes showed that abnormal levels of oxidized copper accumulate in people with Type II diabetes, which it said should be eliminated to reduce the incidence of heart disease. Trientine, developed by Protemix as Laszarin, extracts oxidized copper, which then is excreted in the patient's urine.

• Qiagen NV, of Venlo, the Netherlands, and Epigenomics AG, of Berlin, entered a collaboration to jointly develop and introduce a pre-analytical solution portfolio for DNA methylation analysis. The portfolio is expected to provide validated pre-analytical solutions for use in preclinical research and be compatible to in vitro diagnostics.

• SkyePharma plc, of London, entered an amendment agreement with GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London, regarding Paxil. GSK will make a one-time payment of about $10 million. In addition, SkyePharma also will be entitled to an increase in the royalty rate from 3 percent to 4 percent on actual net sales of Paxil CR, with effect from March 4. Since GSK has been unable to supply Paxil in the U.S. since that time, GSK also agreed to pay SkyePharma the same level of royalty on GSK's budgeted sales of Paxil CR from March 4 while the product remains off the market, subject to other terms of the agreement. In March 1996, SkyePharma entered a license agreement with SmithKline Beecham, now part of GSK, for the development, manufacture and marketing of a modified-release version of Paxil.

• WITA GmbH, of Teltow, Germany, will expand its collaboration with Tokyo-based SC Biosciences Corp. for SCBC to distribute WITA's proteomics technologies in Japan. The collaboration covers the marketing of systems for high-resolution 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and includes the provision of quality-tested chemicals, training programs and other proteomics-centered services. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Xceleron Ltd., of Heslington, UK, closed a £2 million (US$3.8 million) funding round. Close Venture Management led the round with £1.5 million, with an additional £500,000 from Foursome Investments Ltd. The funding will be used to provide working capital and to finance a growth phase in Xceleron's development. The company is a spinout from the University of York and uses the nanotechnology of accelerator mass spectrometry in drug development.