• Active Biotech AB, of Lund, Sweden, said results from the Phase II study of its laquinimod (SAIK-MS) for the treatment of multiple sclerosis were presented last week at the American Academy of Neurology's 56th annual meeting in San Francisco. The study showed that SAIK-MS can slow the progress of MS even in the absence of beta-interferon. The Phase II study involved 209 patients.

• AGT BioSciences Ltd., of Geelong, Australia, and ChemGenex Therapeutics Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif., agreed to merge. AGT would issue 28 million ordinary shares valued at about A$14 million (US$10.4 million) to ChemGenex shareholders. The merger, expected to close by mid-June, would create a company specializing in genomics as a means of discovering new drug candidates, and have operations in Menlo Park, Geelong and San Antonio. The company would have two cancer drug candidates in Phase II trials.

• American Oriental Bioengineering Inc., of Hong Kong, said its soybean protein peptide might inhibit the growth of tumor cells. The company's research centered on the application of soybean protein peptide toward inhibiting growth of tumor cells. The growth of liver cancer cells inside mice was suppressed by soybean protein peptide without side effects.

• Australian Cancer Technology, of Perth, Australia, said the Phase II trial of its Pentrys (formerly Pentrix), an anti-idiotypic cancer vaccine, began last week with the vaccination of the first patient. The study is evaluating a new vaccine for men with hormone-refractory prostate cancer and is being conducted by Cancer Trials Australia at three sites in Melbourne. A total of 40 patients will be enrolled.

• Biogen Idec Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said Israeli regulatory authorities approved Amevive (alefacept) for treating adult patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy. Medison Pharma Ltd., of Petach-Tikvah, Israel, will distribute Amevive in that country. In addition, the company said it has received a positive opinion letter from Swiss regulatory authorities, and is in the final stages of negotiating its indication and securing marketing approval.

• British Biocell International, of Cardiff, UK, a specialist in rapid diagnostics, raised £4.5 million (US$8 million) in a flotation on the Alternative Investment Market in London. The money will be used to restructure the balance sheet and for acquisitions. The company recently agreed to buy a rapid test for herpes simplex and a gel for use by diabetics.

• CliniGenetics, of N mes, France, appointed Jeannette Fareh head of pharmacological and preclinical research, following encouraging results from preclinical trials of its lead compound, Nimoxine. CliniGenetics said Nimoxine demonstrated positive activity in arresting atheroma plaque progression in blood vessels (thus helping to prevent complications such as thrombosis and cerebral vascular accidents). Fareh previously was research director of the Canadian company Angiogene Inc., which also specializes in the prevention and treatment of vascular accidents.

• The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national research agency, entered an agreement to license its DNA-delivered RNAi gene-silencing technology for certain crops to Bayer CropScience AG, of Monheim, Germany. Using RNAi, CSIRO plant industry researchers first demonstrated gene silencing in an organism in 1995. Bayer gained a worldwide license to develop, market and sell selected crop plant varieties incorporating the RNAi technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Cytomyx Holdings plc, of Cambridge, UK, agreed to commercialize 11 human brain-derived cell lines created by CellFactors plc, also of Cambridge, for use in drug discovery. The cell lines resemble the tissues from which they originate and can be grown reproducibly in the laboratory.

• Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland, completed its sale of Zonegran (zonisamide) to Eisai Co. Ltd., of Tokyo. In exchange for about $130 million, Eisai acquired exclusive North American and European manufacturing, development and marketing rights to the drug, which was developed and marketed by Elan for the adjunctive treatment of partial seizures in adult epilepsy.

• Epigenomics AG, of Berlin, received funding from the German Ministry for Education and Research for a three-year project to design and develop new techniques for high-throughput early cancer screening based on DNA methylation. The ministry will contribute €1.1 million to the project, which will cost €2.7 million total. The project will begin this month.

