• Abbott Laboratories, of Abbott Park, Ill., said the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products granted a positive opinion for the use of Synagis (palivizumab) in young children born with congenital heart disease to prevent respiratory tract infection caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The humanized monoclonal antibody already is approved by the European agency and the FDA to prevent lower respiratory tract infection caused by RSV in premature infants at high risk of RSV disease. Abbott holds its exclusive rights outside of the U.S., while MedImmune Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., and Abbott co-promote it stateside.

• ActivBiotics Inc., of Lexington, Mass., said it exclusively licensed a suite of patents from the University of Washington covering the diagnosis and treatment of arterial chlamydial granuloma. Researchers at the school discovered Chlamydia pneumoniae was linked to atherosclerotic plaques. It is thought to cause or exacerbate chronic inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis. ActivBiotics called its lead compound, Rifalazil, "the most potent anti-chlamydial compound in clinical testing." The licensed patents include U.S. patent Nos. 5,424,187; 5,830,874 and 6,043,225. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Active Biotech AB, of Lund, Sweden, said the travel vaccine Dukoral was given a positive recommendation by the Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products for registration in Europe. The product was developed by SBL Vaccin AB, an Active Biotech subsidiary acquired by PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc, of Oxford, UK, in 2001, with an initial cash payment of $50 million. An additional payment of up to $10 million would be made to Active Biotech upon registration of Dukoral in Europe. Also, Active Biotech is entitled to a royalty payment on future sales in Europe, up to a maximum of $20 million, based on yearly sales above $40 million.

• Amersham Biosciences, of Piscataway, N.J., reported the availability of IN Cell Analyzer 1000. The modular image analysis platform is designed to provide a system to address a range of biological applications in drug discovery.

• Baxter Healthcare Corp., of Deerfield, Ill., said the FDA approved Advate (antihemophilic factor [recombinant], plasma/albumin-free method) rAHF-PFM for the prevention and control of bleeding episodes in people with hemophilia A. Baxter said Advate is the first and only factor VIII made without any added human or animal plasma proteins and albumin in the cell culture process, purification and final formulation, thereby eliminating the risk of infections caused by viruses that may be carried in those proteins.

• Corvas International Inc., of San Diego, said its stockholders approved the proposed merger with Dendreon Corp., of Seattle. Each share of Corvas common stock will be exchanged for a fixed ratio of 0.45 shares of Dendreon common stock in a tax-free reorganization originally valued at $73 million. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 26, 2003.)

• Curis Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., reported that two medical research groups directed by Nigel Calcutt and Andrew Mizisin of the University of California at San Diego presented data demonstrating that orally available, drug-like, small-molecule agonists of the Hedgehog signaling pathway can reduce damage and significantly improve neurological function in an experimental model of diabetic neuropathy. Curis' stock (NASDAQ:CRIS) rose 40 cents Monday, or 12.2 percent, to close at $3.68.

• CytoGenix Inc., of Houston, began an animal study of its anti-herpes topical cream in 120 mice in eight groups. Preliminary results are expected in 30 days, it said. The company develops and markets products and services based on its DNA expression technology.

• Epimmune Inc., of San Diego, said it received a grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., to support continued epitope analogue identification and preclinical development of multi-epitope, analogue-based cancer vaccines. The grant has a total potential value of $600,000 over two years. The activities funded by the grant complement current studies and Phase I/II trials the company is conducting by providing analogue epitopes that extend vaccine coverage to larger segments of the population. The company's stock (NASDAQ:EPMN) gained 25 cents Monday, or 15.1 percent, to close at $1.90.

• EPIX Medical Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it plans to publicly offer 4.3 million shares of stock. The offering would be made from a registration statement that became effective in January. EPIX would grant underwriters an option to purchase another 645,000 shares to cover overallotments. SG Cowen Securities Corp. and Wells Fargo Securities LLC are co-lead managers, with SG Cowen acting as book-running lead manager. Needham & Co. Inc. and WR Hambrecht + Co are acting as co-managers. EPIX is developing targeted contrast agents for the diagnosis and clinical management of disease using MRI. Its stock (NASDAQ:EPIX) gained 42 cents Monday to close at $17.70.

• ExonHit Therapeutics SA, of Paris, reported its participation in a newly created European network, PRIMA, which aims to evaluate therapeutic approaches to prostate cancer. ExonHit will uses its involvement in the PRIMA network to evaluate the activity of EHT 0101 against prostate cancer. EHT 0101 is the company's lead series of compounds targeted at the treatment of a range of cancers.

• Genencor International Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., and the UK Health Protection Agency, Business Division, reported their two-year collaboration to develop a commercially viable technology to eradicate infectious prions is in advanced stages and results to date are encouraging. The process, developed by HPA, formerly the Centre for Applied Microbiology & Research, uses a thermostable Genencor protease enzyme to destroy infectious prions that are now widely seen as the causative agent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and its human form, Creutzfelt-Jakob disease.

• Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, and XOMA Ltd., of Berkeley, Calif., reported positive clinical results at the American Academy of Dermatology meeting in Chicago relative to long-term safety and efficacy of Raptiva (efalizumab) in adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled Phase III showed that 44 percent of 368 patients treated continuously with 1mg/kg Raptiva for up to 24 weeks achieved a 75 percent or greater improvement in their Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score. Also, 84 weeks of data from an open-label study showed that 67 percent of 194 patients achieved a PASI 75 response with weekly Raptiva therapy. A regulatory decision on the product, formerly called Xanelim, is expected later this year. (See BioWorld Today, May 13, 2002.)

