• Altea Therapeutics Corp., of Tucker, Ga., began Phase I trials for AT1391, a daily insulin patch designed to provide basal levels of insulin for diabetes patients. The product uses Altea's PassPort system, which is designed to deliver protein and peptide drugs, small molecules, genes and vaccines through the skin.

• Atrix Laboratories Inc., of Fort Collins, Colo., said Pfizer Inc., of New York, published preclinical data on CP-533,536, a bone growth/healing compound that uses Atrix's Atrigel drug delivery technology. The article appears in the May 27, 2003, issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The article reports that the compound promotes healing, as measured by increased mineral content and density, as well as accelerates healing of fractured bone.

• BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Birmingham, Ala., agreed with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a unit of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases to test BioCryst's hepatitis C polymerase inhibitors against the severe acute respiratory syndrome and West Nile virus. The compounds are active site-directed inhibitors of the enzyme hepatitis C polymerase. BioCryst has an exclusive license to compounds resulting from the collaboration. BioCryst's stock (NASDAQ:BCRX) rose 82 cents Wednesday, or 28.4 percent, to close at $3.69.

• Biokeys Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, completed a private placement of common stock and warrants for proceeds of more than $2 million. The offering consisted of 5 million unregistered shares of its stock and issuance of warrants to purchase an aggregate of just more than 1.5 million shares. The company said it would use the funds to finance clinical trial programs. The company expects in 2003 to begin a Phase Ib/IIa trial for BlockAide in HIV and a Phase II trial of CoFactor in metastatic colorectal cancer.

• BioMimetic Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Nashville, Tenn., said it is getting venture capital funding through lead investor Memphis Biomed Ventures, of Memphis, Tenn., and existing investors Burrill and Co., of San Francisco; Holden Capital, of Denver, Colo.; and Novo A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark. The company is conducting a pivotal trial of GEM 21S: Growth-factor Enhanced Matrix. The product is designed to treat periodontal and cranio-maxillofacial osseous defects.

• Celgene Corp., of Warren, N.J., said cancer research centers presented data from 69 clinical trials of Thalomid (thalidomide) and Revimid (CC-5013) in multiple myeloma at the 9th International Myeloma Workshop in Salamanca, Spain, including results from a Phase II trial of thalidomide in combination with dexamethasone. The trial compared 17 newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients with high tumor mass to 50 matched patients with high tumor mass who received high-dose cyclophosphamide with VAD (HCVAD) by continuous infusion. With both treatment regimens, early deaths occurred in 6 percent of patients. All patients who received HCVAD therapy experienced grade four neutropenia, and 70 percent experienced grade three or four thromocytopenia. Patients who received thalidomide plus dexmethasone combination therapy did not experience grade three or four neutropenia or thrombocytopenia.

• Cellegy Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, appointed Neopharm Ltd., of Petach-Tiqva, Israel, to be its exclusive distributor of Tostrex gel in Israel. Neopharm will file for approval using an existing regulatory package supplied by Cellegy. Tostrex gel is a transdermal testosterone gel designed to treat male hypogonadism.

• Cephalon Inc., of West Chester, Pa., said the acceptance period of its bid to acquire SIRTeX Medical Ltd., of New South Wales, Australia, for A$4.85 (US$3.16) per share expired. Cephalon said its bid was contingent upon at least 90 percent of SIRTeX shares being tendered prior to Tuesday. About 88 percent of SIRTeX shares had been tendered, the company said. Cephalon's plan to acquire SIRTeX for $161 million was reported in February. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 13, 2003.)

• Corus Pharma Inc., of Seattle, filed an investigational new drug application for Corus 1020 (aztreonam, formulated for inhalation) and dosed its first patients in the Phase Ib cystic fibrosis study. In the multicenter trial, Corus 1020 will be delivered directly to the lung. The company said it expects to move to a Phase II study later in the year.

• Epoch Biosciences Inc., of Bothell, Wash., and Eurogentec SA, of Liege, Belgium, formed a definitive agreement for Epoch to sell the assets and customer base of its specialty oligonucleotide operations located in San Diego to Eurogentec. Epoch will transfer its manufacturing equipment and inventory related to its nonproprietary specialty oligonucleotide business. Epoch will receive $1.4 million in cash at closing, which is expected to occur May 30. The existing supply agreement, which allows Eurogentec to sell custom oligonucleotides that include Epoch's dyes and nonfluorescent quenchers, will be expanded to include North America. Further financial details were not disclosed.

• Genaera Corp., of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., completed the sale to Biotechnology Value Fund LP and associated entities and to Ziff Asset Management LP of 5,000 shares of newly issued convertible preferred stock in a private placement, raising $5 million. The company said the move strengthens Genaera's balance sheet and "provides the stockholders' equity position to best ensure the maintenance" of Nasdaq listing. The funds enable the company to continue development of its programs, puts it in a stronger position for negotiating potential business partnerships and for pursuing strategic merger and acquisition activity, the company said.

