• Acrongenomics Inc., of Athens, Greece, is exploring future nanotechnology prospects by evaluating the technology behind existing implementations of PCR, ELISA and Real-Time PCR, as part of its Nano-JETA platform. The company said its market research has shown existing limitations, such as problems with efficiency and cost, and hopes to overcome those limitations by introducing nanotechnology into molecular biology. The Nano-JETA platform is used to detect markers and viral targets, such as Neo-EpCAM, HER1, HER2, HER3 and HER4. The company said it will be conducting clinical validation trials in 400 breast, colon, lung and ovarian cancer samples by the end of March.

• Antisoma plc, of London, signed an agreement with Raylo Chemicals, of Edmonton, Alberta, for the manufacture of AS1411 (formerly AGRO100), Antisoma's aptamer drug in trials for cancer. The company said it chose the manufacturer because of Raylo's previous success in the production of aptamers and other oligonucleotides, such as Macugen, developed by New York-based companies Pfizer Inc. and Eyetech Pharmaceuticals Inc. AS1411 is manufactured by extracting the nucleotides from salmon sperm and then linking them chemically to form an oligonucleotide.

• Arexis AB, of Gothenburg, Sweden, entered a collaboration with CMC Biopharmaceuticals A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, to produce recombinant human BSSL (bile salt-stimulated lipase) for its upcoming cystic fibrosis and preterm infant clinical trials. CMC will provide Arexis with BSSL for the trials that are part of Arexis' BSSL program that uses its patented human recombinant enzyme to target fat malabsorption.

• Ark Therapeutics Group plc, of London, released data demonstrating the mechanism of action of Vitor, an angiotensin II inhibitor, in preventing muscle-cell breakdown in cachexia. The product is in Phase III in cancer cachexia, with enrollment expected to be completed by the end of the month, and in Phase II in lipodystrophy syndrome. The active ingredient of Vitor was developed originally to treat hypertension, and is marketed in that indication in Japan and some countries in Europe. The product has FDA fast-track status.

• Australian Cancer Technology, of Sydney, Australia, said that the board appointed Leonard Firestone U.S-based CEO and director. Firestone served as CEO, president, chief medical officer and director of Manhattan Pharmaceuticals Inc. Australian Cancer is an oncology drug development company developing the Pentrys cancer vaccine.

• Avidex Ltd., of Oxford, UK, agreed to a research collaboration with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Frankfurt, Germany, to work on monoclonal T-cell receptors that target the tumor-associated antigen, NY-ESO-1, which was discovered by the institute. Although it occurs in a range of tumors, NY-ESO-1 is expressed intracellularly and cannot be targeted by conventional antibodies.

• Basilea Pharmaceutica AG, of Basel, Switzerland, moved into preclinical testing its topical antibiotic BAL19403, part of a new class of bacterial macrolides with activity against antibiotic-resistant Propionibacterium acnes and anti-inflammatory properties found in acne and rosacea.

• Biacore International AB, of Uppsala, Sweden, completed the acquisition of the FLEXChip System and related assets from HTS Biosystems Inc., of Hopkinton, Mass. The acquisition, which cost $4 million in cash, will extend Biacore's product offering in the field of protein-interaction analysis.

• BioLineRx Ltd., of Jerusalem, signed a worldwide exclusive license agreement with Galmed International Ltd. to develop and commercialize BL-1060, a small molecule for the treatment of fatty liver disease. BioLineRx plans to develop the project through BioLine Innovations Jerusalem and to submit the project for funding by the Israeli Office of the Chief Scientist under the National Biotech Grant that BioLineRx received in November.

• Biota Holdings Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, and Aerogen Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., signed an agreement for the development of CS-8958, one of the new LANI (long-acting neuraminidase inhibitor) compounds being developed by Biota and Sankyo, suitable for use with Aerogen's Aeroneb Go Micropump Nebulizer as a flu antiviral. The development work will be funded under a $5.6 million grant to Biota from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

• Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, and DSM Biologics, of Groningen, the Netherlands, signed a PER.C6 research license agreement with JCR Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., of Ashiya, Japan. That agreement allows JCR to use the PER.C6 cell line for production of certain recombinant therapeutic proteins. JCR will make a research license payment and annual maintenance fees. Further financial details were not disclosed. Also, Crucell said Galapagos Genomics NV, of Mechelen, Belgium, is considering a Euronext stock exchange listing this year. Crucell holds a 20.8 percent interest in Galapagos, which was co-founded by Crucell in 1999 to exploit its human cell-expression platform PER.C6 in the field of functional genomics. The primary reason for the listing is to raise additional funds for Galapagos.

