Company* (Country; Symbol)

Funding Institution

Amount (M)

Type

Details (Date)


Aastrom Biosciences Inc. (ASTM)

National Cancer Institute

$0.124

Phase I SBIR grant

For eight-month study to demonstrate feasibility of using its cell-production technology to develop an immunotherapeutic for malignant melanoma (4/22)

Adenosine Therapeutics LLC*

National Institutes of Health

$1.38

Phase II SBIR grant

To fund research on an oral blocker of adenosine receptors for treating Type II diabetes (4/22)

Agennix Inc.*

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

ND

Phase I SBIR grant

To fund further characterization of the efficacy of oral recombinant human lactoferrin in a primate model of asthma (5/25)

Albany Molecular Research Inc. (AMRI)

National Institute on Drug Abuse

$3

Contract award

Three-year deal worth up to $3M to provide chemical manufacturing of drug substances for use in products for treating substance abuse (5/7)

Althea Technologies Inc.*

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

ND

Phase I SBIR grant

To develop and validate gene sets and predictive classifiers for specific toxicological endpoints (6/23)

Athersys Inc.*

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

ND

Grant

To fund research focused on identifying proteins that pro- mote the formation of pancreatic islet cells; Athersys will apply its technologies to the effort (6/4)

Australian companies

AusBiotech (Australia; industry organization)

A$87.1 (US$60.7)

Pharmaceutical Partnerships Program awards

Receiving awards were Acrux Ltd. (A$4.2M), AGC Biosciences Ltd. (A$8.4M), Amrad Corp. Ltd. (A$5.2M), CSL Ltd. (A$10M), Mayne Pharmaceuticals (A$10M), Novogen Ltd. (A$10M) and Pharmaxis Ltd. (A$6.1M) (4/22)

Avant Immunotherapeutics Inc. (AVAN)

Department of Defense

$3

Subcontract award with DynPort Vaccine Co. LLC

To support human clinical testing of a plague vaccine candidate from Avant for use in a combiination anthrax/plague oral vaccine (4/21)

Basilea Pharmaceutica AG (Switzerland; SWX:BSLN)

European Commission

€1.56 (US$1.9)

EU research grant

Basilea and academic partners in Combigyrase consortium will develop antibiotics targeting gyrase through combinatorial biosynthesis (6/30)

BioVeris Corp. (BIOV)

Department of Defense

$7

Purchase agreements

The DoD exercised its option to purchase up to $7M of BioVeris products for detecting specific biological agents (6/24)

Cepheid Inc. (CPHD)

National Cancer Institute

$1.88

Grant

Two-year award will fund validation of the GeneXpert platform for the isolation and detection of tumor markers in tissue sections (5/24)

Ceptor Inc. (subsidiary of Xechem International Inc.; OTC BB: XKEM)

National Institutes of Health

$0.145

Grant

To support a project to study calpain inhibitors in protecting hearing loss (5/19)

Chiron Corp. (CHIR)

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

ND

Contract award

To produce an investigational vaccine against the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which struck China and the Far East (5/27)

Commonwealth Biotechnologies Inc. (CBTE)

Undisclosed U.S. government agencies

$1.7

Contract awards

The projects include production of pathogens, immunogenicity assessment of select agent vaccines and analyses of clinical trials (5/11)

ECI Biotech Inc.*

National Eye Institute

ND

Grant

For in vitro analysis of inhibition of proteolytic enzymes for treating microbial keratitis (6/11)

Enkam Pharmaceuticals A/S (Denmark); Reglia AB* (Sweden); Schaefer-N A/S* (Denmark); and Neuropharma SA (unit of Zeltia Group; Spain)

European Union

€9.7 (US$11.7)

Grant

Companies are among the 18 groups from 11 EU countries that will share the funds from the Promemoria project; the work focuses on the NCAM molecule for Alzheimer's disease (6/17)

Epigenomics AG* (Germany)

German Ministry for Education and Research

€1.1 (US$1.3)

BMBF grant

The grant will support a three- year project including academic collaborators to develop tech- niques for high-throughput early cancer screening based on DNA methylation (4/27)

Epimmune Inc. (EPMN)

