• Alimentary Health Ltd., of Cork, Ireland, raised €1.3 million in a funding round led by Seroba Bioventures Ltd., to continue development of probiotic bacterial strains as therapies for gastrointestinal disease. Alimentary Health, which was spun out from University College Cork in 1999, has built up a collection of bacterial strains isolated from human intestinal tissues. It has secured a co-development agreement for treating irritable bowel syndrome with an unnamed U.S. health care company and is about to undertake a Phase II trial.

• Argenta Discovery, of Harlow, UK, signed a new contract research agreement with GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London, following a successful collaboration over the past 12 months. The drug discovery company will work with GSK groups involved in respiratory and inflammatory diseases in Stevenage, UK, and psychiatric diseases in Verona, Italy.

• Avantium Technologies, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Chiral Quest Inc., of State College, Pa., entered a partnership to use Chiral Quest's array of chiral ligand catalysts in Avantium's high-throughput experimentation and simulation technology for the biopharmaceutical and fine-chemical industries. Avantium provides rational high-throughput product and process R&D solutions to the chemicals and life science industries. Chiral Quest offers ligands for asymmetric catalytic reactions. Financial terms were not released.

• Curacyte AG, of Munich, Germany, said results from a Phase IIc study might point the way toward improved treatment for patients suffering from distributive shock. The study examined the effectiveness and tolerability of pyridoxalated hemoglobin polyoxyethylene (PHP) in patients suffering from shock associated with systemic inflammatory response syndrome. The study's results corroborate PHP's activity and tolerability from earlier trials and show favorable trends in future primary endpoints. Specific data from the study will not be public until March and will be presented at the International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine in Brussels, Belgium. However, Curacyte is actively seeking partners to begin a Phase III study, and it reports that a Phase III study design has been accepted by the FDA. PHP is a chemically modified hemoglobin, derived from human blood, designed to bind nitric oxide and to metabolize it to nontoxic nitrate.

• CureTech Ltd., located in Yavne, Israel, completed a second round of financing raising $1.7 million from Clal Biotechnology Industries, its main shareholder. The funds will be used to fund further development of its lead product, CT-AcTibody, which has just entered Phase IIa trials for the treatment of hematological malignancies. CT-AcTibody, a fully humanized monoclonal antibody belonging to a unique group of agonistic antibodies, modulates immune response and can potentially target a variety of immune-related disorders including cancer and inflammatory diseases. A second Phase IIa study is planned for late 2004 in patients with various solid tumors. Further fund raising also is planned for later this year. CureTech previously raised $7 million. Other investors include Clal Venture Capital LP, Koonras Technologies Ltd. and Technorov Holdings Ltd.

• Cyprotex plc, of Macclesfield, UK, said it formed two agreements to use its Chloe Screen technology for in vitro profiling of the pharmacokinetics of compounds. The deals are with Altana Pharma, of Konstanz, Germany, and AstraZeneca plc, of London. Cyprotex's stock rose by 17 percent to 24 pence last week.

• Defiante Farmaceutica Lda, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sigma-Tau Group, of Rome, gained an exclusive license from RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of Bethesda, Md., to certain European rights to the latter's lead chronic wound therapy, Thymosin beta 4 (TB4). Defiante will pay RegeneRx a royalty on commercial sales and will purchase all required TB4 from the company. Should RegeneRx complete positive Phase II trials in the U.S., Defiante must either pay $5 million or begin Phase III trials in Europe to maintain the license. Defiante also will be obligated to attain future clinical and regulatory milestones in the licensed territory. As those milestones are obtained, certain performance criteria regarding commercial registration and minimum annual royalties will be required in each licensed country. The agreement does not prevent RegeneRx from sublicensing the technology in countries outside the licensed territory and has no impact on any U.S. rights.

• Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland, will receive $70 million in proceeds from the sale of four properties and businesses, which include Elan's San Diego office property, a manufacturing and research and development business based in Mezzovico, Switzerland, and its Segix Italia manufacturing business in Pomezia, Italy. Proceeds also came from a multiyear rental agreement with the new owner of the San Diego facility, and from the receipt of a $25 million milestone payment as part of a deal between Elan and King Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bristol, Tenn., that was contingent upon ongoing patent exclusivity for Skelaxin. Separately, Elan said its NanoSystems drug delivery business unit licensed its NanoCrystal technology to Aventis Pharma SA, a subsidiary of Aventis SA, of Strasbourg, France. In exchange for access and the right to develop and commercialize pharmaceuticals using the technology, Aventis will pay for formulation services, technology transfer, development milestones and royalties on sales of products incorporating or made using the technology.

• Epigenomics AG, of Berlin, formed a partnership with AstraZeneca plc, of London, to identify DNA methylation markers from clinical tumor samples for use in AstraZeneca's cancer drug efforts. AstraZeneca will provide tumor samples, and Epigenomics will use its DNA methylation microarray technology to identify biomarkers and to demonstrate the effectiveness of its approach. Separately, Epigenomics said positive results from its research into early detection of cancer were published in the current issue of Nucleic Acids Research. The company's technique selectively amplifies aberrant methylation patterns, which can be tumor markers, but not normal methylation signals in bodily fluids. The company is using the technology in product development for early detection of and differentiation among cancers, as well as monitoring tests in oncology.

• The European Molecular Biology Laboratory, of Heidelberg, Germany, selected the CodeLink Bioarray System from Amersham Biosciences Corp., a unit of London-based Amersham plc, to perform gene-expression experiments on a mouse model in its developmental biology unit and genomics core facility. The parties will jointly organize training and access to CodeLink technology. Researchers are using the mouse as a model system to better understand the underlying molecular changes in the transformation of pituitary tumors from the benign to the aggressive malignant stage.

• ExonHit Therapeutics SA, of Paris, received recommendation by an independent data safety monitoring board to continue its clinical trial of Ikomio, a potential treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease). The board said interim data raised no safety concerns, clearing the trial to proceed to its planned conclusion later this year. Survival is the primary endpoint of the 400-patient, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Ikomio or placebo is administered in addition to Rilutek (riluzole, Aventis SA), currently the sole approved drug for ALS. Ikomio appears well tolerated and does not alter the safety profile of Rilutek.

• IBFB Pharma GmbH, of Leipzig, Germany, raised €800,000 in additional private funding through two €400,000 investments, about a year after completing a second round of financing worth €10 million. The company is developing specific phosphodiesterase inhibitors for applications in allergy, asthma and autoimmune diseases. In addition, a matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor nonpeptide small-molecule library has been developed for evaluation for the treatment of cancer and arthritis.

• ICON Genetics AG, of Munich, Germany, said it had positive results from a technology for creating transgenic plants that do not have a selection marker gene. The company is focusing on transformation inside of plant chloroplasts, which it says will minimize the probability of undesired genes escaping into the environment. It said its technology is based on "re-greening artificially created pigment-deficient acceptor lines together with resistance markers that are unable to stably integrate into the chloroplast genome."

• Ingenium Pharmaceuticals AG, of Munich, Germany, agreed to provide Wyeth, of Madison, N.J., with genetic rat models with alterations in genes specified by Wyeth. The models will be developed using Ingenium's Ingenotyping technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• MediGene AG, of Martinsried, Germany, received marketing authorization in Germany for the three-month prostate cancer drug Eligard, partnered with Atrix Laboratories Inc., of Fort Collins, Col. Last month, MediGene received approval in Germany for Eligard 7.5 mg dosed once monthly.

• ML Laboratories plc, of Warrington, UK, said it needed to raise more money. The need arose because it has not received milestone payments as expected. The company said it has decided it is in the best interests of shareholders to have a fund raising, rather than cutting back on development projects.

