• Affinium Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Toronto, said findings reported at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy meeting in Washington detailed its report on the structure of Staphylococcus aureus FabI. The unveiling of conserved residues in the active site has lead to the design and synthesis of potent, soluble compounds, the company said, adding that the structure also has provided insights into the discovery of specific spectrum agents that effectively can target pathogenic bacteria.

• AVI BioPharma Inc., of Portland, Ore., said that data were presented characterizing the effect of AVI's Neugene drugs when applied to the influenza virus in cell culture. Studies showed that several Neugene antisense compounds each reduced the amount of influenza virus in infected cells in culture from 100- to 1,000-fold in a dose-responsive and sequence-specific manner over a two-day period of observation. In addition, some combinations of two Neugenes had a greater antiviral effect than a single Neugene. The results were presented at the American Society of Microbiology's Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Washington.

• Biota Holdings Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, raised A$20 million (US$15 million) under a share purchase plan, which allows Australian listed companies to offer their local stockholders the annual opportunity to buy shares at a discount. Biota has about 15,000 stockholders in Australia.

• Cytovax Biotechnologies Inc., of Edmonton, Alberta, said the Toronto Stock Exchange has conditionally approved the listing of additional Cytovax shares to be issued pursuant to a proposed transaction with Millenium Biologix Inc., of Kingston, Ontario. The transaction contemplates the amalgamation of Millenium with a wholly owned subsidiary of Cytovax, pursuant to which all of Millenium's common shares will be exchanged for Cytovax common shares, with the result that former shareholders of Millenium will hold Cytovax common shares and the amalgamated corporation will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Cytovax. The deal also is subject to completion of a $15 million to $20 million private placement by Millenium, among other conditions. The deal was announced less than two months ago. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 23, 2004.)

• Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland, said its wholly owned subsidiaries, Elan Finance and Elan Finance Corp., intend to offer $850 million in senior fixed rate notes and senior floating rate notes, all due 2011. Net proceeds would be used for working capital and other general corporate purposes, and to fund a tender offer by Elan International Services Ltd. to purchase up to $351 million in Series B and Series C guaranteed notes issued by Elan Pharmaceutical Investments III Ltd.

• Endovasc Inc., of Montgomery, Texas, received written notice from its founder and former director, David Summers, to inform management of his intent to solicit shareholders' proxies in advance of a Nov. 19 annual shareholders' meeting. He said the company's management has five business days to elect to either mail out his proxy materials or provide him with the names, addresses and share positions of all Endovasc's shareholders on the record date. He said the purpose of his proxy solicitation is to gain majority shareholder control to vote in favor of his measures at the meeting. Summers resigned as a director over disputes with management, but still has combined voting control of 10 million shares.

• GenoLogics Life Sciences Software Inc., of Victoria, British Columbia, said the University of Texas Medical Branch is using its proteomics laboratory information management system, ProteusLIMS. The university's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Proteomics Center is part of a consortium of 10 collaborative proteomics centers advancing knowledge of heart, lung and blood diseases and sleep disorders.

• Genzyme Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., said data from the recently completed Renagel in New Dialysis (RIND) study show a significant difference in the change in coronary artery calcification over 18 months between patients using calcium-based phosphate binders and those using Renagel. Data also showed that patients using both types of phosphate binders were able to achieve target levels for phosphorus and calcium-phosphorus product. Researchers will report the data during a symposium at the American Society of Nephrology meeting in St. Louis. The RIND study involved 129 patients who were new to dialysis.

• Haemonetics Corp., of Braintree, Mass., agreed to collaborate with Arryx Inc., of Chicago, on the development of new technology for applications in a range of markets. In exchange for gaining an exclusive worldwide license to Arryx's technologies for use in blood processing, Haemonetics will make an equity investment of $5 million in Arryx. Under a separate licensing agreement, Haemonetics will make milestone payments to Arryx if Arryx reaches certain proof-of-concept, development and regulatory deliverables. The potential milestone payments total $12.5 million. Haemonetics also would owe royalties to Arryx.