National Cancer Institute

$0.8

Grant

Two-year grant to support the continued analysis of immune responses to its multi-epitope cancer vaccine, EP-2101 (5/11)

FASgen Inc. *

National Cancer Institute

$2.4

Grant

To support Phase II studies of of FASgen's fatty-acid synthase inhibitors in ovarian cancer (4/7)

First Genetic Trust Inc.*

National Institute of Standards and Technology

$2

Advanced Technology Program grant

To support development of a secure information system that manages patients' medical and genetic data for use in surveillance of adverse reactions and pharmacogenomic research (5/11)

454 Life Sciences (subsidiary of CuraGen Corp.; CRGN)

National Human Genome Research Institute

$2.4

Grant

Two-year grant will help fund the scale-up of technology for sequencing of larger genomes (5/19)

Gamida-Cell Ltd.* (Israel)

The Office of the Chief Scientist (Israel)

$1.3

Grant

To support stem cell research involving Gamida's StemEx product in cancer and cardiac indications (5/17)

Gene Logic Inc. (GLGC)

National Cancer Institute

$6.9

Contract

Multiyear deal under which Gene Logic will provide preclinical safety and pharmacology studies for the NCI; it could earn $6.9M over seven years (4/8)

Gene Network Sciences*

Department of Energy

$2.5

Grant under Genomics: GTL program

Three-year grant to create a computational hypothesis-testing framework to infer probable net- work architectures in cells in a massively parallel computing environment (5/11)

GenOway SA* (France)

The French Agency for Innovation and the Ministry of Research (France)

€1 (US$1.2)

Research support

The funding will support the company's EUREKA-labeled program for developing genetically modified rats (5/20)

Incara Pharmaceuticals Corp. (OTC BB:ICRA)

National Cancer Institute

$0.375

Phase II SBIR grant

To study the antitumor and radiation-protective effects of Incara's catalytic antioxidants (4/1)

Incell Corp.*

U.S. Air Force

ND

Contract award

To further develop an oral smallpox vaccine and platform based on the use of modified vaccinia Ankara (5/5)

Inotek Pharmaceuticals Corp.*

National Institutes of Health

ND

Phase I SBIR grant

To support preclinical studies of the company's lead product for treating organophosphate toxicity-related brain damage (4/30)

Intradigm Corp.*

National Eye Institute

ND

Phase I SBIR grant

To support development of the company's lead anti-angiogenesis siRNA therapeutic for eye neo- vascularization diseases (6/21)

Intradigm Corp.*

National Cancer Institute

ND

Phase I STTR grant

To support work with the University of Maryland on nucleic acid delivery technology targeting brain tumors and their blood vessels (6/9)

Intradigm Corp.*

National Cancer Institute

ND

Phase I SBIR grant

To support development of the company's lead cancer siRNA therapeutic, which is designed to inhibit the VEGF pathway (5/20)

Introgen Therapeutics Inc. (INGN)

National Cancer Institute

$1.2

STTR grant

To support a recently initiated Phase II trial of INGN 241 in malignant melanoma (4/13)

Juvaris BioTherapeutics Inc.*

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

ND

Phase I SBIR grant

The grant will fund initial studies of a vaccine against Pseudmonas aeruginosa, which uses cationic lipid-DNA complexes (5/18)

Kosan Biosciences Inc. (KOSN)

National Cancer Institute

$0.75

Phase II SBIR grant

Two-year grant to support development of next-generation inhibitors of heat-shock protein 90 as potential cancer agents (4/13)

Kosan Biosciences Inc. (KOSN)

National Cancer Institute

$0.75

Phase II SBIR grant

To develop an efficient means of producing analogues of the polyketide discodermolide, an agent being studied for cancer (4/1)

LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals Inc.*

Department of Defense

$2.18

Contract award

To support continued development of drugs for norovirus infections, which cause gastroenteritis (6/25)

Mologen AG* (Germany)

Ministry of Education and Research (Germany)

€0.26 (US$0.31)

BioChancePLUS program grant

To support DNAShield program of developing a two-component vaccine against aggressive infections; support for the two-year program could total €0.86M (4/7)

MycoLogics Inc.*

Department of Health and Human Services

ND

Phase I SBIR grant

To isolate a new class of com- pounds by disrupting beta(1,3)- glucan synthesis using a novel assay (4/3)

