• Acacia Research Corp., of Newport Beach, Calif., said its CombiMatrix unit's common stock would begin trading on the Nasdaq National Market today as "CBMX," the symbol under which the stock previously traded on Nasdaq's SmallCap Market. The CombiMatrix unit is developing a platform technology to produce customizable active biochips.

• Antares Pharma Inc., of Exton, Pa., completed a Phase I trial of its oxybutynin topical gel product for overactive bladder. The transdermal formulation, which uses Antares' ATD gel delivery technology, is the first reported product that provides therapeutic levels of oxybutynin along with a significant reduction of the initial drug metabolism in the liver, the company said. The product is applied to the abdomen, shoulders or thighs.

• Chimerix Inc., of San Diego, received a two-year, $600,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant under the Advanced Technology Program of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Chimerix will use the grant to support preclinical development of drug candidates for the treatment of multidrug-resistant HIV-1 infection. Its candidates are derivatives of phosphonoformic acid.

• CytRx Corp., of Los Angeles, said a collaboration recently announced between the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Dharmacon Inc., of Lafayette, Colo., would enhance and accelerate the work being done under CytRx's sponsored research at the university. Last year, CytRx entered an alliance with the university and sponsored research with one of its professors to use RNA interference technologies in the development of lead drug compounds for obesity and Type II diabetes. In January, Dharmacon entered a collaboration to design siRNA reagents for the professor's studies and to supply them to the lab.

• Discovery Partners International Inc., of San Diego, filed with the SEC a registration statement for a proposed public offering of about 7.2 million shares. All of the shares are being offered by Axys Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, a stockholder of the company. Discovery Partners granted to the underwriters an option to purchase up to about an additional 1 million shares to cover overallotments. Discovery Partners offers integrated services, products and systems for drug discovery.

• Dyax Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., filed a shelf registration statement with the SEC to offer and sell up to 7.5 million common shares. Terms would be established at the time of the offering. Dyax is focused on antibodies, small proteins and peptides as therapeutic products.

• EntreMed Inc., of Rockville, Md., began a Phase I trial of a new oral formulation of its lead drug candidate, Panzem (2-Methoxyestradiol, 2ME2). The study's objectives are to determine the pharmacokinetics and safety profiles of various oral dosage forms. Panzem, which has been tested as a single agent and in combination with chemotherapeutics, has exhibited a good safety profile in administration to more than 160 advanced cancer patients to date.

• Enzo Biochem Inc., of Farmingdale, N.Y., reported interim results of its Phase II randomized, double-blind study of Alequel, its therapeutic for Crohn's disease. Alequel, a complex of autologous colon-derived antigens administered orally, was developed by Enzo based on its immune-regulation platform. Subjects with Crohn's disease were evaluated using the Crohn's Disease Activity Index, a standard measure of the severity of the disease, with higher scores indicating more severe disease activity. Of the seven evaluable subjects, 71 percent achieved clinical remission, compared with 25 percent of the subjects who received the placebo. Clinical remission is defined as a CDAI score of less than 150 at three consecutive points of nine, 12 and 15 weeks after initiation of treatment.

• Genome Therapeutics Corp., of Waltham, Mass., said Canadian regulatory authorities approved Factive (gemifloxacin mesylate) tablets for acute bacterial exacerbations of chronic bronchitis. The company is developing its commercialization strategy for Canada. The product, approved nearly a year ago by the FDA following development by GeneSoft Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, is expected to launch in the U.S. this summer. Genome Therapeutics merged with GeneSoft last fall. (See BioWorld Today, April 21, 2003, and Nov. 19, 2003.)

• Genzyme Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., said a UK judicial body issued a decision on its appeal of a judgment against its UK subsidiary. The case focused on whether Genzyme violated UK competition law by providing home-care services to patients with Gaucher's disease receiving Cerezyme (imiglucerase for injection) to the exclusion of other home-care providers. The decision preserves the list price for Cerezyme, lowers the fine Genzyme will be required to pay from £6.8 million (US$12.3 million) to £3 million, plus interest, and allows Genzyme to continue providing home-care services to UK patients.

• Immunicon Corp., of Huntington Valley, Pa., said it would sell 6 million shares at a range between $12 and $14 through its initial public offering. The company, which is working to produce cell-based research and diagnostic products for cancer, registered for its IPO late last year. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 10, 2003.)

• Integrated Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Boston, said its $3 million private placement was oversubscribed, resulting in subscriptions for more than $4.2 million of common stock at $1 per share. The offering, which began in early January, was made available only to accredited investors, who also received a warrant exercisable at $2.50 per share to purchase one additional common share for every two shares purchased in the placement. The warrants have a term through Dec. 31, 2006. Another investor also received a 90-day right to purchase up to an additional $1.2 million of common stock. Integrated is dedicated to biopharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals and ingredients for unmet medical needs.

• La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co., of San Diego, reported Phase III and Phase II/III data of Riquent (abetimus sodium) that showed more lupus patients in the Riquent-treated group (41 percent) experienced at least a 50 percent reduction in proteinuria from baseline than patients in the placebo-treated group (28 percent). The data were included in the new drug application for Riquent that is being reviewed by the FDA.

• MDS Sciex, a division of MDS Inc., of Toronto, signed an agreement with global scientific supplier VWR International Inc., of West Chester, Pa., to distribute MDS Sciex's new line of ProteoSpin protein-purification products and ProteoLadder protein markers. VWR will have the sales, marketing and support rights for those product lines in the U.S. and Canada. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• MGI Pharma Inc., of Minneapolis, said Aloxi (palonosetron hydrochloride) injection was incorporated into this year's National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) anti-emetic guidelines for prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting following moderately and highly emetogenic chemotherapy. The NCCN identified the product as the preferred agent for the condition's prevention following moderately emetogenic (levels 3-4) chemotherapy, the company said.

