• Acacia Research Corp., of Newport Beach, Calif., said its CombiMatrix group and Cyrano Sciences, of Pasadena, Calif., will collaborate on the development of chemical sensors, merging CombiMatrix's microarray technology with Cyrano's electronic nose technology. The collaboration seeks to expand the applicability of the microarray technology for sensing chemical agents in air and water.

• Aderis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Hopkington, Mass., reported the receipt of a $1 million milestone payment from King Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bristol, Tenn., in connection with King's commencement of the Phase III trial program involving binodenoson. Binodenoson is an adenosine A2A receptor agonist that Aderis licensed to King. King is developing binodenoson for cardiac pharmacologic stress testing used in conjunction with nuclear imaging, a procedure used to diagnose the presence and severity of coronary artery disease.

• Affymetrix Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., reported that it is launching the GeneChip Consortia Design Program, a collaborative initiative that will bring Affymetrix and plant and animal research communities together to create whole-genome arrays. Affymetrix will underwrite the design fees required to produce the new arrays.

• AtheroGenics Inc., of Atlanta, entered a collaboration with Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, to develop AtheroGenics' AGI-1096 compound as an oral treatment for the prevention of organ transplant rejection. They will conduct preclinical and early stage clinical development trials, with Fujisawa funding all development costs during the agreement. Fujisawa also will receive an option to negotiate for late-stage development and commercial rights to the compound. More specific financial terms were not disclosed.

• Atria Genetics Inc., of South San Francisco, formed a worldwide distribution agreement with Abbott Laboratories, of Abbott Park, Ill., for a line of tests to define human leukocyte antigens used for identifying potential donors for bone marrow transplantation. Abbott gains exclusive marketing and distribution rights outside the U.S. for Atria's AlleleSEQR HLA DNA sequencing-based typing products, including tests for Class I and Class II HLA genes. Abbott also has exclusive marketing and distribution rights for HLA analyte-specific reagents in the U.S. It will distribute the products through its alliance with Celera Diagnostics LLC, of Alameda, Calif.

• Barrier Therapeutics Inc., of Princeton, N.J., said two Phase III trials of Sebazole showed it is an effective treatment of facial seborrheic dermatitis with a once-daily treatment regimen of only two weeks. The two blinded, placebo-controlled trials enrolled more than 900 patients in about 50 centers in the U.S. and Europe.

• Bioniche Life Sciences Inc., of Belleville, Ontario, agreed to purchase the assets of AB Technology Inc., of Pullman, Wash. The closing of the acquisition is expected in February. AB Technology develops embryo transfer media, materials and equipment for bovine and equine markets. Once acquired, it would operate as a unit of Bioniche Animal Health USA Inc., a division of Bioniche Life Sciences.

• Biovation Ltd., of Aberdeen, UK, entered an agreement with Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, in which the former will apply its DeImmunisation technology to the latter's biopharmaceuticals. Biovation, a unit of Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, will receive research revenues and could receive milestone payments and royalties should Lilly pursue further development.

• Burrill & Co., of San Francisco, closed its Burrill Life Sciences Capital Fund with a total commitment of $211 million. New partners include institutional and pension fund investors, combined with several large strategic corporations that have partnered in previous funds. The life sciences merchant bank has $513 million under management in five venture capital funds.

• Callisto Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, said the FDA granted orphan drug designation to its lead drug candidate, Atiprimod, for multiple myeloma. The company expects to begin a Phase I/IIa trial in such patients later this month to evaluate the drug's ability to inhibit production of vascular endothelial growth factor and interleukin-6.

• Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc, of Cambridge, UK, completed enrollment in the Phase III trial of Trabio in patients undergoing first-time surgery for glaucoma. The randomized, double-blind study enrolled 393 patients in six European countries and South Africa. It compared Trabio to placebo. Data are expected in early 2005.

• Celgene Corp., of Warren, N.J., provided initial guidance on its expected financial performance for this year at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. The company projected revenues to range between $360 million and $380 million, a 35 percent increase over last year's projections, and earnings per share to range between 40 cents and 50 cents, a threefold increase over 2003 guidance.

• Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., said it scaled up manufacturing for its new Group B meningococcal disease vaccine for New Zealand, MeNZB. Working with the New Zealand government, Chiron developed the vaccine to protect against the meningococcal B strain responsible for a 13-year meningococcal disease epidemic in the country. No vaccine is on the market to protect against that strain. Separately, Chiron said it delivered an additional 363,200 doses of Fluvirin flu vaccine to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

• Corautus Genetics Inc., of Atlanta, raised about $2.2 million after completing a private sale of 541,690 common shares priced at a 10 percent discount to their trading value on the day prior to the date of the contract. Investors also received warrants for 108,338 common shares, exercisable at about $5.44 apiece, a 125 percent premium to that closing price. The company also awarded a warrant for 22,067 shares exercisable at $1 apiece to one of the investors for helping to arrange the transaction. No other placement fees were paid.

• Curis Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, filed an investigational new drug application with the FDA in late December to initiate clinical studies AC162352 (PYY-3-36) for the treatment of obesity. Curis said that Amylin reported Monday it plans to initiate its first Phase I study of the compound in the first quarter of the year. Curis is a therapeutic drug development company. In December 2002, Curis licensed patents covering the use of PYY, a peptide made in the gut, to Amylin for the in vivo treatment of metabolic diseases, including diabetes and obesity.

• Cytheris SA, of Vanves, France, said its first recombinant protein is in a Phase I study. CYT 99 007 is a recombinant human interleukin-7 developed by Cytheris. It targets the immune reconstitution of immuno-compromised patients undergoing cancer treatment, affected by AIDS or recovering from a bone marrow transplant. The Phase I is being performed in cooperation with the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., where the study is taking place.

• Dendreon Corp., of Seattle, reported updated survival data from advanced prostate cancer patients with Gleason scores of 7 and less who participated in its completed and previously reported Phase III trial (D9901) of Provenge, its investigational prostate cancer immunotherapy. Findings included an 89 percent average overall increase in survival time compared to placebo (log rank p=0.047, hazard ratio=1.89). The benefit is reflected by a prolongation in the median survival time in patients receiving Provenge by 8.4 months (30.7 months vs. 22.3 months). At 30 months from randomization, the survival rate for Provenge-treated patients was 3.7 times higher than for patients receiving placebo (53 percent vs. 14 percent, p=0.001). Patients in D9901 who are still alive have received treatment with Provenge, and will continue to be followed. Dendreon's stock (NASDAQ:DNDN) gained $2.32 Monday, or 25.4 percent, to close at $11.44.

• Dyax Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., formed a collaboration with Baxter Healthcare Corp., of Deerfield, Ill., to use Dyax's phage display technology to discover antibodies that block macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF). The companies will conduct a research program to identify and characterize antibodies that bind specifically to MIF and neutralize its activity. Baxter gains the exclusive right to develop and commercialize therapeutic products based on any antibodies that Dyax identifies. It will fund Dyax's research and will make milestone payments and royalty payments upon commercialization of products.

• Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, Calif., submitted an investigational new drug application to the FDA to evaluate GS 9005 as a potential therapy for HIV. GS 9005, formerly known as GS 4338, is an HIV protease inhibitor that has potential to be dosed as a single pill once daily.

• Helsinn Healthcare SA, of Lugano, Switzerland, agreed to provide exclusive Japanese rights to Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, to palonosetron, for the prevention of nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy-treated patients. In the U.S., palonosetron is marketed as Aloxi by MGI Pharma Inc., of Minneapolis. It remains under regulatory review in Europe, where it will be marketed by Italfarmaco in Italy and Spain as Onicita. In Korea, the product will be marketed by CJ Corp. Financial terms of the latest agreement were not disclosed.

• Illumina Inc., of San Diego, said it installed a production-scale single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping BeadLab during December in the Human Genome Center of the Institute of Medicine of the University of Tokyo (IMSUT). The BeadLab will be used for large-scale genotyping projects that will provide fundamental information necessary for understanding the genetic basis of disease. IMSUT is a principal contributor to the BioBank Japan Project among other research initiatives. The BioBank Japan Project is designed to study sets of high-value SNP markers against genetic samples from about 300,000 Japanese individuals over a three-year period.

• KaloBios Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., and Celscia Therapeutics Inc., of South San Francisco, merged under the name KaloBios. The new entity will employ its technologies for the discovery, engineering and development of fully human antibody therapeutics. It initially will focus on clinically validated targets for its pipeline, while pursuing an in-licensing strategy for an advanced development candidate. Products will be developed in oncology, autoimmunity and infectious diseases.

