• Abbott Laboratories, of Abbott Park, Ill., entered a research collaboration to develop monoclonal antibody for inflammatory diseases belonging to LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bozeman, Mont. Specific details were not disclosed, nor were financial terms.

• Astralis Ltd., of Fairfield, N.J., said the FDA allowed it to start Phase I trials of Psoraxine for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Psoraxine is a protein designed to stimulate cells from the patient's immune system to reverse the inflammatory process responsible for psoriasis symptoms.

• AVI BioPharma Inc., of Portland, Ore., satisfied all regulatory requirements for initiating a Phase Ib trial of its Neugene drug, AVI-4020, in patients hospitalized with West Nile virus. The trial is expected to begin before summer's end. AVI collaborated with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md., to develop the trial protocol.

• Axcan Pharma Inc., of Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, received FDA approval for the use of Photofrin photodynamic therapy in the ablation of high-grade dysplasia in Barrett's esophagus patients who did not undergo esophagectomy. The therapy also was granted orphan drug designation for the indication, guaranteeing seven years of marketing exclusivity. Axcan, which acquired Photofrin for $40.5 million three years ago from QLT PhotoTherapeutics Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said it would launch the product by the end of the year. It expects the product's U.S. sales to peak between $30 million and $50 million within five to seven years. Since 1995, it has been approved as a palliative treatment for esophageal cancer, with subsequent approvals for early and late-stage lung cancer as well. (See BioWorld Today, May 2, 2000.)

• BioSpecifics Technologies Corp., of Lynbrook, N.Y., was notified by Nasdaq that the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel has determined to continue the listing of the company's common stock on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market, although BioSpecifics must show continued compliance with all requirements for listing. Effective Monday, BioSpecifics' trading symbol was changed from "BSTCE" to "BSTC." The company is focused on wound healing and tissue remodeling.

• Eternal Technologies Group, of Houston, said it received $4.55 million in revenue after signing two contracts to sell 6,000 sheep embryos to a pair of Chinese firms, Inner Mongolia Sairijihe Husbandry Co. Ltd. and Beijing Fengrun Fine Breeding Stock Co. Ltd. Eternal, which said it is the largest importer of sheep embryos into China, separately said that acquiring a pharmaceutical company in the Tianjin region of China would add up to $8 million in revenues and $2 million in net income. Late last month it said it began acquisition talks with an undisclosed Chinese pharmaceutical firm.

• Genaera Corp., of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., reported Phase I/II results showing that its anti-angiogenic drug, squalamine, improved vision in patients with choroidal neovascularization associated with age-related macular degeneration - wet AMD. More specifically, 97 percent of squalamine-treated patients had preserved or improved vision two months after initiation of therapy. Also, 33 percent had three lines or greater improvement in visual acuity, and 64 percent had preserved vision. The greatest degree of improvement was eight lines, from 20/125 to 20/20 vision. Genaera added that multiple lesions were smaller through the end of therapy and two months later, including classic and occult angiographic subtypes, and blood-vessel leakage was significantly less after squalamine administration. The company's stock (NASDAQ:GENR) climbed 56 cents Monday, or 22.1 percent, to close at $3.10.

• Genelabs Technologies Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., completed the sale of about 1.7 million shares of its common stock to one institutional investor at a price of about $1.60 per share, for gross proceeds of about $2.7 million. Genelabs also issued to the investor warrants to purchase another 1.6 million shares at an exercise price of $1.50 per share. SG Cowen Securities Corp., of New York, acted as placement agent in the transaction.

• Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, Calif., gained a nonexclusive license related to small-molecule therapeutics against certain hepatitis C virus drug targets from Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif. In 1987, three Chiron scientists cloned and first identified hepatitis C as the cause of transfusion-related hepatitis. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Isolagen Inc., of Houston, said it received permission from the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia to begin manufacturing autologous fibroblasts, including the initiation of primary cultures of fibroblasts, the propagation of fibroblasts and release for supply of cultured fibroblasts. Isolagen said it expects to begin commercialization in Australia within the next few months.

• NeoGenesis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., entered a multiyear collaboration to discover small-molecule drugs for cancer and neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases with Amgen Inc., of Thousand Oaks, Calif. Privately held NeoGenesis will use its drug discovery technologies, including its Automated Ligand Identification System platform, NeoMorph compound libraries and lead optimization technologies, to discover candidates against selected targets. It will receive research funding and milestone payments and royalties. More specific financial terms were not disclosed.

• Orchid BioSciences Inc., of Princeton, N.J., said its Orchid Cellmark unit, which focuses on private forensic DNA testing, was awarded a three-year contract by the Houston Police Department to conduct forensic DNA analysis for new cases as well as retesting for prior cases. The company's stock (NASDAQ:ORCH) rose 22 cents Monday, or 15.7 percent, to close at $1.62.

• The Oregon Bioscience Association, of Portland, Ore., reported a partnership between the association and the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department, to foster growth in Oregon's commercial bioscience and medical technology industry. The partnership is funded by a $50,000 grant from the OECDD.

• Penwest Pharmaceuticals Co., of Danbury, Conn., said it entered a definitive agreement to sell about 1.9 million common shares at $21 apiece for gross proceeds of $40 million. The company said it would use net proceeds from the private placement, estimated at about $37.5 million, to fund research, development, marketing and commercialization activities for its products and technologies, including oxymorphone ER, and for general corporate purposes. Penwest also granted the buyers an additional right to purchase up to an additional 380,952 common shares at $26 apiece, an option exercisable 90 days after the closing date or, if earlier, upon the effectiveness of a registration statement for the resale of the common stock that will expire 60 trading days after the effectiveness of such a registration statement.

• Qiagen NV, of Venlo, the Netherlands, entered a supply agreement for siRNA molecules with Novartis AG, of Basel, Switzerland. Qiagen will supply a genome-wide siRNA library to Novartis. Financial terms were not disclosed. Separately, Qiagen entered an agreement to co-market its High Performance Purity grade siRNA oligonucleotides for gene silencing with nonviral Nucleofector technology belonging to Amaxa GmbH, of Cologne, Germany.

• Sertanty Inc., of San Jose, Calif., acquired all of the assets of Libraria Inc., also of San Jose. Sertanty said it will continue to develop, market and support Libraria's technology platform and knowledge bases. Also, Sertanty retained the core team of Libraria, which includes all of research and development, as well as business development, as employees of the new company. Sertanty is a drug discovery technology company.

• The Medicines Co., of Parsippany, N.J., submitted a supplemental new drug application to the FDA seeking an amended Angiomax (bivalirudin) product label in percutaneous coronary intervention. At the same time, the company applied for European approval of the drug as well. Its FDA submission included data from studies in more than 7,000 patients undergoing coronary angioplasty in the REPLACE-1 and REPLACE-2 trials, and the ATBAT study in angioplasty patients with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and thrombosis syndrome. Angiomax received U.S. approval in December 2000 for use with aspirin in unstable angina patients undergoing coronary angioplasty. The company's European submission, filed in collaboration with Nycomed Group, of Roskilde, Denmark, and Grupo Ferrer, of Barcelona, Spain, is based on data from 41 clinical studies in more than 38,000 patients.