NewNeural LLC*

National Institute on Aging

ND

Phase I SBIR grant

To support development of the small molecule NN-818TM, which is being developed to increase neural stem cells (5/24)

NovaRx Corp.*

National Institutes of Health

$2

SBIR grant

The grant, payable over four years, will help fund a pivotal Phase II/III trial of the company's therapeutic vaccine for brain cancer (5/12)

Novozymes A/S (Denmark; CSE: NZYM)

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

$2.3

Subcontract award

They extended three-year deal for one year; the work involves converting cellulosic biomass into sugars for fuel ethanol and other products (4/26)

One Cell Systems Inc.*

National Cancer Institute

$0.95

Phase II SBIR grant

To develop fluorescence in situ hybridization assays for detecting mRNA telomerase in cancer cells (4/21)

Oridis Biomed* (Austria); PSF Biotech* (Germany); Nascacell IP* (Germany); and Tripos Receptor Research* (UK)

European Union

€2.5 (US$3.1)

Sixth Research Framework Program grants genomics targets (5/11)

The four companies along with two academic partners will work on parallel optimization in the development of new oncology

Oxford BioMedica plc (UK; LSE:OXB)

Christopher Reeve Foundation

$0.15

Grant

To support the company's Innurex program for nerve regeneration in spinal cord injury (4/20)

Oxford BioMedica plc (UK; LSE:OXB)

Department of Health (UK)

£0.5 (US$0.89)

Grant

To develop its LentiVector technology for use in treating single-gene inherited disorders, focusing on hemophilia A (3/29)**

Panacea Pharmaceuticals Inc.*

National Institute of Aging

ND

Phase I SBIR grant

To evaluate PAN-811 and its derivatives as neuroprotectants for global and focal ischemia (4/6)

Paradigm Genetics Inc. (PDGM)

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

ND

Contract expansion

For additional work using small interfering RNA technology in toxicogenomics research, which Paradigm is doing under a five- year deal begun in 2002 (5/6); expanded deal to include a study of four to six additional known liver toxicants (6/28)

Paradigm Genetics Inc. (PDGM)

National Institutes of Health

$0.85

Phase I/II SBIR contract

To apply biochemical profiling to the discovery of biomarkers for alcohol-related diseases (6/23)

Paradigm Genetics Inc. (PDGM)

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

ND

Phase I/II SBIR contract

Fast-track contract will support efforts to discover biochemicals in urine, serum and liver tissue that predict the early onset of drug-induced liver injury (6/21)

Perlegen Sciences Inc.* and the Mayo Clinic

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research

$2.8

Grant

Up to $2.8M could be earned for whole-genome association studies of Parkinson's disease, using Perlegen's genotyping technology and Mayo's DNA samples (6/14)

Pharmos Corp. (PARS)

Israel's Ministry of Industry and Trade

$3.1

Office of the Chief Scientist grant

The grant is for up to $3.1M to support development of dexanabinol in traumatic brain injury (4/1)

Phase 2 Discovery Inc.*

National Institute of Mental Health

$1.25

Phase II SBIR grant

To support Phase II trials of the synthetic melatonin analogue PD- 735 in primary insomnia (5/12)

Phylogeny Inc.*

State of Ohio

$1.1

Grant

To launch manufacturing of its next generation of tissue arrays (5/5)

Phylonix Pharmaceuticals Inc.*

National Cancer Institute

$0.993

Phase II SBIR grant assays for drug screening (6/2)

The $993,463 grant will be used to develop zebrafish apoptosis

Pieris Proteolab AG* (Germany)

Ministry of Education and Research (Germany)

€2 (US$2.4)

BioChance PLUS program grant

To validate Anticalins in pre- clinical development and to develop manufacturing processes against targets in oncology and cardiovascular diseases (5/7)

Piramed Ltd.* (UK) and The Institute of Cancer Research (UK)

Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure

ND

Grant

For preclinical evaluation of candidates resulting from their collaboration on targeting the PI3 kinase pathway to discover cancer drugs (5/20)