• Fumapharm AG, of Lucerne, Switzerland, and Biogen Idec Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., reported results from a Phase II study of BG-12, an oral fumarate, in patients with severe psoriasis. Patients who received BG-12 in the trial showed greater improvement in their psoriasis than patients receiving placebo. The trial, conducted by Fumapharm, involved 144 patients with severe forms of psoriasis. At week 12, median percentage reductions from baseline Psoriasis Area and Severity Index score were 71 percent for patients receiving 720 mg, 52 percent for patients receiving 360 mg, 31 percent for patients receiving 120 mg and 6 percent for patients receiving placebo. The results were presented at the spring symposium of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venerology in Budapest, Hungary.

• Galen Holdings plc, of Craigavon, Northern Ireland, sold its UK-based pharmaceutical product sales and marketing business for $72 million in cash to a company under the control of Allen McClay, the founder and former chairman of Galen. The pharmaceutical business achieved sales of $32.9 million for the year ended Sept. 30. It sells products such as Kapake, an analgesic; Regurine for incontinence; and Loestrin, an oral contraceptive. Galen also has an agreement to sell its sterile fluids solutions business for $4.5 million plus working capital to Gambro BCT, of Lakewood, Colo. That business achieved sales of $12 million in 2003.

• Gamida-Cell Ltd., of Jerusalem, said preclinical results showed that the injection of expanded populations of human stem cells improves cardiac function in animals that have suffered a heart attack. Another preclinical study found that expanded populations of stem cells derived from bone marrow might provide an alternative treatment source for patients with cardiac ischemia. The company also said the copper-chelation capacity of certain compounds together with the chemical structure adopted by the molecule in the presence of copper are important factors in determining their capacity to enhance the self-renewal of stem cells.

• Global Genomics AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, said that in a recent study its tangerine gene-expression profiling platform demonstrated superior sensitivity in detecting gene expression when compared to a leading microarray platform. Studies were performed on mouse liver tissue and validated by real-time polymerase chain reaction testing.

• GW Pharmaceuticals plc, of Salisbury, UK, announced a further delay in the expected approval date for Sativex, its cannabis-derived spray for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. In January, the company said it expected approval in the second quarter of 2004, but last week said it has been asked for further information and clarification by the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency. GW's shares fell 45 pence to £1.33 on the news.

• Icon Genetics AG, of Munich, Germany, published positive results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of its technology for expressing plant genes. The company said it has developed an efficient method based on proviral RNA vectors to quickly reprogram plant biosynthesis in favor of expressing the recombinant protein of interest. The vectors are delivered to leaf cells as DNA precursors by Agrobacterium-mediated transfection, and rapidly spread throughout the entire plant by cell-to-cell or systemic movement. Icon said the process makes milligram quantities of the proteins available within three to four weeks, with a yield of up to 5 milligrams of protein per gram of fresh leaf biomass.

• Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH, of Tuebingen, Germany, received private investments of €8.25 million in its first round of venture finance. The company uses its technologies to identify and validate compounds to treat various forms of cancer. The compounds are comprised of short peptides that stimulate the body's own immune system to react against the tumor. The company plans rapid development of the compounds for kidney cancer. In addition, it intends to describe genes that are relevant to tumor formation in common forms of cancer. Investors in the round included the EMBL Technology Fund, Wellington Partners, 3i Group, Grazia Equity, Merifin Capital and SEED/L-EA.

• Jerini AG, of Berlin, extended a three-year-old collaboration into a strategic alliance with Baxter Healthcare Corp., of Deerfield, Ill., to develop peptidomimetic drugs against an undisclosed target. Baxter also has an exclusive option to jointly identify peptidomimetic drugs against further targets. Starting in 2001, the partners used Jerini's Peptides-to-Drugs technology platform to identify several peptidomimetic lead compounds, and under the extended collaboration, Jerini will further optimize the peptide-derived agonistic molecules. Together, they are aiming to identify a clinical development candidate within the next 24 months. For its work, Jerini will receive an up-front payment, personnel funding, milestones payments for discovery, preclinical and clinical stages, as well as royalties.

