• Actelion Ltd., of Allschwil, Switzerland, aims to achieve CHF1 billion (US$858 million) in global sales of its two marketed products, Tracleer in pulmonary arterial hypertension and Zavesca in Type I Gaucher's disease, by 2009. The former franchise would contribute 95 percent of that total. The company reported earnings per share of CHF3.78 and held CHF300.3 million in cash at Dec. 31.

• Argonaut Technologies Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., entered an agreement to sell stock and certain assets of its consumables and flash chromatography business to Uppsala, Sweden-based Biotage AB for about $20 million in cash, subject to approval by Argonaut's stockholders. The transaction includes Argonaut's consumables business segments, which include synthesis and purification, bioanalytical sample and flash chromatography systems.

• Atugen AG, of Berlin, appointed Steven St. Peter to the company's supervisory board. St. Peter is a partner in MPM Capital, one of Atugen's investors, and his professional background combines medical practice and investment banking.

• Australian Cancer Technology, of Sydney, Australia, said that Phase I studies using the company's lead vaccine immunostimulant GPI-0100 demonstrated enhanced immune response in patients with relapsed prostate cancer. The results of the study were reported in an electronic publication of Vaccine.

• Bavarian Nordic A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, intends to extend production for its Imvamune smallpox vaccine program, and expects to initiate several clinical trials this year, including three Phase II studies to test the vaccine in more than 2,000 people. With the expansion, Bavarian Nordic said it will make significant investments to increase the company's international marketing function and add a vaccine filling line to ensure the security of supply for customers. The company also reported it was on schedule to begin commercially manufacturing the Imvamune vaccine at the Kvistgard site in Denmark, set to begin this summer. Separately, Bavarian Nordic said its third-generation modified virus Ankara vaccine is expected to be effective against smallpox three days after vaccination, compared to traditional replicating vaccines that show protection after 10 to 14 days. The company presented data at the BIO CEO & Investor Conference in New York.

• BioInvent International AB, of Lund, Sweden, presented results of in vitro tests of its HIV candidate at the 12th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston, which included the drug's ability to keep resistance from developing after inhibiting the virus for 20 weeks. In the resistance tests, researchers attempted to provoke the development of resistance by transferring the virus to new cells and allowing the virus to replicate in the presence of the inhibiting antibody, but BioInvent said no resistance developed at 20 weeks. The company said the antibody will be tested in clinical trials to determine whether it maintains those anti-resistant properties.

• Biotica Technology plc, of Cambridge, UK, was awarded a government grant of £280,000 (US$538,000) for a three-year program of research to develop production processes for novel polyketide drugs. Biotica will invest £510,000 of its own money in the project, to be carried out in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, which received a £210,000 grant for its share of the work.

• Cambridge Biostability Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, received a $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in support of the company's vaccine technology designed to create a defense against botulism. Cambridge Biostability will work alongside the DVC LLC to create a botulism vaccine.

• Cenix BioScience GmbH, of Dresden, Germany, and Schering AG, of Berlin, signed research service agreements to accelerate the latter's target discovery and validation efforts in several human disease programs. Both projects, which started in the fourth quarter, focus on the cell-based validation by Cenix of collections of candidate genes previously identified by Schering as possible therapeutic targets. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, achieved a research milestone in its depression target discovery program with Vernalis plc, of London, that will result in a payment of A$720,000 (US$568,000). The research agreement between ChemGenex and Vernalis was signed in August.

• Cryptome Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, signed an agreement with the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, giving the company sole option to an exclusive license on a class of protein-derived compounds with anti-inflammatory action. The agreement gave Cryptome an exclusive license for the U.S., and the company has up to 12 months to exercise the option. However, it said that it expects to begin work on the molecule under a material transfer agreement in the immediate future.

• Eiffel Technologies Ltd., of Sydney, Australia, signed a second asthma feasibility study in three months with the same unnamed U.S.-based pharmaceutical company to evaluate the potential of Eiffel's re-engineering technologies to achieve a stable and effective formulation of an asthma treatment in late-stage development. Eiffel will receive an up-front payment of $75,000 for the two-month study, which follows a November collaboration for an 18-month project to develop an improved asthma treatment using Eiffel's re-engineered drugs and the U.S. company's delivery device.

• Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland, said the European Commission granted marketing approval for the orphan drug Prialt (ziconotide) to treat severe, chronic pain in patients who require intrathecal analgesia. The approval follows a positive opinion in November by the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use. It was based on the treatment of more than 1,000 patients, including three pivotal clinical studies. The FDA approved Prialt in December.

