• Corixa Corp., of Seattle, said the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California vacated its October grant of a motion for summary judgment by Biogen Idec Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., in which four U.S. Bexxar patents were held to be unenforceable due to a finding of inequitable conduct before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. But based on new evidence and other support not previously considered, the court vacated its previous order and denied Biogen Idec's motion for summary judgment of inequitable conduct. The previous ruling declaring the patents unenforceable has been reversed, pending litigation regarding these patents will continue, and there will be no need for Corixa to file an appeal to the federal circuit.

• GenVec Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., reported new data at last week's ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, showing that TNFerade was well tolerated when administered by either endoscopic ultrasound or percutaneous injection directly to the tumor in pancreatic cancer patients. The maximum tolerated dose was not reached and an additional cohort of patients is expected. Also, the findings further supported a dose-related improvement in terms of tumor response and normalization of a protein marker.

• 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 geneservice is a division of the UK government-funded Medical Research Council's Rosalind Franklin Centre for Genomics Research.

• RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of Bethesda, Md., raised $2.3 million after completing a private placement of its common stock. Investors purchased about 2.4 million shares at 95 cents apiece and received warrants to purchase up to 600,000 additional shares at $1.50 apiece, exercisable for 30 months. RegeneRx said it would use the proceeds to fund Phase II trials of TB4 for chronic dermal wounds and for general operating purposes. The wound-healing drug is the subject of a development agreement entered last week with Defiante Farmaceutica Lda, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sigma-Tau Group, of Rome, which participated in the stock sales along with other investors.

• SuperGen Inc., of Dublin, Calif., said clinical data published in the current issue of Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation demonstrate the activity of a combination regimen that included its cancer compound Nipent (pentostatin for injection) in reduced-intensity allogeneic bone marrow transplant patients with myelodysplastic syndrome. Findings showed that 16 of 18 patients experienced full bone marrow engraftment, and 14 of 16 who demonstrated durable donor engraftment achieved clinically complete remission with the absence of circulating or bone marrow blasts and normal trilineage hematopoiesis within 100 days. Nipent is approved as a single-agent treatment for patients with hairy cell leukemia.

• Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc., of King of Prussia, Pa., said the FDA would complete its review of the anidulafungin new drug application on May 25, a 90-day extension beyond the original action date. The agency is requesting additional pharmacokinetic data, though the company noted that it believes the delay is not related to any specific concerns regarding safety and efficacy. Vicuron, which filed for approval last spring, said it continues to expect to launch the hospital antifungal agent in the first half of this year, as planned. (See BioWorld Today, April 29, 2003.)