• Acacia Research Corp., of Newport Beach, Calif., said its CombiMatrix operating group launched siRNA Solutions, which partners its RNAi synthesis platform and custom microarray technology with bioinformatics to provide a fully integrated program for drug discovery. Collaborators will have access to CombiMatrix's complete integrated solution for siRNA gene silencing, including bioinformatic molecular design, synthesis of custom siRNA pools using CombiMatrix's custom arrays, cell-based screening assays and expression microarrays to measure silencing effects.

• Allos Therapeutics Inc., of Westminster, Colo., presented a retrospective case-match analysis of survival results of a Phase II study of the radiation sensitizer RSR13 (efaproxiral) in patients with locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, compared to survival results of a Phase III randomized study, RTOG 94-10, in the same patient population. Median survival of patients treated in the RSR13 study was 20.6 months, compared to a median survival of 14.6 months for patients in the sequential chemoradiotherapy arm and 17.0 months for patients in the concurrent chemoradiotherapy arm of study RTOG 94-10. The comparison included all 49 eligible patients enrolled in the RSR13 Phase II study and 201 patients enrolled in each of the two comparator arms in RTOG 94-10. Results were presented at the 10th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Vancouver, British Columbia. Allos' stock (NASDAQ:ALTH) gained 31 cents Tuesday, or 13.8 percent, to close at $2.55.

• AltaRex Corp., of Edmonton, Alberta, entered an agreement with United Therapeutics Corp., of Silver Spring, Md., to expand the territory granted to United under an existing agreement to include Germany. United's existing license covers all countries with the exception of countries of the European Union and certain other countries covered by AltaRex's previous agreements. United made an initial payment and agreed on milestone payments for the Germany license. It also agreed to the same royalty payment structure in Germany as the U.S. and other countries. The agreement grants United the right to certain AltaRex's products including OvaRex, BrevaRex, ProstaRex and GivaRex.

• Argonaut Technologies Inc., of Foster City, Calif., introduced a technology it said combines the effectiveness of Argonaut's resins with cartridges specially designed to improve yield and accelerate purification. Specifically, the MP-TsOH cartridges provide drug discovery and medicinal chemists with a means to increase the purification throughput of amines, a class of drug compounds.

• Avant Immunotherapeutics Inc., of Needham, Mass., reached an agreement with MassDevelopment in Boston for Avant to occupy and build out a process development and pilot manufacturing facility in MassDevelopment's technology center located in Fall River, Mass. MassDevelopment is the economic development entity for Massachusetts. Avant will use the 11,000-square-foot facility to support the clinical development of its bacterial vaccines, including vaccines for biodefense, as well as to continue development and product application of its thermo-stable preservation technology, VitriLife.

• Axovan AG, of Basel, Switzerland, reported positive Phase II results from a study of clazosentan for treatment of vasospasm subsequent to subarachnoid hemorrhage - a bleeding event in the brain usually following the rupture of an aneurysm. Conducted in Germany, the multicenter, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized study showed that the specific endothelin A antagonist is safe and well tolerated. Axovan added that the results indicate the drug's ability to reduce the incidence and severity of post-subarachnoid hemorrhage vasospasm.

• Bioenvision Inc., of New York, signed a research agreement with Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation to continue the development of methylene blue for the treatment of West Nile virus. Methylene blue is a thiazine dye that, combined with light, can inactivate pathogens in the blood. The compound is in use in parts of Europe, including Germany and the UK, where it is used to inactivate viruses in vitro.

• Cellomics Inc., of Pittsburgh, presented its CellSelect BioApplication Access Plan at the Drug Discovery Technology meeting in Boston. CellSelect BioApplication packages enable scientists to purchase more image analysis algorithms for their ArrayScan HCS Readers and vHCS Discovery Toolbox.

• Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, entered an agreement to license its PER.C6 cell line technology to GeneMax Corp., of Blaine, Wash. GeneMax, which will use the technology for research in the field of adenovirus-based gene delivery, also obtained an option for a nonexclusive commercial license to use PER.C6 cells to manufacture and sell gene delivery products. Crucell will receive up-front and annual payments for the research license, and if it is converted into a commercial license, Crucell would receive additional annual payments and royalties on future sales of PER.C6-derived products. More specific financial details were not disclosed.

• Cyntellect Inc., of San Diego, a wholly owned subsidiary of Oncosis LLC, said Oncosis was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Center for Research Resources, a unit of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. The project continues the development of Cyntellect's Laser-Enabled Analysis and Processing (LEAP) platform for applications in drug discovery and cell-based screening.

