Acusphere Inc., of Watertown, Mass., received U.S. Patent No. 6,730,322 titled "Matrices Formed of Polymer and Hydrophobic Compounds for Use in Drug Delivery."

Adherex Technologies Inc., of Ottawa, Ontario, was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,723,700, a composition-of-matter patent for compounds that modulate the family of adhesion molecules known as claudins, which have applications such as enhancing the delivery of drugs to tumors and the inhibition of angiogenesis.

AMDL Inc., of Tustin, Calif., received a patent for its Combination Immunogene Therapy, which uses two genes in combination to build a body's immune system and destroy cancer cells.

Amnis Corp., of Seattle, was issued eight U.S. patents covering the architecture, subsystems, algorithms, cell-probing techniques and applications of the ImageStream platform technology, which is for the imaging and analysis of cells in flow.

Bio-America Inc., of Toronto, received a patent titled "A Method to Control Lipogenesis," which refers to a way to control production of fat reserves by regulating the levels of human proteins called lipogenins.

Depomed Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,723,340, covering certain polymer combinations used to create improved formulations of existing drugs.

Genaera Corp., of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,737,427 titled "Mucin Synthesis Inhibitors," covering the use of Lomucin (talniflumate) and certain 2-aminophenyl acetic acid compounds to treat diseases characterized by mucin production.

Interleukin Genetics Inc., of Waltham, Mass., was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,730,476 for specific genetic markers that identify women who have a higher likelihood of early onset menopause, as well as No. 6,733,967 for a genetic test to identify which pregnant women are more likely to have a pre-term, low-birth-weight infant.

Introgen Therapeutics Inc., of Austin, Texas, was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,726,907 titled "Purified Adenovirus Compositions," which broadly covers purified adenoviral compositions or preparations without limitation to the type of adenovirus, its use or application and without production limitations.

NsGene A/S, of Ballerup, Denmark, was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,734,284 covering the neurotrophic factor Neublastin, a member of the GDNF (glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor) family of proteins.

Paradigm Genetics Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,733,963 titled "Methods for the Identification of Inhibitors of Isopropylmalate Dehydratase as Antibiotics," and No. 6,740,498 titled "Methods for the Identification of Inhibitors of Histidinol-Phosphatase as Antibiotics."

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tustin, Calif., was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,737,064 titled "Method for the Diagnosis of Neoplastic Tissue Comprising Administering a Vasopermeability Enhancing Peptide of Human Interleukin-2," which covers methods for using the permeability-enhancing peptide portion of interleukin-2 to enhance the diagnosis of cancer.