• Mologen AG, of Berlin, was awarded a European patent (No. 0967274) for its manufacturing process for "minimalistic immunogenically defined gene expression," or MIDGE. A corresponding patent has been issued in the U.S. Mologen also won a positive opinion from the European Patent Agency for the company's dSLIM technology. The patent would cover a covalent closed nucleic acid molecule used for immunity modulation.

• MRC geneservice, of Cambridge, UK, launched its Drosophila RNA interference library, a product that encompasses more than 90 percent of the Drosophila genome to allow researchers to study the function of specific genes through genome-wide screens. MRC is a division of the UK government-funded Medical Research Council's Rosalind Franklin Centre for Genomics Research.

• Munich Biotech AG, of Neuried, Germany, began patient treatment in two Phase II trials of MBT-0206 for advanced metastatic breast cancer and metastatic pancreatic cancer. More than 40 sites will evaluate use of the anti-neovascular cancer agent in the two settings. Its antitumor efficacy will be tested in more than 50 breast cancer patients through administration of at least eight cycles over six months. Separately, 70 pancreatic cancer patients will be enrolled to evaluate the survival benefit of a treatment regimen that combines MBT-0206 with gemcitabine.

• NicOx SA, of Sophia-Antipolis, France, said its partner, Biolipox AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, reported the start of Phase II trials in allergic rhinitis with the NicOx compound NCX 1510. It is the first compound to be selected from the ongoing research and co-development agreement between the companies for the discovery and development of compounds in the respiratory field. The Phase IIa study is an out-of-season allergen-provocation study to be carried out at Lund University Hospital involving 36 patients. Results are expected in mid-2004.

• Novartis AG, of Basel, Switzerland, said its seven-year-old Novartis Venture Fund committed $35 million in 2003 through additional funding to 25 companies already in its portfolio and eight new businesses. The fund, with a 74-company portfolio, has invested $215 million since its inception.

• PhenoMed Sdn Bhd, of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, began clinical trials for infectious diseases, such as avian flu. The company's partner, GenoMed Inc., of St. Louis, believes it has discovered a way to accomplish the equivalent of vaccination against all viruses. The method involves blocking angiotensin II, which is being studied by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md., to test the company's compounds against influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome.

• Phytopharm plc, of Godmanchester, UK, received a milestone payment of $2 million from Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co., following completion of Phase I studies of PYM50028 for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Phytopharm, a botanicals specialist, has received $5 million of a possible $33 million payable under the license with Yamanouchi, agreed in May. The company also received approval to start a UK Phase II study of PYM50028.

• Pluristem Life Systems Inc., of Haifa, Israel, consummated a private placement equity investment with a group of individual and institutional investors representing gross proceeds of $1.5 million. Pluristem is focused on the development of adult stem cell-expansion technology.

• Progen Industries Ltd., of Brisbane, Australia, began a new Phase II trial of its lead cancer compound, PI-88, with two patients starting treatment last week. The trial is the first of three new PI-88 Phase II trials to be initiated in the near future, the company said. The other Phase I trials scheduled are, respectively, the evaluation of PI-88 in combination with Taxotere for the second-line treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer and PI-88 as an adjuvant single-agent therapy in post-operative liver cancer patients.

• ProSkelia SAS, of Romainville, France, started a Phase IIa trial of its selective estrogen receptor modulator PSK 3471, a designer estrogen being developed for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. One of ProSkelia's two shareholders, Strasbourg, France-based Aventis SA, has an option to license PSK 3471 at the end of Phase IIa.

• Proteome Sciences plc, of Cobham, UK, said its partner the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor was awarded a U.S. patent on tumor-specific markers for use in the diagnosis of neuroblastoma and glioma. Proteome funded the research and has exclusive rights to commercialize the markers. Proteome says use of a protein marker would promote screening, leading to earlier diagnosis and improving the cure rate for neuroblastoma.