• Gene Logic Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., said Solvay Pharmaceuticals, a division of Solvay SA, of Brussels, Belgium, subscribed to a CustomSuite product from Gene Logic's BioExpress System. Solvay will apply the data resource to selected areas of their target discovery research efforts. Financial details of the multiyear agreements were not disclosed. Gene Logic also reported that Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, of Madison, N.J., renewed its agreement for access to Gene Logic's BioExpress System.

• ID Biomedical Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, closed its offering of 2.6 million shares at $8.50 per share. The underwriters exercised their overallotment option of 3 million shares, raising the total to $25.5 million. CIBC World Markets acted as lead underwriter in a syndicate that included Canaccord Capital, RBC Capital Markets, Dlouhy Merchant Group, TD Securities, Desjardins Securities and Wells Fargo Securities LLC. Proceeds of the offering will be used for clinical and manufacturing development of ID's subunit intranasal FluINsure vaccine and subunit StreptAvax vaccine, as well as for working capital requirements and other general corporate purposes, it said. (See BioWorld Today, May 16, 2003.)

• Immunomedics Inc., of Morris Plains, N.J., completed a $6.4 million bond financing with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. The proceeds are to be repaid over a five-year period and will be used to refinance the expansion of Immunomedics' manufacturing facility in Morris Plains. The financing keeps the company's cash position at about $33 million, it said. The expansion will allow the company to increase its bioreactor manufacturing capacity to support all its clinical trial requirements, it said.

• Lighthouse Capital Partners, of Menlo Park, Calif., reported the final close of Lighthouse Capital Partners V LP investment fund for a total of $366 million. LCP V is the fifth in the firm's series of investment funds. Lighthouse focuses on financing the growth of start-ups in the technology and life sciences markets.

• Lorus Therapeutics Inc., of Toronto, filed a preliminary prospectus in each of the provinces of Canada in connection with its proposed public offering of units. Each unit will consist of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant will entitle the holder to purchase a common share at a price to be negotiated with the agents. The transaction is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approval.

• Medarex Inc., of Princeton, N.J., reported results from preclinical studies of its fully human antibody against anthrax. Rabbits exposed to lethal doses of anthrax spores by inhalation received varying doses of antibody and were observed for two weeks. All of the animals not receiving the antibody died within days of exposure. In contrast, at all dose levels tested, the antibody protected the rabbits from the anthrax bacteria and its toxins to the two-week study endpoint. The antibody was generated by Medarex's UltiMAb Human Antibody Development System.

• MicroIslet Inc., of San Diego, was awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant by the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. The $120,000 award will be used to develop its islet cell transplantation technology for treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes. It also will support additional efforts in islet isolation process development and process automation.

• Orchid BioSciences Inc., of Princeton, N.J., appointed Paul Kelly CEO. Kelly is former CEO of Gemini Genomics, which he co-founded in 1995. Orchid is a provider of services and products for profiling genetic uniqueness.

• Pharsight Corp., of Mountain View, Calif., said Fournier Pharma Inc., of Montreal, will engage Pharsight for a modeling and simulation project designed to enhance the drug development process. Fournier will use Pharsight's modeling and simulation tools for development programs to optimize Fournier's trial design and dosing regimen for specific drug candidates. Financial details were not disclosed.

• Point Therapeutics Inc., of Boston, said PT-100 demonstrated an improvement in severe neutropenia associated with chemotherapy, according to results to date. Also, PT-100 was well tolerated. The trial was the first to study PT-100 in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and the company said the results support the initiation of a clinical program to study the drug as a cancer agent. Point's stock (OTC BB:POTP) rose $1.11 Wednesday, or 97.4 percent, to close at $2.25.

• Proteome Systems Ltd., of Sydney, Australia, and Iberica Co., of Kurume, Japan, agreed to collaborate on a proteomics and glycomics research program to analyze the proteoglycan changes associated with the progression and treatment of osteoarthritis. Financial details were not disclosed.

• Trimeris Inc., of Durham, N.C., and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., of Nutley, N.J., said the European Commission approved Fuzeon (enfuvirtide) for use in the European Union. Fuzeon is a fusion inhibitor, one of a new class of anti-HIV treatments. It is designed to block HIV's ability to infect immune cells. Fuzeon received FDA approval in March. (See BioWorld Today, March 17, 2003.)

• VaxGen Inc., of Brisbane, Calif., said the FDA cleared the investigational new drug application for its anthrax vaccine. The IND allows VaxGen to begin clinical development of the vaccine with the goal of producing a stockpile for the U.S. government and licensing the product for commercial sales. The Phase I trial would involve about 100 volunteers at four medical centers. The trial would evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of VaxGen's vaccine compared to those of the existing licensed anthrax vaccine. VaxGen's stock (NASDAQ:VXGN) rose $2.28 Wednesday, or 68.7 percent, to close at $2.28.

• Vion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New Haven, Conn., initiated a Phase II trial of Triapine in combination with gemcitabine in patients with metastatic or advanced pancreatic cancer. Triapine is designed to be an inhibitor of ribonucleotide reductase. Vion recently began a Phase II trial of Triapine and gemcitabine in non-small-cell lung cancer patients.