• Diversa Corp., of San Diego, reported that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., awarded the company a BioDefense grant for multiple proteomics studies and antibody development projects. Under the two-and-a-half-year grant, Diversa will employ its advanced proteomics capabilities to identify potential new targets associated with anthrax and plague virulence and will use validated targets to screen for therapeutic antibodies from Diversa's de novo human antibody platform.

• Dyax Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., and Affimed Therapeutics AG, of Heidelberg, Germany, entered a cross-licensing agreement for phage display technologies. Affimed's licensed patents cover the generation of human antibody libraries derived from the IgM repertoire of the immune system. Dyax's Ladner patents have the earliest priority date for phage display patents in the U.S., it said. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Encysive Pharmaceutcials Inc., of Houston, said data published in this month's issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that the direct thrombin inhibitor Argatroban significantly reduced thrombosis and deaths due to clots without increasing the risk of bleeding. The multicenter investigation compared 418 patients to 185 historical controls. Encysive said notable improvements were demonstrated in the Argatroban-treated patients with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in a composite endpoint that included death due to all causes, amputation due to all causes or new thrombosis formation. Argatroban, Encysive's first FDA-approved product, is marketed in the U.S. by GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London. Encysive's shares (NASDAQ:ENCY) gained 55 cents Tuesday, or 16.7 percent, to close at $3.84.

• eXegenics Inc., of Dallas, said its board unanimously reaffirmed its recommendation that stockholders accept an exchange offer from AVI BioPharma Inc., of Portland, Ore. On Monday, AVI increased the exchange ratios in connection with its offer to represent a value of 61 cents per share of eXegenics common stock and 92 cents per share for eXegenics preferred stock. eXegenics added that its board unanimously reaffirmed its recommendation that stockholders reject an unsolicited tender offer filed by EI Acquisition Inc. and Foundation Growth Investments LLC, of Chicago, an offer that valued all of eXegenics' outstanding shares at 51 cents apiece. (See BioWorld Today, July 17, 2003.)

• Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, Calif., began enrollment in Study 934, a Phase III trial designed to assess the efficacy of a once-daily regimen containing Viread (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) and Emtriva (emtricitabine) in combination with efavirenz vs. a twice-daily regimen of Combivir (lamivudine 150 mg/zidovudine 300 mg, from GlaxoSmithKline plc) and efavirenz. The open-label, multicenter trial will enroll 300 treatment-naive, HIV-infected patients in the U.S. and Europe. The company reported plans for the combination product's trial when Emtriva received FDA approval last month. (See BioWorld Today, July 3, 2003.)

• GPN Network Inc., of Scottsdale, Ariz., said its wholly owned subsidiary, ImmuneRegen BioSciences Inc., is co-funding research with the Department of Defense on a potential treatment for radiation exposure from nuclear incidents. The research efforts are designed to study the effects of ImmuneRegen's Homspera on tested mice after exposure to fatal doses of radiation. The product is derived from homeostatic substance P, a naturally occurring immunomodulator.

• Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, began a program to promote exploration of additional clinical applications of KRX-101 (sulodexide), its lead compound scheduled to begin U.S.-based Phase II/III trials for diabetic nephropathy later this year. Under the program, called SOAR (sulodexide open access research), Keryx is encouraging researchers to study sulodexide to explore its ability to treat diseases such as diabetic nephropathy and others, including other glomerulopathies and diseases characterized by glycosaminoglycan depletion. KRX-101 is a first-in-class oral heparinoid compound.

• Lorus Therapeutics Inc., of Toronto, said the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., would begin a Phase II trial of its lead antisense drug, GTI-2040, for metastatic breast cancer in combination with capecitabine (Xeloda, from F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.). The two parties are in a clinical trial agreement in which the institute will financially sponsor a series of Phase II trials to investigate the compound's safety and efficacy in six different cancer indications, while Lorus provides the drug. The breast cancer trial is the second under the partnership approved by the FDA. The first studied GTI-2040 in combination with cytarabine for acute myeloid leukemia. Independent of the partnership, the product remains in a U.S.-based Phase II trial for kidney cancer.

• Lynx Therapeutics Inc., of Hayward, Calif., entered an agreement with Pfizer Inc., of New York, to study gene expression in cell samples. The agreement features the application of Lynx's Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing, or MPSS, technology to cell samples from normal and disease-affected patients in an effort to provide information on specific genes involved in disease progression. Lynx will receive payments for the genomics discovery services it performs on the samples provided by Pfizer under the agreement. Lynx's shares (NASDAQ:LYNX) gained 83 cents Tuesday, or 26.2 percent, to close at $4.