• Protherics plc, of Runcorn, UK, announced the first sales, on a named-patient basis, of Voraxaze, for the treatment of patients at risk of kidney damage from the chemotherapeutic methotrexate. The company aims to submit licensing applications to the U.S. and European authorities later in the year, and with orphan drug status in both territories, expects an expedited review. The named-patient sales will provide additional data to support the applications. Voraxaze (carboxypeptidase G2), a recombinant enzyme that acts by reducing elevated serum methotrexate levels, has been tested in over 200 cancer patients in Europe and the U.S.

• Provexis Ltd., of Liverpool, UK, in-licensed a plant extract discovered at Liverpool University for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. The extract, derived from plantain bananas, inhibits bacteria that are thought to provoke inflammatory episodes. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Sanofi-Synthelabo SA, of Paris, said it is making a $60 billion share and cash offer to take over all the shares of Aventis SA, of Strasbourg, France. The offer includes a 15.2 percent premium based on the average share price over the month ended Jan. 21, valuing each Aventis share at €60.43. Sanofi, which has unanimous approval from its board members, filed necessary documents in Paris and will file additional documents in the coming days in the U.S. and Germany. Sanofi said completion of the transaction would create the largest pharmaceutical group in Europe and third biggest in the world, with pro forma 2002 consolidated sales of €25 billion in core business and a direct presence in all major world markets. The combined entity's headquarters would be in Paris.

• Sinovac Biotech Ltd., of Beijing, was cleared to begin clinical trials of a vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome by Chinese regulatory authorities. Animal tests on safety, efficacy and immunogenicity have been completed successfully. Immune response was invoked by the vaccine in all animal models. No immune enhancement was observed in any of the preclinical testing. A Phase I trial in 30 humans is expected to begin soon. The researchers hope the vaccine will provoke the body's immune system into action so that it can destroy the SARS virus.

• Techno Venture Management, of Munich, Germany, promoted Stephen Hoffmann to general partner of the firm's Boston life science team. The move brings the company to 14 general partners. Hoffman joined TVM in January 2003 from Allos Therapeutics Inc., where he had served as president, chief financial officer and director and where he remains as chairman.

• Unihart Biotech Pharma, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Generex Biotechnology Corp., of Toronto, entered an agreement to conduct a feasibility study for the development of a prototype drug delivery system using Generex's RapidMist Drug Delivery System in conjunction with Oroferone, a peroral natural interferon liquid formulation developed by Unihart. The formulation initially will be a proof-of-concept formulation that will require further development efforts to optimize bioavailability in a follow-on program should the companies decide to proceed.

• Vertex Management Israel, of Savyon, Israel, acquired Vitalife Life Sciences Fund, of Tel-Aviv, which manages $50 million, with $25 million still available for new and follow-on investments. Both are controlled by Discount Capital Markets and Investments. Vitalife co-managers Jeff Dykan and Abraham Ludomirski, will still direct Vitalife's investments. Dykan said the change will not affect the fund's investors or investments, but that direct management will shift to Vertex from Discount Capital Markets.

• Xerion Pharmaceuticals AG, of Munich, Germany, and Medarex Inc., of Princeton, N.J., entered a collaborative agreement to develop fully human therapeutic antibody products. Terms of the agreement require Xerion to contribute disease-associated targets identified through its Xstream technology, while Medarex expects to generate fully human antibody product candidates against the targets using its UltiMAb Human Antibody Development System. The companies will share equally in the costs and responsibilities of resulting product development and intend to jointly commercialize any antibody products that come from the collaboration.

• Xigen SA, of Lausanne, Switzerland, raised an undisclosed amount of funding after closing a private round of financing. The privately held company said it would use the proceeds for safety and toxicology testing of its lead compounds in neurodegenerative disorders, a field in which Xigen said it has demonstrated high efficacy in various preclinical disease models. Simultaneous with the financing, the company added two board members - Thomas Meyer and Alain Nicod.