• Lorus Therapeutics Inc., of Toronto, reported interim results from a recently conducted exploratory Phase II trial of GTI-2040 in patients with advanced, end-stage renal-cell cancer in the U.S. The trial was a single-arm pilot study examining the safety and efficacy of GTI-2040 used in combination with the cancer agent capectabine. Data were collected on 21 patients evaluable for tumor assessment. Unaudited data analysis showed that more than half of the 21 evaluable patients in the study exhibited disease stabilization, ranging up to eight months. Tumor shrinkage of index tumors compared to baseline measurement was observed in some patients.

• Metabolex Inc., of Hayward, Calif., raised an additional $4 million in a second close of its recent private equity financing. The close brings the total raised in the sixth round to $31 million. The company originally reported a first close of the latest venture financing for $27 million on Aug. 27. Metabolex focuses on the discovery and development of drugs to treat diabetes and related metabolic disorders. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 28, 2003.)

• Morphotek Inc., of Exton, Pa., signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., for the development of therapeutic antibodies to a cancer-associated protein identified by researchers. Morphotek will apply its Morphodoma antibody technology to the development of antibodies to treat pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancers.

• NovaDel Pharma Inc., of Flemington, N.J., completed the sale of securities in a private placement to accredited investors for gross proceeds of about $14 million. NovaDel said portions of the proceeds will be devoted to human pilot pharmacokinetic studies of lingual spray versions of its Tier One product candidates, four leading marketed drugs with combined annual sales of more than $4 billion.

• Orphan Medical Inc., of Minneapolis, discussed future plans for Xyrem (sodium oxybate) oral solution at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. The company is conducting two Phase IIIb trials evaluating the product for excessive daytime sleepiness associated with narcolepsy. The results of the trials will be compiled and submitted to the FDA later this year with the goal of obtaining a broader indication in the first half of next year.

• OyaGen Inc., of Rochester, N.Y., received seed funding from the Trillium Group and the University of Rochester Medical Center. The start-up is working on a new class of HIV drugs that might enable the body's own immune system to virtually halt an HIV infection. Its research centers on an enzyme called CEM15, which is produced by human immune system cells and is able to kill a range of viruses. OyaGen is testing a potential drug designed to prevent a protein called vif from attaching to CEM15. In lab tests on HIV-infected cells, the drug shielded CEM15 and enabled it to function normally, nearly halting the spread of the infection to other cells. Studies seeking a variation of the drug - delivered as a smaller molecule that is less likely to have side effects - will begin within the year.

• PhageTech Inc., of Montreal, describes in the February issue of Nature its method for discovering new classes of antibiotics. The company identifies the targets that bacterial viruses, or phages, use to halt bacterial growth and then screens against those targets for small-molecule inhibitors that attack the same targets. The publication's authors used a high-throughput phage genomics strategy to identify 31 polypeptide families that inhibit Staphylococcus aureus growth when expressed in the bacteria. They then screened for small-molecule inhibitors, finding several compounds that inhibited both bacterial growth and DNA synthesis.

• Pharmacopeia Inc., of Princeton, N.J., said that Schering-Plough Corp., of Kenilworth, N.J., initiated human trials of a compound discovered through their collaboration, triggering a milestone payment to Pharmacopeia. The trials are evaluating the compound in a respiratory indication. Pharmacopoeia is entitled to additional milestone payments and potential royalties. The companies formed their collaboration in 1998. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 8, 2003.)

• Provid Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Piscataway, N.J., entered a collaboration and licensing agreement with Suntory Pharmaceutical Research Laboratories LLC, of Cambridge, Mass., to develop Provid drug candidates for multiple sclerosis. The compounds are small-molecule peptide mimetic inhibitors of antigen presentation by MHC Class II DR2 molecules, receptors associated with the majority of cases of multiple sclerosis. Suntory will pursue in vivo pharmacology and development activities, and Provid will be responsible for chemistry. Terms include up-front payments, research and development support, development milestones and royalties.

