• Affymetrix Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., and CapitalBio Corp., of Beijing, entered a nonexclusive agreement for the joint development of an advanced GeneChip-compatible personal scanner and a service provider program, through which CapitalBio will offer the full line of Affymetrix GeneChip products. The companies intend to pursue a number of products for research and molecular diagnostics, including additional instrumentation, reagents and services.

• Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., initiated enrollment of advanced cancer patients at European cancer centers in two multicenter Phase Ib trials of its mTOR inhibitor, AP23573, combined with paclitaxel or capecitabine. The non-randomized, dose-escalation studies will determine the optimal dosing regimen for AP23573 in patients with progressive breast, ovarian, non-small-cell lung and prostate cancers, as well as certain sarcomas. Up to about 110 cancer patients will be enrolled at centers in Italy and Switzerland.

• 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.

• Cell Genesys Inc., of South San Francisco, initiated a Phase I trial of CG0070 in patients with recurrent bladder cancer. CG0070 is the first armed oncolytic virus therapy developed by the company. Preclinical studies have shown that the compound could potentially destroy cancer cells through direct cell killing by the virus and immune-mediated cell killing stimulated by GM-CSF.

• Corcept Therapeutics Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif., reported results from two preclinical studies that show Corlux can induce weight loss following olanzapine-induced weight gain and prevent the weight gain induced by olanzapine, brand name Zyprexa, which is one of several atypical antipsychotics that carry a warning of weight gain as a side effect.

• 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.

• Elite Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Northvale, N.J., said its subsidiary Elite Laboratories Inc. filed an investigational new drug application for an abuse-resistant oxycodone product using Elite's abuse-resistant technology. The technology incorporates an opioid antagonist and is designed to discourage and reduce abuse of narcotic analgesic medications by making the products more difficult to abuse when crushed, damaged or otherwise manipulated.

• EraGen Biosciences Inc., of Madison, Wis., signed an expanded licensing and distribution agreement with Luminex Corp., of Austin, Texas. EraGen has the rights to distribute and sell Luminex 100 Systems and kits that include non-standard nucleic acid bases designed for selected in vitro clinical diagnostic purposes.

• GenoMed Inc., of St. Louis, launched a free clinical trial to combat the current Marburg virus epidemic in Angola. GenoMed believes it has a broad-spectrum viral antidote, which has been tested against West Nile virus for the past two summers.

• 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.

• Hana Biosciences Inc., of South San Francisco, closed a private placement of 3.8 million shares, raising about $4.8 million in gross proceeds. The company also issued the investors warrants to purchase an additional 1.1 million shares of common stock. Investors included Griffin Securities Inc., Pogue Capital Management, Xmark Capital Partners, Mosiax Ventures, Atlas Equity, Coqui Capital and Emerging Technology Partners. Funds will support the Phase I/II trial of Talotrexin (PT-523) for non-small-cell lung cancer; upcoming trials for relapsed adult acute lymphocytic leukemia; pivotal trials of Ondansetron lingual spray for chemotherapy-induced nausea; and Phase I trials of IPdR in pancreatic, colorectal and liver cancers.

• ImClone Systems Inc., of New York, reported net income for the first quarter of $28.8 million, or 33 cents per share, compared with $62.7 million, or 76 cents per share, for the first quarter of 2004. The company posted total revenues of $85.8 million, compared to the $110.2 million one year ago, due in part to a one-time amortization effect of about $43 million associated with the $250 million milestone payment received last year. Net sales of Erbitux, a colon cancer drug manufactured by ImClone and marketed by New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., totaled $87.1 million, with about 39 percent of that amount, or $34 million, going to ImClone.

• Insmed Inc., of Richmond, Va, initiated a Phase II trial examining the therapeutic benefit of treating Type A extreme insulin resistance with SomatoKine, the company's once-daily IGF-I therapy. It is an open-label, dose-ranging study designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of SomatoKine in 10 patients with Type A extreme insulin resistance.

• 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.

• Interleukin Genetics Inc., of Waltham, Mass., received its Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments certificate of registration for its DNA clinical laboratory. As a result, Interleukin received a $2 million pre-payment for genetic tests to be processed by the company pursuant to its distribution agreement with Access Business Group International, an affiliate of Alticor, of Ada, Mich.

• Kos Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cranbury, N.J., said its development and commercialization partner, Oryx Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, received Canadian regulatory approval last month to market all three doses of Kos' Niaspan product (niacin extended-release tablets), and Oryx launched the product this week. Niaspan, a lipid metabolism regulator, is designed to address low HDL cholesterol levels in treating cardiovascular disease. Under the partnership agreement, Kos will provide manufacturing for Niaspan and stands to receive a significant share of revenue from product sales.

• 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.

• Prestwick Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Washington, submitted a new drug application for tetrabenazine in chorea, a motor symptom associated with Huntington's disease. Tetrabenazine, which is approved for marketing outside the U.S. under the brand names Xenazine in Europe and Nitoman in Canada, is a selective and reversible dopamine depletor designed to work by inhibiting vesicular monoamine transporter 2. Prestwick said the NDA is supported by Phase III data suggesting the drug is more effective than placebo in treating chorea. The company recently filed its initial public offering, estimating proceeds of $75 million to fund launch activities related to tetrabenazine, which could receive approval as early as the first quarter of 2006. (See BioWorld Today, April 26, 2005.)

• Senetek plc, of Napa, Calif., completed preclinical studies assessing the safety and efficacy of its cytokinin, Zeatin, as a topical skin anti-aging treatment. Derived from RNA, Zeatin appears to be complementary to Senetek's other skincare compound, Kinetin, which is derived from DNA. Preclinical studies have concluded that Zeatin promotes maintenance of small cell size, and cell structural and functional integrity.

• Stanford University School of Medicine in California reported in a paper published in the April 26, 2005, issue of PLoS Medicine that stem cells from the brain could form insulin-producing cells that mimic those missing in people with diabetes. Lead author and assistant professor of developmental biology, Seung Kim, said the discovery could lead to new ways of transplanting insulin-producing cells into diabetics.

• Vivus Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., released results of a clinical pharmacology study looking at the hemodynamic responses to glyceryl trinitrate (GTN). Results showed a trend toward a greater decrease in the mean maximal standing systolic blood pressure over a 12-hour period following GTN administration in subjects pretreated with sildenafil as compared to those pretreated with avanafil or placebo. A total of 101 healthy males were treated.