• Aastrom Biosciences Inc., of Ann Arbor, Mich., reported that it received a grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Md., providing research funding of up to $443,000 over a two-year period. The Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant will support studies to optimize the production of Aastrom's Tissue Repair Cells for the clinical generation of normal human tissue.

• Aclara BioSciences Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., entered a service and supply agreement with Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford) to provide broad access to Aclara's eTag Assay System for high-throughput, multiplex proteomics studies in the area of autoimmune disease. Stanford and Aclara first established a collaboration in early 2002. In addition to a license to use the eTag System for certain proteomics applications, the agreement includes access to custom services, and eTag assay reagent products, software and support.

• Advanced Magnetics Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and Cytogen Corp., of Princeton, N.J., said data were published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine showing that magnetic resonance imaging with Combidex, an iron oxide nanoparticle, aids in the evaluation of lymph nodes in patients with prostate cancer. Researchers concluded that the use of Combidex-enhanced MR imaging allows for the detection of small and otherwise undetectable lymph node metastases in patients with prostate cancer. Cytogen has exclusive U.S. marketing rights to Combidex, which has been the subject of an approvable letter; Advanced Magnetics is working with the FDA to resolve outstanding issues, it said.

• AEterna Laboratories Inc., of Quebec City, Quebec, said an existing license agreement related to Cetrotide was extended between its subsidiary, Zentaris, and Serono SA, of Geneva, for worldwide marketing rights, except Japan, for the in vitro fertilization compound. Zentaris, which will receive a signature fee and fixed annual payments until 2010, followed by royalties scheduled to begin in 2011, will supply Serono with the finished product at a fixed price. Serono received a perpetual fully paid license upon expiry of the last relevant patent held by Zentaris.

• Agennix Inc., of Houston, reported preclinical findings at the Wound Healing Society meeting in Seattle, showing that topical recombinant human lactoferrin (rhLF) gel increased the rate and incidence of wound closure, relative to placebo and approved drug therapy. Data showed that healthy mice treated with 1 percent topical rhLF had a 38 percent increase in the incidence of wound closure over placebo and a 36 percent increase over Regranex (p<0.01). An abstract also was published in the March-April issue of Wound Repair and Regeneration.

• Amarin Corp. plc, of London, said its Swedish subsidiary, Amarin Development AB, entered an agreement to provide pharmaceutical formulation and manufacturing services for Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego. Acadia said it would employ Amarin's services in connection with additional clinical studies planned for ACP-103, its small-molecule candidate in Phase I for neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, said it raised $150 million in aggregate principal after pricing a private placement of 2.25 percent convertible senior notes due 2008. The notes initially will be convertible at the holder's option into Amylin common stock at $32.55 per share, subject to adjustment in certain circumstances. The initial conversion price represents a 33 percent premium over Tuesday's $24.47 closing bid price. Amylin, which also granted an option for purchasers up to an additional $25 million in aggregate principal amount of the notes, said it would use proceeds from the offering for the planned commercialization of Symlin, pending regulatory approvals. Amylin added that it also would use the funding for other research and development programs and for general corporate purposes, including the potential repayment of all or a portion of its outstanding indebtedness to Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, N.J. The placement is expected to close Monday. (See BioWorld Today, June 18, 2003.)

• Axon Instruments Inc., of Union City, Calif., said the lawsuit filed by Oxford Gene Technology Ltd., of Oxford, UK, in December alleging infringement of an Oxford U.S. patent by Axon has been settled. Axon will provide additional labeling on some of its genomics products in the settlement. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., of Novato, Calif., said it agreed to privately place $125 million of convertible subordinated notes due 2008, convertible at the holder's option into BioMarin common stock at about $14.01 per share, subject to adjustment in certain circumstances. The initial conversion price of the notes, which will bear a 3.5 percent annual interest rate, represents a 30 percent premium over Tuesday's $10.78 closing bid price. Noteholders may require BioMarin to redeem them upon the occurrence of certain events, and BioMarin may elect to redeem them beginning June 20, 2006. BioMarin also granted purchasers a 30-day option for an additional $25 million principal amount of the notes. (See BioWorld Today, June 18, 2003.)

• Cell Therapeutics Inc., of Seattle, said it priced its $75 million offering of 4 percent convertible senior subordinated notes due 2010. They will be convertible into common shares at the rate of 74.0741 shares per $1,000 principal amount of notes, representing an initial conversion price of about $13.50 per share. Cell Therapeutics also granted initial purchasers an option to purchase up to an additional $15 million in principal amount of notes to cover overallotments. The company said it would use proceeds from the offering, which is expected to close Monday, for clinical trials, expansion of sales and marketing capabilities, potential acquisitions of complementary companies or products, and general corporate purposes, including working capital. Its shares (NASDAQ:CTIC) fell $1.96 Wednesday, or 15.7 percent, to close at $10.50. (See BioWorld Today, June 18, 2003.)

