• Agilent Technologies Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in San Diego reported a worldwide licensing agreement that allows Agilent to exclusively commercialize a technology for proteomics applications used in drug research. The technology is a chemical reagent for the derivatization and mass tagging of protein samples prior to analysis by mass spectrometry.

• Alkermes Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and Janssen Pharmaceutica Products LP, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, reported that their Risperdal Consta, a long-acting formulation of risperidone, was featured in a study published Monday in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Drug patients experienced significant symptom relief, with relatively low levels of side effects. Using the Medisorb technology, risperidone is encapsulated in microspheres made of a biodegradable polymer, which are suspended in a water-based solution and injected into the muscle.

• Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, and Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, said that an abstract containing preliminary results from an ongoing Phase III open-label study of exenatide, a first-in-class drug candidate for Type II diabetes, was posted Monday on the website of the American Diabetes Association. The abstract reported that 63 patients completing five months of treatment with exenatide showed a 1.4 percent reduction in HbA1c, accompanied by a 2.4 kilogram reduction in body weight. More than half the subjects completing five months of treatment achieved the ADA treatment goal of an HbA1c level of less than or equal to 7 percent.

• Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, was notified by its corporate partner, Boston Scientific Corp., of Natick, Mass., that the requirement for payment of its sales milestone license fee to Angiotech was satisfied in the first quarter of 2003. Boston Scientific launched the TAXUS Express2 paclitaxel-eluting coronary stent system in Europe in February and plans to launch the product in the U.S. late this year.

• Atrix Laboratories Inc., of Fort Collins, Colo., said enrollment was completed for the pivotal Phase III studies of Atrisone (5 percent dapsone topical gel) for the treatment of acne. More than 2,900 patients are enrolled in the double-blind, vehicle-controlled studies. Final patient evaluations are expected to conclude in late 2003.

• Axonyx Inc., of New York, initiated the first trial in its planned Phase IIb/Phase III program for Phenserine. The randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial will evaluate Phenserine's ability to lower the levels of beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP) and beta-amyloid in the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease patients. Phenserine is an acetylcholinesterase and beta-APP inhibitor.

• Cel-Sci Corp., of Vienna, Va., entered a partnership to develop two of its drugs, Multikine and CEL-1000, in three countries, Greece, Serbia and Croatia. The strategic partner gained the right to receive a 1 percent royalty on the future net sales of Multikine and CEL-1000. The partner also acquired $500,000 of Cel-Sci common stock and warrants at a price above the market price at the time of the transaction. The receipt of the funds is scheduled to occur within two weeks, at which time Cel-Sci could disclose the name of the company.

• Cytyc Corp., of Boxborough, Mass., entered a collaborative sponsored research agreement with Northeastern University in Boston focused on identifying potential breast cancer markers in ductal lavage fluid collected with the FirstCyte Breast Test. The agreement calls for Cytyc to sponsor targeted research programs with the Barnett Institute at the university. Cytyc designs, develops, manufactures and markets the ThinPrep System for use in medical diagnostic applications primarily focused on women's health.

• Devgen NV, of Ghent, Belgium, a privately held functional genomics and drug discovery company, reported entering a research agreement with Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco. Devgen employed its C. elegans in vivo-based RNAi technology and its Function Factory tool to propose a role of genes identified by Genentech in specific cellular pathways. That is designed to enable Genentech to investigate more closely their function in cancer development and to progress those genes toward drug discovery.

• Generex Biotechnology Corp., of Toronto, said it will begin Phase IIb studies of Oralin, an oral insulin spray, in the U.S. this month. The studies will evaluate the efficacy of Oralin in patients with Type I and Type II diabetes. The protocol for patients with Type I diabetes will compare the metabolic effects and the reproducibility of the oral insulin spray formulation at mealtime to regular insulin. The protocol of Type II diabetics will analyze the metabolic effects of Oralin given at mealtimes and with major snacks in patients with Type II diabetes and poorly controlled blood glucose where conventional therapy failed.

• Genome BioSciences Inc., of Temecula, Calif., entered a blanket technology sublicensing agreement with Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. Researchers at Morehouse will have the right to implement the use of Positive-Positive Selection gene-targeting technologies for the creation of knockout and knock-in transgenic embryonic stem cells and mice. Financial and other specific terms were not disclosed.