• Karo Bio AB, of Huddinge, Sweden, got rights back to a compound from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., of New York. The pharmaceutical firm discontinued internal activities on the target, which stems from a six-year-old drug discovery collaboration to develop compounds that target the thyroid hormone receptors for obesity and the metabolic syndrome. Karo Bio said the program succeeded in discovering selective compounds with desirable effects in animal models that lacked the undesirable cardiac side effects that occur with the use of the natural hormone. Those results recently were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The company said it would focus its preclinical discovery activities on second-generation compounds in the metabolic disease area.

• Lipomed AG, of Arlesheim, Switzerland, will be the exclusive distributor of Thalidomide Pharmion in Switzerland and Austria, Pharmion Corp., of Boulder, Colo., said. Lipomed also will act as Pharmion's distributor partner in those countries for Refludan and Vidaza. Pharmion currently sells thalidomide on a compassionate-use and named-patient basis in Europe and certain other markets, while seeking the drug's regulatory approval for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

• MediGene AG, of Martinsried, Germany, began a 60-patient Phase II trial of Polyphenon E ointment in Germany and Switzerland to treat actinic keratosis. Results are expected in 2005. MediGene had been developing the ointment to treat genital warts, with positive results from a Phase III trial announced last month.

• Mologen AG, of Berlin, began a collaboration with MEBO International Group, of Beijing, to develop cancer therapies and test their clinical effectiveness in China. Mologen will contribute genetically modified and immunomodulated tumor cells, while MEBO will contribute compounds from plant extracts and processes from traditional Chinese medicine.

• MTM Laboratories AG, of Heidelberg, Germany, was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,709,832, "Methods of early diagnosis of carcinomas," on its CINtec technology. The patent is based on techniques for detecting a protein designated p16INK4a, which is seen in very high concentrations in cancerous and precancerous cells of HPV-induced tumors, such as cervical cancer. European patent protection had been granted in 2003, and the company has secured additional patents in Australia, Japan and Russia.

• NeuroSearch A/S, of Ballerup, Denmark, said a next-generation compound called ABT-894 has emerged from its collaboration with Abbott Laboratories, of Abbott Park, Ill. The partners are evaluating neuronal nicotine acetylcholine receptors (NNRs), modulators of which have proved effective for pain relief in animal models. NeuroSearch said ABT-894 displays efficacy comparable to that of morphine in preclinical models of neuropathic pain and may be devoid of the adverse effects typically associated with opioids.

• Oxford BioMedica plc, of Oxford, UK, said it received FDA approval of an investigational new drug application for a Phase II trial of its cancer vaccine TroVax in patients with metastatic renal cancer. TroVax, which uses a viral vector to deliver the tumor-associated antigen 5T4, will be tested in combination with the standard treatment interleukin-2. Separately, the company said its Innurex treatment for nerve regeneration in spinal cord injury was awarded $150,000 by the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. The product uses Oxford BioMedica's LentiVector delivery system to deliver RARBeta2, a nuclear retinoic acid gene, to induce neurite outgrowth in damaged nerves. The company expects to publish animal data in mid-2004 showing restoration of limb function following injury.

• Phytopharm plc, of Godmanchester, UK, said it successfully completed a Phase I trial of PYM 50018, which is being developed for the treatment of motor neuron disease. All subjects tolerated their allocated dose without any significant safety issues. In a mouse model of the disease, PYM 50018 delayed loss of muscle strength and extended survival time.

• PPL Therapeutics plc, of Edinburgh, UK, said there is a second party in talks to buy the company. PPL was made famous by Dolly the cloned sheep, but is facing liquidation after shareholders refused to support a restructuring plan. Since September the company has raised £5.7 million (US$10.2 million) from the sale of assets, and apart from its cash has one remaining program, Fibrin-1, a wound sealant.