• Evolutec Group plc, of Oxford, UK, signed an agreement with Cambrex Bio Science Baltimore Inc. for the manufacture of Evolutec's rEV131 for Phase III trials and marketing. The deal covers development work to optimize yield and scale-up the manufacturing process for rEV131, which is in Phase II trials in allergic rhinitis and post-operative treatment following cataract surgery.

• Evotec OAI AG, of Hamburg, Germany, will support Mitsubishi Pharma Corp., of Osaka, Japan, in its medicinal chemistry programs. Using its computational chemistry, parallel synthesis and medicinal chemistry expertise, Evotec OAI will support MPC in advancing compound hit series identified by MPC. Evotec OAI will expand and improve early structure-activity relationships and drug-like properties of compounds with the aim of progressing them into hit-to-lead and subsequent lead-optimization programs.

• Galenica, of Athens, Greece, and Helsinn Healthcare SA, of Lugano, Switzerland, signed an agreement granting Galenica the exclusive license and distribution rights for Aloxi (palonosetron hydrochloride) in Greece. Aloxi is the second generation of serotonine antagonists, which are used to prevent nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy. Aloxi is marketed in the U.S. by Minneapolis-based MGI Pharma Inc., which posted sales of $159 million in 2004. It is awaiting approval in Europe.

• Geneva Bioinformatics SA, of Geneva, released its protein identification platform, Phenyx, which incorporates the mxData standard and improves the results comparison functionality for all versions of Phenyx. The functionality permits researchers to generate a table of side-by-side results. Researchers can import results from other major software packages in order to cross-validate or consolidate their identification results.

• GPC Biotech AG, of Martinsried, Germany, published in the peer-reviewed journal Oncology a 50-patient randomized trial evaluating satraplatin as first-line chemotherapy for the treatment of patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer. Data from the study showed that satraplatin treatment significantly lengthened progression-free survival (p=0.023). The median time to disease progression or death was 5.2 months for satraplatin vs. 2.5 months for the control arm.

• GW Pharmaceuticals plc, of Salisbury, UK, engaged the services of the Apjohn Group LLC, of Kalamazoo, Mich., to advance its U.S. market entry. In a preliminary statement Jan. 19, the company said it would begin a U.S. regulatory program for its lead product, Sativex. GW said its U.S. founder investors and their associates increased their equity position in the company, adding about $4.8 million to increase their shareholding from 7.8 percent to 9.6 percent, through the issuance of 2 million shares.

• Ionix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, signed a deal with Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare (RBH) for Ionix's lead product, IX-1003, a nasally delivered formulation of RBH's buprenorphine, for post-operative pain. Ionix and RBH (a subsidiary of the household products company Reckitt Benckiser) will collaborate on the development and commercialization of two further preclinical compounds, IX-1004 for the treatment of chronic pain and IX-1005 for treating opiate addiction. All three compounds are based on intranasal delivery of buprenorphine using drug delivery technology Ionix licensed from Archimedes Pharma Ltd., of Reading, UK. The financial terms were not disclosed, but Ionix is to receive milestones and royalties. RBH will be responsible for worldwide manufacturing and marketing, with Ionix retaining an option to co-promote IX-1003 in the U.S.

• Karolinksa Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, initiated discussions with prospective partners in the U.S., Singapore, the UK and Norway on a large-scale international project that would seek to match advances in biological understanding with information on lifestyle and disease. The initiative, called LifeGene, would create a public health knowledge bank that would include data on diseases affecting the elderly.

• Nautilus Biotech, of Paris, reached the first milestone in its collaboration with Serono SA, of Geneva, to develop a next-generation human growth hormone with an improved pharmacological profile. Nautilus has designed, generated and tested in vitro a series of variants of hGH. Nautilus will receive a milestone payment from Serono, which has the exclusive right to license variants of the hGH protein.

• Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA, of Milan, Italy, raised €30 million (US$39.6 million), out of which €23 million closed Feb. 21. The remaining €7 million will remain open to additional interested parties for a few weeks. Newron is a research and development company focused on ion channel-based therapies.

• NicOx SA, of Sophia-Antipolis, France, said that its partner, Stockholm, Sweden-based Biolipox AB, reported that a new clinical study of NCX 1510, in development for the treatment of rhinitis, demonstrated an onset of action of only five to 10 minutes. The study had a randomized, crossover design in which 12 healthy volunteers received a single intranasal dose of either NCX 1510 or placebo.