• Isolagen Inc., of Houston, priced its offering of $75 million of 3.5 percent convertible subordinated notes due 2024 to qualified institutional buyers. The notes will be convertible into shares of Isolagen common stock at an initial conversion price of about $9.16 per share. The initial purchasers also have an option for an additional $15 million in notes. Isolagen plans to use $46 million in proceeds for general corporate purposes, including product development, sales and marketing, capital expenditures and working capital. It will use $13.3 million to purchase up to 2 million shares of its common stock in privately negotiated transactions, and $12.7 million to purchase up to 2 million shares from certain insiders and affiliates at a per share price of $6.33.

• La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co., of San Diego, said it presented additional and previously released results from its Phase II/III and Phase III trials of Riquent (abetimus sodium, formerly LJP 394) for the treatment of lupus renal disease. Patients treated with Riquent who were on mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) at baseline had greater reduction in levels of antibodies to dsDNA compared with patients treated with placebo who were on MMF at baseline. The results were presented at the American Society of Nephrology annual meeting in St. Louis and earlier this month at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in San Antonio.

• Lynx Therapeutics Inc., of Hayward, Calif., signed an original equipment manufacture development agreement with Solexa Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, whereby Solexa will provide additional funding to Lynx to accelerate development of the next-generation DNA sequencing instrument. The intent of the agreement is to accelerate the integration of both companies' technologies prior to completing the proposed business combination of Lynx and Solexa. Funding related to the agreement is in addition to $2.5 million in loans received by Lynx from Solexa. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

• Oscient Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Waltham, Mass., said four presentations were made at the 44th annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy meeting in Washington regarding its new oral antibiotic, once-daily Factive (gemifloxacin mesylate) tablets. Factive tablets are FDA-approved for the treatment of acute bacterial exacerbations of chronic bronchitis and mild to moderate community-acquired pneumonia due to susceptible organisms.

• Shire Pharmaceuticals Group plc, of Basingstoke, UK, said data reported at the American Society of Nephrology meeting showed that long-term treatment with Fosrenol (lanthanum carbonate) for up to five years shows no deterioration in bone health. Specifically, the non-calcium, non-aluminum phosphate binder does not promote bone softening or cause harmful effects on bone. Last week, the product received FDA approval to reduce serum phosphate in patients with end-stage renal disease. Per terms of a licensing arrangement by which Shire acquired rights to the product, the agency's decision triggered an $18 million milestone payment to AnorMed Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia. (See BioWorld Today, March 24, 2004, and Oct. 28, 2004.)

• System Biosciences, of Mountain View, Calif., launched its Interferon Response Detection Kit for validation of siRNA experiments. SBI's kit helps ensure that investigators using RNA interference observe biological responses that result from the specific gene they are studying by providing a way to determine if an experimental cell system is undergoing a general interferon-related stress response.

• Transkaryotic Therapies Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said data showed that repeated injections of iduronate-2-sulfatase (I2S) were well-tolerated and resulted in the accumulation of enzyme in various cells of the central nervous system. I2S is TKT's enzyme-replacement therapy for the treatment of Hunter's syndrome. In addition to the CNS program, TKT is conducting a pivotal trial evaluating I2S as a treatment for the non-CNS aspects of Hunter's syndrome through repeated intravenous infusion. The data were reported at the American Society of Human Genetics 54th annual meeting in Toronto evaluating intrathecal delivery of I2S in an animal model.

• V.I. Technologies Inc., of Watertown, Mass., said it adjourned its special meeting of shareholders which was being held to vote on proposals related to its proposed merger with Panacos Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md. A date to reconvene the meeting has not been scheduled. Vitex said it is involved in negotiations with Panacos concerning modifications of the merger agreement, and until such merger-related terms are resolved, the companies have deferred consideration of financing proposals. Earlier this summer, they first reported plans to combine their operations in a $27 million stock swap. (See BioWorld Today, June 4, 2004.)

• ViroLogic Inc., of South San Francisco, said findings reported at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy meeting in Washington detailed its ongoing research seeking to establish its Replication Capacity assay, an in vitro surrogate for viral fitness, as a clinical tool for use in the management of HIV infection. Viral fitness refers to the ability of HIV to replicate and cause disease in the infected host. Other presentations focused on various applications of the PhenoSense Entry assay, which is used by drug developers to assess resistance to the new entry inhibitor class of drugs as well as viral tropism for chemokine co-receptors, as well as various aspects of genotypic and phenotypic resistance to currently available drugs, replication capacity and resistance to CCR5 antagonists.