• Amarin Corp. plc, of London, completed the sale of its U.S.-based subsidiary, Amarin Pharmaceuticals Inc., and a majority of its U.S. products to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, of Costa Mesa, Calif. The terms of the transaction were substantially as reported on Feb. 12 as a deal worth up to $46 million. Amarin Pharmaceuticals will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Valeant. Amarin also reported it settled its financial obligations to Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland, on Feb. 12, although specifics were not given. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 13, 2004.)

• American BioScience Inc., of Santa Monica, Calif., initiated clinical studies of weekly administration of Abraxane, a next-generation, solvent-free, nanoparticle albumin-bound taxane, in two new oncology indications: non-small-cell lung cancer and metastatic melanoma. A single-center, dose-escalation Phase I/II trial has begun in patients with chemotherapy na ve, advanced non-small-cell lung cancer. The study is expected to be expanded into a Phase II study. American BioScience licensed the North American manufacturing and marketing rights for Abraxane to American Pharmaceutical Partners Inc., of Schaumberg, Ill.

• Amgen Inc., of Thousand Oaks, Calif., opened a Seattle-based research and development campus named Helix. The $625 million, 750,000 square-foot facility will house more than 750 staff members coming from locations throughout Seattle.

• Biovail Corp., of Toronto, acquired rights to a new formulation of Teveten (eprosartan) and a formulation for an enhanced version of Coreg (carvedilol) through a $35 million acquisition of the remaining interest in BNC-PharmPass LLC. The company was a joint venture established between BLI Pharmaceutical Development Ltd., a subsidiary of Biovail, and PharmaPass II LLC. Teveten SB was developed to improve the bioavailability of the marketed product and might provide better dosing flexibility. Teveten SB will enter Phase I studies this quarter. Separately, Biovail said the FDA accepted its new drug application for Ralivia ER (tramadol hydrochloride) extended-release tablets, a once-daily, oral, controlled-release medication intended for moderate to moderately severe pain.

• BTG plc, of West Conshohocken, Pa., entered an alliance with Irish BioVentures International Ltd. (IBV), a source of venture development services for the life sciences and health care industries in Ireland. IBV will work with BTG to source and review intellectual property assets and venture opportunities within the life sciences, enabling BTG to expand its sourcing activities in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

• Chiral Quest Inc., of State College, Pa., completed a private placement to accredited investors for gross proceeds of about $7.2 million. Investors purchased an aggregate of about 4.8 million shares of Chiral Quest's stock at a $1.50 per share. Additionally, investors received five-year warrants to purchase one share of stock at $1.65 per share for every two common shares purchased in the offering. Chiral Quest is a research-based company that provides chiral products, technology and services to the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries.

• Covalent Group Inc., of Wayne, Pa., signed contracts for $4.8 million with three sponsors. The first is for a study to address a pharmacologic approach to treating hypertension in patients whose blood pressure is uncontrolled by standard-of-care anti-hypertensive medications. The second contract is for project management, data management, biostatistics and field operations services in the therapeutic area of osteoarthritis. The third contract is for a change of scope for an ongoing cardiovascular study. Covalent Group is a clinical research organization that designs and manages clinical trials.

• Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., said it halted its CAB-175 program, discontinuing development because of observed adverse events. The cephalosporin antibiotic product was in Phase I. The company's stock (NASDAQ:CBST) fell 46 cents to close at $12.93.

• Cytogen Corp., of Princeton, N.J., reported the publication of data derived using its protein interaction technology in the February 2004 issue of Proteomics. The company said the data validate the ability of its high-throughput approach to effectively identify and characterize protein interactions. Cytogen develops therapeutic and molecular imaging/diagnostic products.

• Hudson Health Sciences Inc., of South San Francisco, raised $4.7 million in a private equity financing with select private and institutional investors. The money will be used for its lead compound, PT-523, an anti-folate therapy with potential applications in oncology and immunological diseases. Hudson licensed PT-523 from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and recently began Phase I trials for treatment of advanced solid tumors.