• Sanofi-Synthelabo SA, of Paris, said the FDA approved Eloxatin (oxaliplatin) in combination with 5FU/LV for the first-line treatment of advanced colorectal cancer. Clinical data showed that patients treated with the combination as first-line chemotherapy had a statistically significant improvement of nearly five months in median survival time, compared to patients who received a standard treatment of irinotecan in combination with 5-FU/LV. The injectable drug initially was approved in August 2002 for second-line treatment of patients with metastatic carcinoma of the colon or rectum.

• Seattle Genetics Inc., of Bothell, Wash., expanded its existing antibody-drug conjugate collaboration with Protein Design Labs Inc., of Fremont, Calif. Seattle Genetics will provide additional research and development support to PDL for products combining PDL's therapeutic antibodies and Seattle Genetics' ADC technology. PDL has agreed to pay Seattle Genetics increased fees, milestones and royalties under the modified collaboration. It also granted Seattle Genetics a license and options for two additional licenses under PDL's antibody humanization patents.

• Sepracor Inc., of Marlborough, Mass., completed the redemption of $430 million of its 5.75 percent convertible subordinated notes due Nov. 15, 2006. Sepracor redeemed the notes at 100 percent of the principal amount, plus $3.7 million of accrued interest for a total aggregate redemption price of about $433.7 million. Separately, Sepracor said the initial purchasers of its $600 million of 0 percent convertible senior subordinated notes exercised their option to purchase an additional $50 million of 0 percent Series A notes due 2008 and $100 million of 0 percent Series B notes due 2010.

• Sequenom Inc., of San Diego, reported that the origin of the recent case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, was determined using the company's MassArray technology. Two Sequenom customers, Genaissance Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New Haven, Conn., and GeneSeek Inc., of Lincoln, Neb., independently screened samples of DNA on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The companies applied a set of bovine genetic assays developed by the USDA for Sequenom's MassArray platform.

• SuperGen Inc., of Dublin, Calif., said Joseph Rubinfeld, who co-founded the company and served as its chairman and CEO since 1991, retired from both posts. He will remain on the board and will become the company's chief scientist and chairman emeritus. James Manuso assumed the positions of chairman, president and CEO as of Jan. 1.

• Synaptic Pharmaceutical Corp., of New York, donated a series of neurotransmitter transporter patents to Columbia University. The agreement allows the institution to license the patents, which cover GAT-2, GAT-3 and betaine/GABA, to third parties in order to establish potential commercial ventures. Synaptic is a unit of H. Lundbeck A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark.

• V.I. Technologies Inc., of Watertown, Mass., said its registration for resale of the equity securities sold by Vitex in its recent $4 million private placement was declared effective. The private placement consisted of 4.4 million shares of common stock plus warrants. The funding was completed Dec. 15. Vitex is developing products designed to improve the safety of the world's blood supply.

• Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said preliminary results from a Phase II study of pralnacasan did not meet its primary endpoint in treating osteoarthritis. Along with partner Aventis SA, of Lyon, France, the company reported at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco that pralnacasan was well tolerated across all three dosage groups in the 12-week, 522-patient study. There was improvement (29 percent to 35 percent) in all four treatment groups in the primary endpoint, total WOMAC (Western Ontario and McMasters Universities) scores that measure signs and symptoms in osteoarthritis studies. But there were no statistically significant differences in the change in total WOMAC score between placebo treatment and any of the pralnacasan groups. There were statistically significant changes in some urine and serum markers of bone and cartilage turnover, though the partners conceded that interpretation of those results in the context of modifying the progression of osteoarthritis requires additional scientific understanding, which might require further clinical validation. The decision to proceed to longer-duration studies in osteoarthritis and other inflammatory diseases will be part of a program review in the coming months.

• Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc., of King of Prussia, Pa., said Phase II data demonstrated that dalbavancin showed superior efficacy to vancomycin in Gram-positive catheter-related bloodstream infections. Dalbavancin, an injectable glycopeptide antibiotic, is administered once weekly, compared to vancomycin, which is administered twice daily. Two Phase III trials of once-weekly dalbavancin to treat skin and soft-tissue infections are ongoing. Vicuron expects to file an NDA by the end of this year.

• XenoPort Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., completed its first Phase I study of XP13512, a transported prodrug of gabapentin. The study was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study with five ascending single doses of an immediate-release formulation of XP13512. The study indicated that XP13512 was well tolerated at all doses. It also demonstrated that XP13512 was absorbed and converted to gabapentin.