• MaxCyte Inc., of Rockville, Md., received a Phase I grant awarded from the Small Business Innovation Research program of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. The award will provide MaxCyte with up to $96,000 of additional funding to develop its streamlining electroporation system, a high-speed cell-loading instrument for large volumes of cells.

• Merck KgaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, said its San Diego-based life sciences subsidiary, EMD Biosciences Inc., acquired privately held ProteoPlex Inc., of St. Louis. Founded in 2001 with former personnel and technology of Incyte Corp., ProteoPlex develops functional genomics and proteomics tools and services in gene expression, protein expression and cell-based assays. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• MiraiBio Inc., of Alameda, Calif., presented a concept in bead-based assays to improve the speed and cost efficiency of single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping and haplotyping. Employing a universal tagging system, MiraiBio's FlexMAP beads increase the speed of analysis and simplify bead-based assays by eliminating the need to couple capture oligonucleotides to beads, it said. The presentation was made at the Drug Discovery Technology Conference in Boston. Separately, the company said it introduced two versions of its MasterPlex software packages for analyzing multiplex data generated on Luminex-based systems.

• Pharmacyclics Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., reported data at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, showing that baseline neurocognitive deficits can be used as a predictive marker of survival and disease outcome for brain metastases prognosis. Further data showed that neurocognitive deficits correlate with tumor size and response to radiation as measured by magnetic resonance imaging, providing a strong measure of tumor growth or response to therapy. The findings stemmed from a Phase III study of its lead investigational compound Xcytrin (motexafin gadolinium), a randomized trial that missed its primary endpoints but demonstrated Xcytrin, when added to whole-brain radiation therapy, significantly prolonged time to neurologic progression and decreased deaths due to brain tumor progression in lung cancer patients. Pharmacyclics began a second Phase III trial of Xcytrin at the end of last year. (See BioWorld Today, April 17, 2002, and Dec. 20, 2002.)

• Predix Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Woburn, Mass., and Physiome Sciences Inc., of Princeton, N.J., signed an agreement under which Physiome acquired Predix in exchange for 30 percent of the combined equity of the privately held companies. The new company, initially named Predix Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc., will be known as Predix Pharmaceuticals Inc., and will be headquartered in Woburn with computational development offices in Ramat Gan, Israel. The combined company intends to initiate human studies of an anti-anxiety compound in the first half of next year. That program targets the GPCR serotonin 1A (5-HT1A) receptor.

• ProMetic Life Sciences Inc., of Montreal, and Arriva Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Alameda, Calif., said their joint venture, Arriva-ProMetic Inc., successfully completed a Phase I trial of recombinant alpha-1-antitrypsin topical gel in patients with atopic dermatitis. The gel was well tolerated, and the companies are planning a Phase II trial in the same patient population. The trial is expected to begin in the fourth quarter.

• Seattle Genetics Inc., of Bothell, Wash., said that data from its Phase II trial of SGN-15 in non-small-cell lung cancer will be presented at the 10th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Vancouver, British Columbia, that continues through Thursday. Analysis of the preliminary data from the ongoing trial indicates a median survival of 11.4 months for patients receiving SGN-15 plus Taxotere compared to 5.1 months for patients receiving Taxotere alone.

• Silicon Genetics, of Redwood City, Calif., reported the availability of GeneSpring 6 and GeNet 4, the latest versions of the company's flagship products. The products include advanced statistical and filtering tools, user interface improvements and automation capabilities that facilitate standardizing research procedures, the company said.

• Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, reported data at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, showing that Pivanex and docetaxel can be administered safely to non-small-cell lung cancer patients. The 12-patient study, which evaluated four single-agent doses of Pivanex and the currently approved dose of docetaxel, found no dose-limiting toxicity at any level and showed that the combination was generally well tolerated. Eight of the 11 evaluable patients achieved stable disease, and six continue to be treated. Titan added that it has begun a 225-patient, multicenter, randomized Phase IIb study to evaluate the combination's safety and efficacy vs. docetaxel alone.

• Tularik Inc., of South San Francisco, received two Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grants of about $500,000 from the National Cancer Institute to support development of new anticancer agents targeting KCNK9/TASK3 and WIP1/PP1MD. Tularik researchers discovered that each of those genes is amplified in various human tumors. KCNK9 encodes a potassium channel implicated in breast and lung cancers, and WIP1 is a protein phosphate involved in breast and prostate cancers.