• pSiMedica Ltd., of Malvern, UK, was granted approval for a Phase IIa trial of BrachySil in the treatment of liver cancer. The trial will take place in Singapore and will be managed by pSiMedica's subsidiary there, pSiOncology Pte. Ltd. BrachySil uses the company's BioSilicon, a nano-structured form of silicon that is biocompatible and biodegradable, to lock in the radioisotope 32P that is delivered directly to the tumor by injection. The trial will be the first evaluation of BioSilicon in humans.

• responsif GmbH, of Erlangen, Germany, said findings published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry showed that small molecules and proteins can be ferried into living cells via a new technique making use of artificial capsoids. The scientists produced a capsoid protein, a viral coat protein found on the surface of the murine polyoma virus, and an anchor protein, which was taken from the inner part of the viral capsoid, to which various substances can be coupled. The researchers demonstrated that, under suitable conditions, complete protein capsoids will form in the reaction mixture and envelop the active substances. The resulting viral capsules contain up to an average of 64 polypeptides.

• The San Luigi Gonzaga Hospital in Torino, Italy, said its researchers reported findings at the American Academy of Neurology meeting in San Francisco showing that increasing the dose of Betaferon (interferon beta-1b, from Chiron Corp. and Berlex Laboratories Inc.) significantly improves the response of multiple sclerosis patients who exhibit persisting signs of disease activity with the standard dose. Patients who switched to 375 mcg of Betaferon every other day were 72 percent less at risk for active disease than those who continued on Betaferon 250 mcg every other day, and the proportion who were free of active disease on monthly magnetic resonance imaging scans was nearly double that of the 250-mcg-treated group.

• Sanofi-Synthelabo SA, of Paris, said the European Commission authorized its merger with Aventis SA, of Strasbourg, France. Sanofi-Synthelabo said it filed a registration statement with the SEC, and would file additional documents as well. The French offer, the U.S. offer and the German offer are being made on substantially the same terms, and their completion is subject to the same conditions. It is intended that they will expire at the same time.

• Serono SA, of Geneva, and Pfizer Inc., of New York, said long-term data support early treatment with high-dose, high-frequency Rebif in reducing the long-term accumulation of brain lesion volume in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. As measured by magnetic resonance imaging, the study showed Rebif 44 mcg continued to have an impact in reducing the accumulation of MS lesion volume in patients after seven to eight years of follow-up. Rebif (interferon beta-1a) was approved in the U.S. in 2002 and in Europe in 1998.

• Sinovac Biotech Ltd., of Beijing, said clinical trials for its severe acute respiratory syndrome vaccine were ratified by members of the World Health Organization in Geneva on April 27. Sinovac specializes in the research, development, commercialization and sales of vaccines for infectious diseases such as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza and SARS.

• Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., of Jerusalem, said data reported at the American Academy of Neurology meeting in San Francisco showed that relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients who remained on Copaxone (glatiramer acetate injection) therapy for an average of 10 years experienced significantly less progression of disability than patients who withdrew from the open-label follow-up study. More than 90 percent of those still on Copaxone did not show evidence of disease progression to a six on the Expanded Disability Status Scale, while 50 percent of those who withdrew from Copaxone therapy after an average of four and a half years progressed to that score. Separate data showed that treatment with Copaxone might provide beneficial effects in patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis. In a post-hoc analysis of all available data from an intention-to-treat cohort, men treated with Copaxone were found to have significantly slower rates of progression of the disease than those treated with placebo.

• XenoTrans Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, and Geron Corp., of Menlo Park, Calif., entered a nonexclusive license agreement in which XenoTrans gained rights to use Geron's nuclear transfer technology to produce transgenic pigs. XenoTrans plans to use the pigs to generate organs suitable for transplantation into humans. Geron will receive a 25 percent equity interest in XenoTrans, as well as a share of XenoTrans' future revenues.