• House of Representatives members Jim Greenwood (R-Pa.), Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) introduced legislation Friday that would require biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to conduct clinical trials of drugs for adults that could be used in the pediatric population. Similar legislation unanimously passed the Senate recently. (See BioWorld Today, July 25, 2003.)

• Icogen Corp., of Seattle, received a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institute of Aging of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., to develop an Alzheimer's disease therapeutic. The funded research uses Icogen's ISOPLeC technology to target and adjust the level of a peptide responsible for the development of Alzheimer's. ISOPLeC is Icogen's technology for the identification of protein effector compounds from large and diverse sources, the company said.

• Innodia Inc., of Montreal, which is focused on diabetes, completed a C$10 million (US$7.2 million) private placement through the addition of C$3 million by CDP Capital - Technology Ventures, a subsidiary of Caisse de dép t et placement du Quebec. The company's lead compound, ID 1101, is expected to begin Phase I trials in the first half of 2004. The initial C$7 million was raised in May. (See BioWorld Today, May 9, 2003.)

• Invitrogen Corp., of Carlsbad, Calif., reported plans to offer $300 million of senior convertible notes due 2023. The company also said it intends to grant the initial purchasers a 13-day option to purchase up to an additional $45 million worth of notes. Invitrogen, which said it plans to use the net proceeds for potential acquisitions and general corporate purposes, including the potential redemption of outstanding debt, recently reported plans to acquire privately held Molecular Probes Inc., of Eugene, Ore., for $325 million in cash. (See BioWorld Today, July 3, 2003.)

• MetriGenix Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., said it launched the MGX 4D Respiratory Virus Panel Array for the research and study of markers related to major viral respiratory agents including influenza viruses, para influenza viruses, pneumoviruses, metapneumovirus, coronaviruses, mumps virus and measles virus.

• Milkhaus Laboratory Inc., of Providence, R.I., raised $5.8 million in equity capital through a rights offering to its current shareholders. Proceeds will be used for product development. Its lead product, ML-04, has been shown in clinical trials to be safe and effective in benign prostatic hyperplasia and chronic prostatitis. A Phase II trial of ML-04 in benign prostatic hyperplasia is fully enrolled and results are expected to be available in October.

• Neurocrine Biosciences Inc., of San Diego, began a Phase II trial of NBI-5788, an altered peptide ligand, for relapsing multiple sclerosis. The multicenter, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial is designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of 5-mg injections of NBI-5788 administered in five weekly doses, followed by eight monthly doses for a total of nine months. Also, it is designed to investigate the disease-modifying effects of NBI-5788 using a summary change score for total gadolinium-enhancing cranial magnetic resonance imaging lesions after nine months. The study, which will include 150 multiple sclerosis patients in the U.S. and Canada, is partnered with the Immune Tolerance Network, an international research consortium funded in part by two divisions of the National Institutes of Health.

• NeuroSearch A/S, of Ballerup, Denmark, began a U.S.-based Phase II study of NS2359 for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The placebo-controlled study, which will include 100 adult patients, is designed to evaluate the compound's efficacy and tolerability. NeuroSearch said it would complete the eight-week trial in the middle of next year.

• SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Mateo, Calif., completed its reincorporation from the state of California to the state of Delaware. In connection with the reincorporation, SciClone terminated its shareholders rights agreement. SciClone is developing Zadaxin, which is in several late-stage clinical trials, including two Phase III hepatitis C trials in the U.S. It is approved in various indications around the world.

• SciTegic Inc., of San Diego, said Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., purchased a multi-user license to Pipeline Pilot, a software product designed to help with compound library acquisition and activity modeling for optimizing. Privately held SciTegic said Chiron acquired the technology for multiple internal users, as well as a license for its web interface that allows additional users to access and execute data processing protocols remotely. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Seattle Genetics Inc., of Bothell, Wash., said the FDA granted orphan drug designation to SGN-30, its product candidate for Hodgkin's disease. The monoclonal antibody is in a Phase I/II trial for CD30-positive hematologic malignancies, including Hodgkin's disease, anaplastic large-cell lymphoma and other types of lymphomas. The company's stock (NASDAQ:SGEN) gained 45 cents Monday, or 9.2 percent, to close at $5.36.

• SuperGen Inc., of Dublin, Calif., said data published in the July issue of the Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology suggest that its anticancer agent, Nipent (pentostatin for injection), is active in treating children diagnosed with chronic graft-vs.-host disease refractory to standard therapy. Findings showed that each of the five patients demonstrated a significant improvement in skin and oral symptoms, there were no increases in infection secondary to Nipent and no patient was permanently discontinued from Nipent subsequent to side effects. The product is approved as a single-agent treatment for patients with hairy-cell leukemia, though it is not approved in children in any combination regimens or as a treatment for graft-vs.-host disease. SuperGen said it hopes to begin an expanded clinical study in the indication.

• Sygen International plc, of London, said its aquaculture business, SyAqua, signed leases for two shrimp hatcheries in Thailand and plans to build a shrimp genetic nucleus facility there later in the year. The leased hatcheries provide SyAqua with access to existing infrastructures and shrimp farmers/customers in the world's largest shrimp-producing region. It plans to focus on reproductive technology to enhance various traits.

• ZymoGenetics Inc., of Seattle, said it filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. After the SEC declares it effective, the shelf registration would allow the company to offer and sell up to $150 million of its common stock from time to time. The terms of any such future stock offerings would be established at the time of the offering. ZymoGenetics is focused on therapeutic proteins for the prevention or treatment of disease.