• Cel-Sci Corp., of Vienna, Va., said it received $500,000 from Eastern Biotech, with which it recently entered a partner agreement to develop Multikine and CEL-1000 in three Eastern European countries. Cel-Sci said its strategy for Multikine is to leverage collaborations in smaller countries, while preserving the largest markets for itself or potential partners.

• CeNeS Pharmaceuticals plc, of Cambridge, UK, and Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland, are terminating their CeNeS/Elan joint venture, which was established in June 2001 to develop M6G (morphine-6-glucuronide) for the treatment of pain. CeNeS alone now plans to fund the clinical development of M6G as it enters a Phase III program for the treatment of postoperative pain. CeNeS and Elan agreed that the joint development programs are terminated and that the respective rights to M6G and certain drug delivery technologies are returned to CeNeS and Elan. The companies also agreed that no more funding will be available to CeNeS under the convertible loan stock arrangements entered June 2001.

• Centocor Inc., of Malvern, Pa., and Schering Plough Corp., of Kenilworth, N.J., are partially funding the DINORA (Definitive Intervention in New-Onset Rheumatoid Arthritis) trial that will investigate infliximab (Centocor's Remicade) in preclinical rheumatoid arthritis. The trial was launched at the European League Against Rheumatism annual meeting in Lisbon, Portugal.

• Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., said its Procleix West Nile virus assay is available. It is designed to screen donated blood for the virus, and Chiron said next week U.S. blood centers will begin screening donations. By July 1, more than 80 percent of U.S. blood donations will be screened for West Nile virus using the test, Chiron said. The Procleix System was developed by Chiron and Gen-Probe Inc., of San Diego.

• CombinatoRx Inc., of Boston, appointed Richard Aldrich chairman. Aldrich was previously chief business officer at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. He also currently heads RA Capital Inc., a biotech business advisory and investment firm. He co-founded and serves as a director of Altus Biologics. Jacob Goldfield, founding chairman of CombinatoRx, will continue to serve as a director. CombinatoRx is focused on creating new combination medicines that attack disease on multiple fronts, it said.

• Cyanotech Corp., of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, received from Nasdaq an additional 90-day period, or until Sept. 10, to meet compliance for continued listing on the SmallCap Market. Cyanotech develops natural products from microalgae. Its stock (NASDAQ:CYAN) rose 5 cents Wednesday to close at 58 cents.

• CytoGenix Inc., of Houston, said that data from recent laboratory studies show a 100-fold decrease in the viral load of cells treated with the company's DNA formulation, compared to untreated cells when challenged by HSV-2 virus.

• Exelixis Inc., of South San Francisco, initiated the Phase I trial for its small-molecule cancer compound, XL784. The trial will involve about 70 healthy subjects in a dose-escalating study exploring the compound following oral administration. The trial should be complete within a year, the company said.

• Genaco Biomedical Products Inc., of Huntsville, Ala., said its CEO, chairman and president, Jian Han, reported at the World Health Organization SARS conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the company's development of a new severe acute respiratory syndrome differential diagnostic kit. The company said that unlike existing methods, which detect only the SARS virus, Genaco's Multiplex Analysis System for acute respiratory infections provides differential diagnosis, allowing doctors to identify if a patient's infection is caused by the SARS virus or any of nine other common infections.

• Genedata AG, of Basel, Switzerland, said it extended its multiyear collaboration with Novartis Pharma AG, also of Basel, to provide a license to the PathoLead Edition of its Phylosopher platform as well as consulting services to the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research Inc., of Cambridge, Mass. Genedata called PathoLead a computational solution for the anti-infective drug discovery process, and said its Phylosopher system is designed for various drug discovery-related tasks, including analysis and prediction of gene and protein function, validation and prioritization of drug targets and characterization of mechanisms of action. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• GlobeImmune Inc., of Aurora, Colo., said it closed a Series A venture financing round that could be worth up to $8 million in two tranches, with closure of the second tranche dependent on achievement of certain milestones. The company said it would use the funding to develop its first vaccine candidate, HIVAX-GS, an HIV/AIDS vaccine expected to enter clinical trials this year, and to identify additional clinical products in the coming months. Investors included HealthCare Ventures LLC, of Cambridge, Mass.; Morgenthaler Ventures, of Menlo Park, Calif.; and Sequel Venture Partners, of Boulder, Colo. They each added a representative to GlobeImmune's board as well: Morgenthaler's Ralph Christoffersen, HealthCare Ventures' Augustine Lawlor and Sequel's Dan Mitchell.

• Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, entered a collaboration to study HE2000 (Immunitin) in a Phase I/II trial for cystic fibrosis with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Inc., of Bethesda, Md. The nonprofit drug discovery and development affiliate of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will award about $1.7 million to fund further development of the drug candidate, one of Hollis-Eden's investigational immune-regulating hormones.

• ICOS Corp., of Bothell, Wash., said it made a request to the SEC to withdraw its universal shelf registration statement filed late last month. ICOS said it no longer plans to pursue such a financing following the pricing of a private offering of convertible subordinated notes earlier this week. (See BioWorld Today, May 29, 2003, and June 17, 2003.)

• Medivir AB, of Huddinge, Sweden, entered an agreement to divest its Clean Chemical Sweden AB subsidiary and its subsidiaries, Clean Care Sweden (UK) Ltd. and Nordic Care Sweden AB, to Segulah II LP, of Stockholm Sweden. Medivir said the divestiture provides additional financial resources as it focuses on the protease and polymerase segment. The transaction, which is expected to close July 1, was worth SEK210 million (US$27.1 million) to Medivir, comprising a cash payment for the acquisition of Clean Chemical Sweden's shares and the takeover and immediate amortization of its outstanding liabilities.

• NicOx SA, of Sophia Antipolis, France, reported successful Phase II efficacy results with NCX 701, which is in development for pain management. In the study, NCX 701 reached all primary endpoints with respect to analgesic efficacy and safety. The study involved 101 patients. The study evaluated NCX 701 in postoperative dental pain after extraction of an impacted third molar. Results indicated that NCX 701 provides similar analgesic efficacy as the acetaminophen group.

• Norwood Abbey Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, said a 50-patient European trial would study its investigational treatment designed to rejuvenate the immune system and prevent fatal AIDS-related illnesses. The technology was developed in partnership with Monash University in Clayton, Australia, which took an equity stake in the Norwood Immunology subsidiary as part of a full licensing agreement covering all intellectual property aspects associated with their immunology project. They said clinical and animal studies have shown that temporary chemical blocking of sex steroid production via the use of an existing class of drugs, GnRH analogues, can regenerate the thymus and thereby replace lost T cells and also prompt existing T cells to function better. The trial will be conducted at the University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland, and involve input from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

• Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tustin, Calif., entered an agreement with Affitech AS, of Oslo, Norway, to collaborate on the production of human antibodies for Peregrine's vascular-targeting agent and anti-angiogenesis programs. Peregrine will provide targets and Affitech will apply its human antibody libraries and discovery and screening technologies, including its AffiScreen platform, to generate a panel of fully human antibodies against the targets. The agreement allows flexibility for the development of any clinical candidates that are generated, including joint development, internal development at Peregrine or Affitech, or outlicensing to a third party. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Serono SA, of Geneva, and Pfizer Inc., of New York, said patients who converted from Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen Inc.'s Avonex (interferon beta-1a, 30mcg once weekly) to higher-dose, higher-frequency Rebif (interferon beta-1a, 44 mcg three times weekly), showed a reduction in frequency of relapses and MRI lesion activity. The companies reported the news at the 13th meeting of the European Neurological Society in Istanbul, Turkey. Rebif was developed by Serono and is co-promoted in the U.S. by Serono and Pfizer. Both Avonex and Rebif are approved for multiple sclerosis in the U.S.

• Targeted Genetics Corp., of Seattle, said it netted about $16.2 million after closing the private placement of 7.8 million common shares late Tuesday. The company said it would use the funding to advance its cystic fibrosis, AIDS vaccine and arthritis programs. The shares were priced at $2.25 apiece, for gross proceeds of $17.5 million. The offering price represented a discount of about 8 percent to the 10-day trading average leading up to the pricing, which was announced Friday. Roth Capital Partners LLC acted as placement agent for the financing, which included investments from Mainfield Enterprise Inc., Cranshire Capital LP, Smithfield Fiduciary LLC and Portside Growth & Opportunity Fund. (See BioWorld Today, June 16, 2003.)

• Tripos Inc., of St. Louis, and NovaScreen Biosciences Corp., of Hanover, Md., reported a mutual service and distribution agreement that will allow each company's sales force to offer the other's products and services to their biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients. NovaScreen will be able to use Tripos' LeadScreen compound plates as a source of compounds for high-throughput screening services, as well as Tripos' LeadQuest libraries for secondary screening and in vitro ADME/Tox follow-up. Tripos will be able to offer its customers assay development, HTS reagents, HTS services, secondary screening and in vitro ADME/Tox screening through NovaScreen. Tripos' stock (NASDAQ:TRPS) rose 82 cents Wednesday, or 11.1 percent, to close at $8.21.