• La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co., of San Diego, said it completed its previously reported public offering of 8.7 million shares of common stock. The proceeds to the company, after expenses, will be about $25.6 million. The company also granted the underwriter an option to purchase up to an additional 1.3 million shares at the initial offering price to cover overallotments, if any. La Jolla is developing therapeutics for antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 23, 2004.)

• Lynx Therapeutics Inc., of Hayward, Calif., reported a new multimillion-dollar services agreement with SAIC-Frederick Inc., of Frederick, Md., on behalf of a consortium of institutes of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., to characterize gene expression patterns in a large number of tissues from the common laboratory mouse using its Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing, or MPSS, technology. The project is designed to build a reference transcriptome database. Lynx will receive payments for genomics discovery services.

• MGI Pharma Inc., of Minneapolis, priced its offering of senior subordinated convertible notes due 2024 for gross proceeds of $225 million through an offering within the U.S. to qualified institutional buyers. The issuance of notes is expected to close March 2. The notes will be convertible, under certain circumstances, into MGI Pharma stock at a conversion rate of 11.8 shares per note (or an initial conversion price of about $62.92 per share), subject to adjustment on the occurrence of certain events. The initial conversion price represents a 30 percent premium over the closing bid of MGI Pharma stock on Feb. 25. The notes will bear cash interest at a rate of 2.25 percent per annum until March 2. The company has granted the initial purchasers a 30-day option to purchase up to $35 million gross proceeds of additional notes.

• Noven Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Miami, and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Chadds Ford, Pa., signed an agreement under which Noven will license the U.S. and Canadian rights to the developmental transdermal fentanyl patch to Endo. The agreement also establishes an ongoing collaboration between the companies for the development of additional prescription transdermal products. Noven's fentanyl patch is a transdermal delivery system for the management of chronic pain. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Pevion Biotech Ltd., of Bern, Switzerland, and AlgoNomics NV, of Ghent, Belgium, entered a one-and-a-half-year collaboration to rationally design RSV-derived peptides for use in vaccines. AlgoNomics' Tripole technology combines protein modeling knowledge with peptide design techniques to explore the interaction between peptides and proteins. Combining structural bio-informatics and in vitro peptide analysis, AlgoNomics will unveil specific peptide sequence motifs designed to elicit an antibody response when formulated with Pevion's virosome technology. Pevion was founded in 2002 as a joint venture of Berna Biotech AG, also of Bern, and Bachem AG, of Bubendorf, Switzerland.

• Pro-Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Newton, Mass., said GlycoGenesys Inc., of Boston, filed counterclaims against Pro-Pharmaceuticals and David Platt, its chairman and CEO, in response to the lawsuit Platt instituted against GlycoGenesys in January. Platt and Pro-Pharmaceuticals said the counterclaims are without merit and plan to contest them. Earlier in February, Platt notified GlycoGenesys by letter alleging breaches of material provisions of his license agreement and expressed his intention to terminate the agreement if the breaches were not cured within 60 days. Platt alleged that GlycoGenesys failed to take steps to perfect the U.S. patent application 08/024,487 and use its best efforts to commercialize the licensed technology. The license agreement covers GlycoGenesys' GCS-100, a modified pectin material previously known as GBC-590.

• Seattle Genetics Inc., of Bothell, Wash., said the FDA granted orphan drug designation to its product candidate SGN-30 for T-cell lymphomas. SGN-30 is a monoclonal antibody in Phase II trials for the treatment of anaplastic large-cell lymphoma and Hodgkin's disease. The FDA in July granted SGN-30 orphan drug designation for Hodgkin's disease. Seattle Genetics plans to initiate a Phase II study of SGN-300 in cutaneous lymphoma this year.

• Xechem International Inc., of New Brunswick, N.J., said researchers from CepTor-sponsored studies have reported in two experiments that their lead small molecule, the neuron-targeted protease inhibitor Neurodur, reduces clinical signs associated with multiple sclerosis in a mouse model. Research into the role of calpain in neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases has led CepTor scientists to explore inhibition of the protease as a therapeutic target in a variety of those diseases, including multiple sclerosis, hearing loss and myasthenia gravis. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 31, 2003.)