• Arysta LifeScience Corp., of Tokyo, named Christopher Richards president and CEO. John Hagaman, who has been serving as interim CEO, was appointed chairman. An agrochemical company, Arysta provides crop protection and life science products.

• Ash Stevens Inc., of Detroit, received approval from the FDA to manufacture the bulk drug substance 5-azacitidine for Boulder, Colo.-based Pharmion Corp.'s Vidaza, a treatment for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes. The FDA approved Vidaza to treat all five MDS subtypes last week. The substance will be manufactured in Ash Steven's Riverview, Mich., manufacturing facility. (See BioWorld Today, May 21, 2004.)

• AspenBio Inc., of Castle Rock, Colo., entered an exclusive license agreement for a portfolio of patents and patents pending developed during the last 15 years by Washington University in St. Louis in the field of animal health reproduction. AspenBio believes the technologies could be applied to reproduction in all mammals. The company expects to have access to the patents for about 20 years.

• Australian Cancer Technology Ltd., of Sydney, signed an agreement to acquire Galenica Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Birmingham, Ala., for $5 million. The company is making the acquisition through its U.S. subsidiary, Adjuvantys Inc. Australian Cancer will issue about 2 million ordinary shares at 48 cents per share and pay $350,000 in cash upon closing. An additional $3 million would be paid within a year in stock or cash, and a final $1 million payment would be made within two years. Galenica's technology comprises three families of semi-synthetic immune enhancers used to stimulate the immune system. Galenica also will bring with it a licensing agreement with New York-based Pfizer Animal Health for a series of animal vaccines in development.

• Bioniche Life Sciences Inc., of Belleville, Ont., said a Phase I/II trial of mycobacterial cell wall-DNA complex (MCC) to treat superficial bladder cancer showed that complete patient response at 12 months ranged from 43 percent to 64 percent. A total of 55 patients were enrolled in the trial. The company is working to design a pivotal, multicenter program in North America and Europe to confirm the efficacy and safety of MCC, which is an inactivated sterile biological produced from Mycobacterium phlei.

• Genetronics Biomedical Corp., of San Diego, closed its $10.9 million sale of Series C cumulative convertible preferred stock to institutional and accredited investors. The stock is convertible into Genetronics common stock at $1.70 per share. Genetronics will pay the Series C holders a 6 percent annual dividend, in shares or cash. Each holder will receive warrants to purchase shares of Genetronics' common stock at $2.20 per share. Participating investors were SDS Capital Partners, Baystar Capital, Xmark Funds, Qfinance Inc., and Rodman & Renshaw LLC. SCO Securities LLC led the financing.

• Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Baltimore, filed a universal shelf registration statement to offer from time to time up to $100 million in common stock, debt securities, warrants and preferred stock. Guilford is focused on researching, developing and commercializing products that target the hospital market, including its two marketed products, Gliadel Wafer and Aggrastat injection.

• Hard to Treat Diseases Inc., of Delray Beach, Fla., said it finalized the sale of its recycling division assets. The company had signed a letter of intent to sell the assets to International Foam Solutions Inc., also of Delray Beach, for $250,000 in the form of a secured promissory note payable within a year, as well as 20 percent of the stock of IFS. Hard to Treat decided to focus exclusively on its biotechnology operations and to advance Tubercin. Preliminary preclinical results of Tubercin in metastatic melanoma showed the product has a certain effect in delaying tumor development during the early stage of treatment.

• Inex Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Vancouver, and Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bridgewater, N.J., said the FDA accepted the new drug application for Onco TCS, triggering a $2.5 million milestone payment that Inex is paying to its former joint venture collaborator, Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland. In April 2003, Inex reacquired the 19.9 percent equity interest in Onco TCS held by Elan. The FDA review is expected to be completed in January 2005. The NDA was filed to seek approval as a single-agent treatment for patients with relapsed aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma previously treated with at least two combination chemotherapy regimens. Onco TCS is comprised of vincristine encapsulated in Inex's liposomal drug delivery technology. Enzon has exclusive North American commercialization rights for Onco TCS for all indications, while Inex holds all rights outside of North America.

