• Amarillo Biosciences Inc., of Amarillo, Texas, said a study will begin next quarter to test low-dose oral interferon-alpha in 40 patients with rare bone marrow proliferative disorders. During the study, 20 patients with stem cell disorders, either polycythemia vera (PV) or primary thrombocythemia (ET), will be given the interferon-alpha treatment. The study is intended to follow up a 48-week pilot study conducted by Amarillo in 1997 and 1998 involving once-daily doses of human interferon-alpha lozenges to seven PV and six ET patients.

• Ambion Inc., of Austin, Texas, formally opened its Japanese subsidiary, Ambion KK, in Tokyo. Ambion KK, which will serve scientists in Japan, is the latest expansion of Ambion, a company that develops, manufactures and markets research and diagnostic products for RNA-related applications to academic, industrial, clinical and government biotechnology scientists.

• 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.

• Callisto Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, completed its private placement of about 2 million shares of common stock at $1.52 per share. The company reported gross proceeds of just more than $3 million, which it intends to use to further clinical trials for Annamycin in relapsed acute lymphocytic leukemia and for Atipromod in relapsed multiple myeloma. The financing was led by institutional shareholders and included certain members of Callisto's management.

• 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.

• Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Houston, intends to commence an offering of $100 million principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2012 to qualified institutional buyers. The company also expects to grant to the initial purchasers of the notes a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $10 million principal amount of the notes. Encysive intends to use proceeds to fund further clinical development, marketing and pre-launch activities related to Thelin, being developed for pulmonary arterial hypertension; for further research and development of its product candidates; and for general corporate purposes.

• Gene Logic Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., released an upgrade of its software system, Genesis Enterprise System 2.5, which expands and accelerates researchers' abilities to assess drug risks using genomics and toxicogenomics data and related clinical information.

• Icagen Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., said the underwriters of its recent initial public offering of 5 million shares of common stock purchased an additional 100,000 shares at the IPO price of $8 a share pursuant to their overallotment option. Icagen's IPO raised $40 million in February. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 8, 2005.)

• Insmed Inc., of Richmond, Va., received the acceptance-to-file notification from the FDA for the new drug application for SomatoKine (mecasermin rinfabate), a once-daily IGF-1 therapy to treat growth hormone insensitivity syndrome. The company said FDA action is expected no later than Nov. 3. SomatoKine, administered as a subcutaneous injection to restore IGF-1 levels, previously received orphan drug designation, allowing it seven years of marketing exclusivity if approved.

• Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., initiated its EVEREST trial (Evaluation of Velcade Employed as Re-treatment for Efficacy, Safety and Tolerability), a Phase IV study in multiple myeloma patients who previously have responded to the drug and relapsed following a treatment-free remission. The trial will enroll about 120 patients, and efficacy will be assessed in terms of best-confirmed M-protein response. Velcade (bortezomib) for injection has been approved for multiple myeloma patients who have received at least two prior therapies and have demonstrated disease progression on the last therapy.

• Miravant Medical Technologies Inc., of Santa Barbara, Calif., will conduct a confirmatory Phase III trial for Photrex (rostaporfin, formerly known as SnET2). Miravant selected Kendle, an international contract research association, to provide clinical development services for the trial. The study, reviewed by the FDA under a special protocol assessment, will evaluate a range of patients with wet age-related macular degeneration, including both classic and occult lesions.

• Perlegen Sciences Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., is conducting a high-density whole-genome association study of rheumatoid arthritis with DNA samples from RA patients and disease-related expertise provided by the North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium. The study, funded by a grant from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, will compare genetic variation in patients with RA vs. matched, unaffected controls.

• Quark Biotech Inc., of Fremont, Calif., said a study led by Jayakrishna Ambati of the University of Kentucky suggested that the hypoxia-inducible gene RTP801 might serve a mechanistic role in the development of experimental choroidal neovascularization (CNV), the main cause of vision loss for patients with age-related macular degeneration. Quark reported that the findings provide a scientific rationale for further preclinical and clinical studies of RTP801 in the disease, and that, in an animal model of CNV, disruption of the gene's expression through siRNA reduced CNV by almost 58 percent, compared to the control group. Those findings were presented at the second annual Ocular Angiogenesis conference in Cambridge, Mass.

• Sequenom Inc., of San Diego, said researchers from its company, along with the Boston University School of Medicine and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, discovered a genetic variation that is the strongest known risk factor associated with age-related macular degeneration. The research was published in the March 10, 2005, online issue of Science.

• Solexa Inc., of Hayward, Calif., completed its first genome sequence, that of the virus Phi-X 174. The company reported genome coverage of 100 percent accuracy of at least 99.93 percent and the detection of at least three mutations subsequently confirmed by conventional DNA sequencing techniques.

• Vical Inc., of San Diego, was awarded a three-year, $3.1 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health's Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The grant partially will fund the ongoing development of Vical's immunotherapeutic DNA vaccine against cytomegalovirus. The company said the funding will supplement the $1 million awarded in 2004 for the vaccine program, including partial funding of a Phase I trial, and Vical reported that initial data showed the drug to be safe and well tolerated.