• DeCode Genetics Inc., of Reykjavik, Iceland, began enrolling subjects in a Phase I trial for DG041, the company's developmental compound for peripheral arterial occlusive disease. The trial will evaluate the safety as well as the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile of DG041. DG041 is a first-in-class, orally administered small molecule.

• Enanta Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Watertown, Mass., received a milestone payment from its EP-013420 East Asia development and commercialization partner, Shionogi & Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan. The milestone reflects the initiation of Phase I studies for the community antibiotic, which was renamed S-013420 by Shionogi for development in East Asia. First in class, EP-013420 is a bridged bicyclic ketolide that was designed by Enanta to have optimal pharmacokinetics and to provide broad treatment against respiratory pathogens, including several multidrug-resistant strains for which traditional macrolides, penicillins and fluoroquinolones no longer are effective.

• GammaCan International Inc., of Givat Shmuel, Israel, received approval to initiate a Phase II trial of GCAN 101 in Israel. The 30-patient study will evaluate the product in metastatic melanoma, metastatic prostate or colon cancers, and the company said it expects to expand the trial to a number of medical centers throughout the country. The GCAN 101 therapy is based on intravenous immunoglobulin.

• MIV Therapeutics Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, executed a letter of intent to acquire Sahajanand Medical Technologies, of Surat, India. The companies expect they will enter a definitive agreement within the next 30 days, pending the successful completion of routine-required auditing procedures. MIV expects SMT to generate about $20 million in revenues next year.

• Morphosys AG, of Munich, Germany, plans to raise additional capital by offering institutional investors up to slightly more than 490,000 new shares in the company. WestLB AG, of Duesseldorf, Germany, will be the sole lead bank managing the transaction. At current prices of about €36 per share, the sale would raise more than €17.5 million, which the company plans to use to accelerate its antibody programs.

• Neutec Pharma plc, of Manchester, UK, applied for European marketing approval for Mycograb, a treatment for invasive candidiasis, and expects to launch the product in 2006. Mycograb, an antibody against heat-shock protein 90, also is due to enter Phase III trials as an adjunctive treatment for cryptococcal meningitis, and a Phase Ib trial as an adjuvant to docetaxel in late-stage breast cancer.

• PamGene International BV, of Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, secured a €2 million grant from SenterNovem, a Dutch government agency, for collaborative research. The funding is for the development of bioinformatics and systems biology on PamGene's PamChip Array platform, which will help in the understanding of biological pathways. The company also said it is participating in a consortium project under the European Union Sixth Framework Programme on the investigation of mitochondrial diseases, and it is part of a collaboration with the Netherlands Proteomics Centre to further develop proteomics research.

• Pepscan Systems BV, of Lelystad, the Netherlands; ServiceXS, of Leiden, the Netherlands; and Solvay Pharmaceuticals, of Weesp, the Netherlands, entered a research agreement for the de-orphanization of a series of proteases. Pepscan and ServiceXS will use their expertise in peptide arrays and peptide microarrays to identify peptide substrates for a series of proteases proprietary to Solvay. Financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed.

• Pharming Group NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, said Health Canada approved the company's clinical trial application for recombinant human C1 inhibitor, expanded for the treatment of hereditary angioedema. Pharming said it will assess the safety and efficacy of the product, which is in a Phase III trial in Europe. The company also expanded clinical studies in the U.S. after filing an investigational new drug application with the FDA.

• Prana Biotechnology Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, began the Phase I trial of PBT2 with the dosing of its first subject in Utrecht, the Netherlands. PBT2 is the first completely Prana-discovered compound, and a successor to PBT1 to treat Alzheimer's disease. The compound has demonstrated significantly greater effectiveness than PTB1 in lowering plaque in the transgenic mouse model in in vitro and in vivo testing.

• The UK Department of Health announced an extension to the voluntary moratorium on the use of genetic tests by insurance companies to November 2011. The agreement forms part of a "Concordat and Moratorium on Genetics and Insurance" made with the trade body the Association of British Insurers. The aim is to reassure people who may be deterred from taking genetic tests for fear of the insurance consequences. The concordat says no one will be required to disclose results of predictive genetic tests, such as those for breast cancer genes, unless the tests are approved by the government's Genetics and Insurance Committee and they are applying for more than £500,000 (US$955,478) for life insurance and £300,000 for critical illness and income protection insurance.