• Axonyx Inc., of New York, said that Marvin Hausman stepped down as CEO and that Gosse Bruinsma was unanimously appointed to the board in that position. Hausman will continue to serve as chairman. Bruinsma joined Axonyx in 2000 as president of Axonyx Europe BV based in the Netherlands.

• Biogen Idec, of Cambridge, Mass., and Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland, confirmed a second case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in a patient receiving the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri (natalizumab), in combination with Avonex. The companies announced last week they were suspending marketing of Tysabri after the death of one patient from PML. To date, the companies said they have received no reports of PML in patients receiving Tysabri as a monotherapy in multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease or rheumatoid arthritis, and Biogen Idec said the disease was not reported in patients treated with Avonex alone. Shares of both companies, which were hit hard earlier in the week - Biogen Idec losing 42.6 percent and Elan losing 70.3 percent Feb. 28 - fell again Friday. Biogen Idec's stock (NASDAQ:BIIB) dropped $1.80 to close at $37.53, and shares of Elan lost 94 cents to close at $5.71. (See BioWorld Today, March 1, 2005.)

• Biopolymer Engineering Inc., of Eagan, Minn., is changing its name to Biothera to reflect its transition from a biomaterial science company to a drug development company. Biothera is working on several immunotherapy drugs that are designed to work synergistically with monoclonal antibodies and vaccines to treat cancer and certain widespread infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis.

• Chemicon International Inc., a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Serologicals Corp., and Quantum Dot Corp., of Hayward, Calif., signed an agreement granting Chemicon the rights to market specific quantum dot-containing products for the detection of antibody-antigen interactions in immunological experiments. Chemicon said the agreement will add a secondary antibody to its reagents products portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., entered definitive agreements to purchase from Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, a 2 percent reduction in the royalties payable to Lilly on net sales of Cubicin (daptomycin for injection). Cubist acquired worldwide development and commercialization rights to daptomycin from Lilly in 1997. Cubist will issue to Lilly $20 million in Cubist common stock with associated registration rights in exchange for the royalty rate change.

• Cytokinetics Inc., of South San Francisco, selected a compound arising from its heart failure drug discovery program for development. The selected compound is in preclinical studies. Based on the successful completion of the preclinical program, Cytokinetics intends to submit a regulatory filing for the initiation of first-in-human studies in 2005. The compound replaces another cardiac myosin activator identified in 2004 as the lead drug candidate from the program.

• Flamel Technologies SA, of Lyon, France, terminated the license agreement with Toronto-based Biovail Laboratories Inc. for Flamel's long-acting acyclovir formulation, Genvir. The license agreement, signed in February 2003, granted a license to Biovail in the U.S. and Canada, but provided for termination by Flamel in the event that clinical trials were not initiated by a date set out in the agreement. Flamel said it now is looking for another partner to conduct U.S. trials and to handle registration and marketing of Genvir.

• Geron Corp., of Menlo Park, Calif., published results of a completed Phase I/II trial of its telomerase therapeutic vaccine in patients with metastatic prostate cancer at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. The results showed that the vaccination protocol generated telomerase-specific T-cell responses in 19 of 20 subjects. Peak immune responses to vaccination were high with 1 percent to 2 percent of circulating CD8+ T cells demonstrating anti-telomerase specificity. Vaccination was associated with a significant increase in PSA doubling time and clearance of circulating tumor cells.

• ID Biomedical Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said it has closed the transactions with Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. for the sale and leaseback of two facilities, including the Vaccine Research Center in Laval, Quebec, and a vaccine development facility in Northborough, Mass. The total purchase price paid at closing to ID Biomedical is about C$50 million (US$40.6 million). The company will lease these properties from Alexandria for a period of 15 years.

• Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., said a study published in the January edition of British Journal of Urology demonstrated that trospium chloride, the active ingredient in the company's Sanctura product for overactive bladder, had no effect on sleep patters of older subjects, aged 51 to 65 years. The data in the study included 24 healthy volunteers who underwent four two-night periods of study and were randomly assigned to receive one of three medications, including Sanctura, or a placebo. The study's primary measurement was rapid-eye movement sleep.