Protiveris Inc.*

Maryland Industrial Partnerships program

$0.116

Award

For optimization of a microfluidic sample delivery system in the company's biosensor system (4/1)

Provectus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTC BB:PVCT)

The Prostate Cancer Foundation

$0.120

Research award

The two-year award to the University of Wisconsin at Madison is to study Provectus' PV-10 cancer drug (4/1)

Resverlogix Corp. (Canada; TSE:RVX)

National Research Council of Canada

C$0.18 (US$0.133)

Industrial Research Assistance Program agreement

To fund further development of the APO A1 assay screening process, which is used to identify lead compounds (6/21)

Ribonomics Inc.*

National Institutes of Health

$0.663

Two SBIR grants

One grant is to apply its RAS technology to understanding signaling processes in beta-cell function; the second is aimed at identifying signaling pathways involved in leptin receptor-regulated physiology (4/26)

Sangamo BioSciences Inc. (SGMO)

National Institute of Standards and Technology

$2

Advanced Technology Program grant

Three-year grant will support research on an application of its zinc finger DNA-binding protein transcription factor technology (5/4)

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (China; OTC BB: SNVBF)

National Institutes of Health

ND

Development support

Sinovac received funding sup- port for a SARS vaccine research project that will test responses in bioassays (5/19)

SRI Internaitonal*

National Cancer Institute

$12.3

Contract awards

SRI will evaluate the preclinical safety and pharmacology of potential therapeutic agents under seven-year contracts (6/26)

SRI International*

National Institute of General Medical Sciences

ND

Grant

To expand development of the MetaCyc metabolic pathway and enzyme technology, which was developed in collaboration with the Carnegie Institution (5/17)

Syrrx Inc.*

National Institute of Standards and Technology

ND

Advanced Technology Program grant

To facilitate the development of nanoscale arrays and processes that improve the crystallization of medically important proteins (5/3)

The Immune Response Corp. (IMNR)

The Immune Tolerance Network

ND

Grant

The grant was awarded to Oregon Health Sciences University to support research on NeuroVax, an agent being developed for multiple sclerosis (4/6)

Thuris Corp.*

National Institutes of Health

ND

STTR grant

For development of drugs for certain orphan indications in central nervous system diseases (6/24)

TransTech Pharma Inc.*

Department of Defense

$0.065

Phase I SBIR grant

To enhance its computational technology to generate molec- ular models and use them to design chemical inhibitors for targets of interest to the U.S. Army (5/11)

TransTech Pharma Inc.*

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

$0.665

Phase I SBIR grant

To identify and optimize potential small-molecule drugs to treat smallpox (5/11)

U.S. Genomics Inc.*

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

$7.5

Contract

Eighteen-month contract to develop a biological sensor to detect and identify airborne pathogens using its GeneEngine DNA-mapping technology (5/10)

Viragen Inc. (AMEX:VRA)

Scottish government

$0.833

Grant under SPUR Plus program

To support research and development of Viragen's anti-CD55 cancer antibody (4/15)

ViRexx Medical Corp. (Canada; TSE:VIR)

Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (Canada)

$0.5

Phase 3 Technology Commercialization Award

To help fund a Phase I trial of Occlusion Injection in liver cancer, which is expected to start in 2H:04 (4/26)

ViroLogic Inc. (VLGC)

National Institutes of Health

ND

Phase II SBIR grant

The follow-on grant will be used to assess HIV replication capacity as a predictor of the pace of progression to clinical AIDS (6/24)

Xenon Genetics Inc.* (Canada)

Genome Canada and Genome British Columbia

C$7 (US$5.2)

Research funding

Xenon will provide matching funds for the three-year project to develop improved diagnostics and therapeutics for common iron metabolism disorders (4/13)


Notes:

* Indicates a privately held company.

** Item happened before April 1 but was not included in the previous chart.

Currency conversions reflect values at the time of a deal's announcement.

SBIR = Small Business Innovation Research; STTR = Small Business Technology Transfer.

Unless otherwise indicated, symbols listed are on the Nasdaq market.

AMEX = American Stock Exchange; CSE = Copenhagen Stock Exchange; LSE = London Stock Exchange; OTC BB = Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board; SWX = Swiss Stock Exchange; TSE = Toronto Stock Exchange.