• Hemispherx Biopharma Inc., of Philadelphia, unveiled previously undisclosed human volunteer data during a presentation at the Anti-SARS Forum held Sunday at the University of Pennsylvania. A comparative safety study of Alferon N Injection, a natural alpha interferon, and Intron A, recombinant interferon, was performed in healthy volunteers. The double-blinded study involved 14 individuals randomized to receive Intron while 15 received Alferon N. The incidence of body chills was significantly lower in those receiving Alferon N, it said. Only one person, or 7 percent, treated with Alferon N experienced chills compared to 11 (79 percent) treated with Intron (p<0.001). The incidence of fever greater than 100 degrees F also was significantly lower in those receiving Alferon N (p=0.007).

• ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Costa Mesa, Calif., said it intends to make a tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of its subsidiary, Ribapharm Inc., that it does not already own. ICN currently owns about 80.1 percent of the outstanding stock and will offer to acquire the balance at $5.60 per share in cash, representing a 20.2 percent premium to the one-month average closing price of $4.66. The aggregate consideration payable under the offer would be about $168 million. ICN said it expects to file offering materials with the SEC within seven to 10 days.

• MacroChem Corp., of Lexington, Mass., said clinical investigators will begin enrolling patients this month in an efficacy trial of Topiglan, a treatment for erectile dysfunction applied to the skin. The trial is designed to test the efficacy and tolerance of a new cream formulation in men with mild to moderate erectile dysfunction. Separately, the company said it received a notice from Nasdaq indicating that it does not meet the minimum $10 million stockholders' equity requirement for continued listing and that its stock will be delisted at the opening of business Friday unless it files a hearing request.

• MediQuest Therapeutics Inc., of Seattle, said that in a collaborative research venture with Sunil David at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, MediQuest will receive funding via a subgrant on a five-year, $1.13 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. The research will focus on the design, synthesis and biological testing of polycationic compounds, extensions of MediQuest's library of small-molecule compounds, in biological assays developed by David.

• Myriad Proteomics Inc., of Salt Lake City, selected the DeCypher system from TimeLogic Corp., of Crystal Bay, Nev., for the computational analysis of a high volume of DNA and protein sequence data generated by Myriad's protein characterization work. TimeLogic said the system is designed to help scientists discover interactions between proteins in order to fully characterize and validate potential targets for therapeutic intervention.

• Ortec International Inc., of New York, completed a $5.34 million equity private placement financing through the sale of convertible preferred stock at a fixed price of 20 cents, the closing price of Ortec's stock May 30. As previously reported, the company plans to implement a 1-for-10 reverse stock split. It is expected that the reverse split will become effective during the next 30 days. If completed and assuming conversion of all outstanding preferred shares into common shares, the company would have about 10 million shares or equivalents outstanding.

• Osteotech Inc., of Eatontown, N.J., signed a definitive agreement to settle its claims against GenSci Regeneration Sciences Inc., of Irvine, Calif., arising out of the patent lawsuit in which GenSci was found to have infringed certain Osteotech patents. The jury awarded Osteotech $17.5 million, which was reduced by $3 million due to a previous settlement with another defendant in the case. As a result of the verdict, GenSci filed for bankruptcy in December 2001. The settlement is for an aggregate of $7.5 million, and also provides that Osteotech covenants not to sue GenSci for infringing any of Osteotech's existing patents with respect to GenSci's new products, so long as GenSci does not change the formulation and composition of the new products.

• Peplin Biotech Ltd., of Brisbane, Australia, reported the placement of 5 million new shares to domestic and international institutional investors at 70 cents per share to raise A$3.5 million (US$2.3 million) before expenses. The funds will be used to accelerate the company's pipeline of drug candidates targeting cancer and other diseases and to broaden its technology in the area of protein kinase C activation and immunomodulation.

• Protein Design Labs Inc., reported progress from a program of a direct anti-endothelial cell antibody designed to inhibit angiogenesis. The antibody is being evaluated for the treatment of solid tumors, such as colorectal or kidney cancers. PDL initiated a Phase I trial of the anti-a5b1 integrin antibody in patients with advanced solid tumors for whom there is no standard treatment. The dose-escalation trial is designed to explore the safety, with the primary objective to define the dose-limiting toxicities and maximum tolerated dose.

• Triosyn Corp., of Burlington, Vt., raised an additional $4 million in private equity financing, bringing the total of the round to $12 million. The additional financing came entirely from members of Triosyn's existing investor group, made up of SL Ventures; CDP Capital - Technology Ventures, a member of CDP Capital, of Quebec; BDC Venture Capital, of Montreal; and Innovatech du Grand Montreal. Triosyn is developing a technology to kill disease-causing microorganisms and to treat microbial infections.