• InGenium Research Inc., of Cary, N.C., entered an agreement with Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tustin, Calif., to assist in the development and partnering of a monoclonal antibody that might be used to treat cancer. Ingenium will provide clinical, scientific, business development and regulatory assistance to Peregrine during the preclinical evaluation of the cancer therapeutic.

• Lynx Therapeutics Inc., of Hayward, Calif., signed a new Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing service agreement with the National Institute of Mental Health to study gene expression in the brain. The study will focus on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex region of the brain that has been implicated in schizophrenia by cognitive studies, functional neuroimaging and tissue examinations. The project will determine the profile of genes expressed in the critical brain region of normal human beings, and might identify previously unknown molecular correlates of the genes.

• Martek Biosciences Corp., of Columbia, Md., filed a shelf registration statement to issue from time to time $200 million in debt securities, preferred stock or common stock. Martek develops, manufactures and sells products from microalgae.

• MedImmune Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., said it received government clearance to terminate its collaboration with Wyeth, of Madison, N.J., and reacquire FluMist and related technology. MedImmune announced the termination in April and expects to complete it in the near future. The company will assume full responsibility for the commercialization of FluMist and the development of CAIV-T, an investigational influenza vaccine. (See BioWorld Today, April 28, 2004.)

• MultiCell Technologies Inc., of Warwick R.I., learned that it is one of more than 200 publicly traded U.S. companies whose stock has been listed on the Berlin-Bremen Stock Exchange without the company's prior knowledge, consent or authorization. MultiCell, which said it requested immediate removal from the exchange, added that investors interested in purchasing its shares should buy them from the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board under the symbol "EXTI."

• Norwood Abbey Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, intends to appoint Rolf Stahel nonexecutive chairman once the company's shares are admitted to the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. Stahel is the former chief executive of Shire Pharmaceuticals Group plc, of Basingstoke, UK. Norwood's immunology business is focused on the development and commercialization of immunology-related technologies that have been developed around the use of GnRH analogues to boost the immune system.

• Pharmacopeia Inc., of San Diego, said its stockholders approved changing the company's name to Accelrys Inc. as part of a corporate restructuring that included the spin-off of Pharmacopeia Drug Discovery Inc. The board also appointed Mark Emkjer president and CEO. He also is a member of the board. Emkjer has been president of Accelrys since December 2002. Pharmacopoeia announced its plans to divide its software and drug discovery units last December. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 22, 2003.)

• SuperGen Inc., of Dublin, Calif., said data published in the current issue of Bone Marrow Transplantation showed evidence of reduced incidence of graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) after a reduced-intensity regimen for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation that incorporates Nipent (pentostatin for injection). In the study, 55 patients at high risk or ineligible for conventional allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants, received a regimen of extracorporeal photopheresis, pentostatin and reduced-dose, total-body irradiation. Findings showed the treatment to be well tolerated and associated with a low incidence of transplant-related mortality and acute GVHD.

• United Therapeutics Corp., of Silver Spring, Md., said the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration approved Remodulin to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension in patients with NYHA Class III and IV to diminish symptoms associated with exercise. Orphan Australia Pty. Ltd. distributes the product in Australia. Remodulin also is approved in the U.S., Canada and Israel. The company is pursuing marketing authorization in France, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Taiwan and Brazil.

• Xtrana Inc., of Broomfield, Colo., completed its previously announced sale of its intellectual property to Foster City, Calif.-based Applied Biosystems Group, for $4 million in cash. Applied Biosystem purchased the assets, including all U.S. and foreign patents, inventions and trade secrets. The $4 million payment consists of $100,000 in cash as a deposit, $3.5 million in cash paid at closing, and $400,000 in cash paid in 90 days following closing.