• Inncardio Inc., of New York, announced that it was approved to trade on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board under the ticker symbol "INDO." Inncardio, a subsidiary of Bioaccelerate Holdings Inc., focuses on the acquisition, development and commercialization of cardiovascular therapies and has three compounds in clinical investigations, including a lead product targeted to reduce the incidence of ischemic deficits in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage.

• Inotek Pharmaceuticals Corp., Beverly, Mass., said it reached an agreement with the FDA on a special protocol assessment for its pivotal trial of INO-1001 to treat complications associated with thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair surgery. INO-1001 has received fast track status and was granted orphan drug designation for the indication. Details of the trial have not been released and the company expects it to begin during the second half of the year.

• Neuren Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Auckland, New Zealand, and Metabolic Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, agreed to co-develop Neuren's class of neuro-regenerative peptides for the treatment of degenerative conditions such as peripheral neuropathy, motor neuron disease and repairing the brain or nerves after injuries. The parties will jointly develop the NRPs project with all intellectual property and commercial outcomes to be shared.

• NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Salt Lake City, and Ventiv Health Inc., of Somerset, N.J., introduced a specialized sales team to promote Kineret (anakinra), a biologic therapy owned by Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Amgen Inc. for the reduction in signs and symptoms of moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis in adults who have failed at least one disease-modifying antirheumatic drug. NPS announced in August 2004 that it would promote Kineret, receiving a percentage of incremental revenues from Amgen.

• Nucleonics Inc., of Horsham, Pa., filed with the Polish Patent Office prior art citations that it said are relevant to the consideration of Benitec Ltd., of Queensland, Australia, and its Patent Application No. PL 343 064 titled "Control of Gene Expression." The submission provides relevant prior art documents that Nucleonics said render the pending claims invalid because they lack novelty and/or did not involve an inventive step at the time the patent application was filed.

• OrthoLogic Corp., of Tempe, Ariz., appointed James Pusey president and CEO, effective March 18. Pusey most recently served as the executive vice president of Serono Inc. USA, headquartered in Rockland, Mass, a unit of Geneva-based Serono SA. OrthoLogic focuses on developing and commercializing therapeutics comprising the Chrysalin Product Platform for treating traumatic and chronic orthopedic indications in bone and soft tissue.

• PhotoMedex Inc., of Montgomeryville, Pa., and ProCyte Corp., of Redmond, Wash., said ProCyte shareholders approved the adjournment of the special meeting of shareholders that took place in order for ProCyte to solicit additional proxies to vote on the proposed merger between PhotoMedex Inc. and ProCyte. The meeting will be reconvened on March 18 in Redmond. The meeting was adjourned because an insufficient number of shareholders was present or represented by proxy to approve the merger.

• Sirna Therapeutics Inc., of Boulder, Colo., is the first publicly traded biotech company to choose San Francisco's new China Basin Landing at Mission Bay as its headquarters. Sirna has been headquartered in Boulder since its founding in April 2003. Sirna is developing RNAi-based therapies for diseases and conditions, including age-related macular degeneration, Huntington's disease, diabetes, asthma, oncology and hepatitis C.

• Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc., of King of Prussia, Penn., received a milestone payment from Novartis Pharma AG, of Basel Switzerland, in recognition of follow-up lead product candidates identified for Novartis' development as part of a collaboration focused on peptide deformylase inhibitors. Vicuron also reported that Novartis has suspended Phase I development of the first lead product candidate from the outpatient respiratory tract program, in favor of developing a second lead compound that is expected to enter the clinic by the end of the year.

• Zann Corp., of Fenton, Mich., reported initial success in developing specific antibodies against one type of bacteria found in human blood, which might have potential in medical diagnostics and gene therapy products. The company said it works to establish collaborations to develop and market specific tests based on those antibodies.