• Ocimum Biosolutions, of Hyderabad, India, signed a letter of intent to acquire core assets, specifically the microarray business, of MWG Biotech AG, of Ebersberg, Germany. Ocimum will take over the microarray expertise and assets of the microarray business line, including inventory and stock. The new location will be Hyderabad. Part of the services also will be offered from Indianapolis.

• Onyvax Ltd., of London, was part of a research consortium that was awarded a €4.2 million (US$5.6 million) European Community grant to identify biomarkers in the blood and tissue of patients with ovarian, breast or prostate cancer that would indicate if they likely would benefit from cancer immunotherapy. The project - the European Network for the Identification of Validation of Antigens and Biomarkers in Cancer and their Application in Clinical Tumor Immunology - will be led by Nottingham Trent University in the UK.

• Orexo AB, of Uppsala, Sweden, completed an efficacy study for OX22 with positive results. OX22 is designed to treat temporary insomnia. Negotiations with potential partners for commercialization of OX22 have been initiated.

• Pharmagene plc, of Royston, UK, decided there is no "compelling" case for taking PGN0052 forward in respiratory diseases. That follows the announcement in December that the compound failed in a Phase IIa trial in cystic fibrosis, causing Pharmagene's shares to fall by one-quarter. Dropping PGN0052 altogether caused a further fall of 2.5 pence to 31.5 pence when it was announced on Feb. 24. Pharmagene confirmed also that CEO Alistair Riddell has left the company.

• Pharmaxis Ltd., of Sydney, Australia, said the FDA granted orphan drug status for the company's Bronchitol product for the treatment of bronchiectasis, an incurable, degenerative and chronic inflammatory condition of the lungs. Late last year, Pharmaxis reported positive results from a two-week study.

• Provalis plc, of Deeside, UK, intends to terminate its American depository receipt (ADR) program and Nasdaq listing and suspend the company's registration and reporting obligations to the SEC. Provalis said the decision was reached after reviewing the costs and management time needed to comply with recent changes in U.S. securities laws. Provalis' shares will remain listed on the London Stock Exchange.

• Sosei Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, in-licensed the urology compound OPC-51803 (SOU-003) from Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of London, which already has completed Phase I studies. Sosei has been granted the rights to develop and commercialize the compound globally, except for Japan and other Asian countries where Otsuka retains the rights. Sosei also has co-promotion rights in Japan, while Otsuka retains a co-promotion option in the U.S. and Europe. SOU-003 is an orally active small molecule with selective vasopressin V2 receptor agonist activity.

• Stem Cell Network is being formed by academics, clinicians and companies in the east of England as a focus for collaboration in the region. The network aims to promote innovation in stem cell research and establish the area around Cambridge as a leader in the field.

• Syngenta Ltd., part of Syngenta AG, of Basel, Switzerland, licensed from Icoria Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., exclusive rights to commercially develop 30 Icoria compounds believed to be active fungal inhibitors. Syngenta will evaluate the compounds over 18 months, and Icoria expects that Syngenta will select the most promising compounds for development and commercial use as agricultural fungicides. Syngenta also has the right to develop the compounds in human health care, animal health, household products and industrial applications. Icoria receives an up-front payment and could receive milestone and royalty payments. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Transgene SA, of Strasbourg, France, said its MVA-Mucl-IL2 therapeutic vaccine met the primary endpoint in a Phase II trial for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer. The trial is evaluating the efficacy of the up-front association of subcutaneous injections of MVA-Mucl-IL2 at a dose of 10(8) pfu with a cisplatin/vinorelbine-based chemotherapy in patients with advanced or metastatic Mucl-positive non-small-cell lung cancer. The primary endpoint was defined as tumor response rate of at least 11 responses out of the first 33 evaluable patients.

• VASTox plc, of Oxford, UK, signed a contract with an unnamed European biotechnology company to work on targeting drugs to specific organs and cell types using its carbohydrate-linker technology.

• Xantos Biomedicine AG, of Munich, Germany, was awarded a grant for €6 million (US$7.9 million) from the European Commission's Sixth Research Framework program to discover and validate new targets and pathways involved in tumor-induced blood vessel formation. The project will run four years and aims to create tumor-selective treatments that will replace or complement established tumor therapies.

• YM BioSciences Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, was advised by its European partner, Oncoscience AG, of Wedel, Germany, that a Phase II trial in children with brain cancer using the EGF receptor monoclonal antibody TheraCIM h-R3 (called Theraloc in Europe) as a monotherapy achieved a response rate of 35.3 percent. Six of 17 children have demonstrated either stable disease or a partial response. No skin toxicity or allergic reactions were reported. The results were presented at the European High-Grade Glioma meeting in Regensburg, Germany.