• NeuroMed Technologies Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, initiated Phase I testing for its lead drug candidate for chronic pain, NMED-160, a calcium channel blocker. The Phase I study is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of NMED-160 in healthy individuals.

• Nymox Pharmaceutical Corp., of Maywood, N.J., said results published online in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease support neural thread protein (NTP), the company's Alzheimer's disease protein biomarker. In the study, human neuronal cells were transfected with NTP, and the signaling pathways leading to cell death were investigated, resulting in the identification of new factors mediating cell death. Nymox's Nymox AlzheimAlert test measures levels of NTP in the urine of patients.

• Pharmacyclics Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., presented preliminary results of an ongoing Phase II trial of Xcytrin (motexafin gadolinium) Injection to treat relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at the International Congress of Hematologic Malignancies being held this week in Whistler, British Columbia. Researchers observed antitumor activity in several of the 11 patients enrolled. Pharmacyclics plans to expand the trials in CLL and other non-Hodgkin's lymphomas to additional centers. Xcytrin treatment appears well tolerated with no evidence of hematologic suppression.

• Purely Proteins Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, started its commercial protein-purification program designed to accelerate and enhance the drug discovery and development process. The first products from the program are related to the Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase (PTP) protein family. The company is using its TargetBASE database to define relationships between the PTPs, enabling researchers to better understand and exploit the links between different PTPs and the drugs that bind to them.

• Samaritan Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Las Vegas, said it gained an exclusive worldwide license to "Methods and Compositions for Modulating Serum Cortisol Levels," after its collaborators at Georgetown University in Washington discovered that second-generation drugs to reduce and modulate the stress hormone cortisol could be promising treatments for AIDS and Alzheimer's disease. The company said the discovery of the second-generation compounds hold promise as future treatments for those diseases as well as multiple sclerosis, depression, Cushing's and hypertension, either alone or in combination with disease-specific therapies.

• Sangart Inc., of San Diego, reported positive results from its Phase Ib/II trial involving Hemospan (MP4), a hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier designed to serve as an alternative for blood transfusions. Preclinical and clinical studies indicate that Hemospan is free of harmful vasoactivity and provides targeted oxygen delivery to tissues at risk of oxygen deprivation, the company said, as well as having an extended half-life.

• The Senate Finance Committee in Washington voted in favor of FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan's nomination as administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In order to win the position, McClellan must be confirmed in a full Senate vote. However, The Washington Post reported Thursday that Tommy Thompson, secretary of Health and Human Services, reversed his decision to name McClellan chairman of a task force mandated by Congress under the new Medicare law to study whether there is a safe way of reimporting FDA-approved drugs from Canada. During his confirmation hearing before the finance committee Monday, McClellan, an internist and economist, spent most of his time fielding questions about reimportation. His responses were general in nature, saying that specific information on the issue would be generated by the task force. New Medicare legislation signed into law in December contains a provision permitting U.S. residents to reimport drugs, provided Thompson certifies that it is safe. Biologics are not included. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 1, 2003, and March 9, 2004.)

• SurroMed Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., extended its collaborative research agreement with Biogen Idec Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., to allow for longitudinal study of patients who entered the study naive to Avonex therapy. SurroMed - which is analyzing patient samples in its Biomarker Discovery Laboratory using its systems and methods for proteomic, metabolomic and cytometric analysis - will integrate, analyze and mine study data using its suite of informatics tools to identify biological markers and disease pathways. In June 2002, the companies agreed to characterize responses to Biogen's Avonex (interferon beta-1a) in multiple sclerosis patients. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix entered a partnership with the Children's Memorial Institute for Education and Research in Chicago, aimed at conducting genomic research into childhood illnesses and better defining their relationship to adult diseases. The institutes will conduct research on a spectrum of problems such as schizophrenia, behavioral disorders, autism, multiple sclerosis, cancer, developmental defects and autoimmune diseases. Employing DNA microarray technology, the research will focus on detecting genetic markers and finding ways to move discoveries from the laboratory into the clinical setting.

• Tripos Inc., of St. Louis, said it reached a collaboration-based milestone as Schering AG, of Berlin, accepted Tripos' Auspyx data cartridge for Oracle as the foundation of its Enterprise Chemical Information Management System (ECIMS). ECIMS is based on Tripos' ChemCore technologies in use at its chemistry research facilities in Cornwall, UK, and Tripos' Electronic Notebook (TEN) systems. The companies are planning to globally deploy ECIMS later this year.

• United Therapeutics Corp., of Silver Spring, Md., said data reported at the American College of Cardiology meeting in New Orleans detailed the long-term efficacy and survival benefit of Remodulin from a 112-patient, multicenter European study. Findings showed that patients improved functional class by more than 35 percent and their exercise tolerance improved by more than 150 meters during the study period. The results also showed that Remodulin's most frequent side effect - infusion-site pain - only resulted in cessation of therapy in 2 percent of the study cohort and that the Remodulin dose could be titrated to a therapeutic level.

• Viragen Inc., of Plantation, Fla., appointed Charles Rice president and CEO. He replaces Robert Salisbury, who will continue to serve as a board member and as president and CEO of Viragen's wholly owned avian transgenics subsidiary, ViraGenics Inc. Most recently, Rice served as group president of KV Pharmaceutical Co. with responsibility for commercial activities. Viragen specializes in natural and recombinant protein-based drugs designed to treat viral and malignant diseases.