• AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Los Angeles, along with an international coalition of AIDS groups, launched a campaign urging F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, to lower the price of the drug Fuzeon. The U.S. advocates wrote a letter to Roche saying, "Fuzeon's $20,000 price tag is out of the price range for most AIDS patients," and that it "threatens to bankrupt already financially stressed Medicaid and AIDS drug-resistance programs." Fuzeon, a fusion inhibitor for HIV-1, developed in partnership with Trimeris Inc., of Durham, N.C., was approved in March. (See BioWorld Today, March 17, 2003.)

• Ansata Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, received research grants from three voluntary health organizations - Families of SMA, Fight SMA/Andrew's Buddies and the Hereditary Disease Foundation - to apply its molecular transduction technology in several neurodegenerative disease-related translational research projects. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• The Biotechnology Industry Organization in Washington named four lawmakers "legislator of the year" for 2002-03. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) was selected because of his support for Medicare reform involving market-based measures, his work to solve reimbursement problems within the Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and his support for removing international trade barriers to genetically modified crops. Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, also recognized for his work with Medicare and OPPS, was nominated due to his support of therapeutic cloning legislation, the orphan drug tax credit bill and homeland security legislation containing liability measures to ensure that biotechnology companies can contribute to the nation's defense. Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.) won recognition for her efforts to remedy problems in the OPPS and her commitment to protecting patient access to innovative biotechnology medicines. Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) was named for his support of orphan drug legislation as well as Medicare reform including prescription drug coverage and issues around OPPS.

• BioTime Inc., of Berkeley, Calif., granted to CJ Corp., of Seoul, South Korea, an exclusive license to manufacture and sell its Hextend and PentaLyte blood plasma volume expanders in that country for human therapeutic uses. CJ will be responsible for obtaining regulatory approvals for Hextend and PentaLyte, including clinical trials, and will bear all related costs and expenses. CJ has right of first refusal to acquire additional licenses to manufacture and sell BioTime's other blood replacement solutions for hypothermic surgery and organ preservation solutions in Korea. BioTime will receive a license fee and sales royalties.

• Cambrex Corp., East Rutherford, N.J., said the Clonetics bovine Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cell System, its new model of the blood-brain barrier, is available. The system is designed for research use and is useful in early stage ADME-Tox screening assays to assess test compounds or drug candidates, it said.

• Compugen Ltd., of Tel Aviv, Israel, reported the discovery of VEGF114, a variant protein expressed from the vascular endothelial growth factor gene. Compugen was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,506,884 covering the protein sequence of the VEGF variant, vectors and host cells containing VEGF114 sequences, and pharmaceutical drugs and detection methods developed using VEGF114 sequences.

• Elite Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Northvale, N.J., said its wholly owned subsidiary, Elite Laboratories Inc., developed an opioid antagonist product to be used with oxycodone and other opioids to minimize the abuse potential of the opioids. Elite said it filed a patent application for the product, adding that a Phase I trial is expected to begin shortly.

• Entropin Inc., of Indio, Calif., said a panel it retained to review its preclinical program found that data continue to support the development of ENT-103 as a potential analgesic and anesthetic, in particular for the treatment of post-incisional pain. More specifically, the panel concluded that ENT-103 is an active compound, has a better safety profile than and is as potent as bupivacaine in animals, among other findings.

• Genesis Research and Development Corp. Ltd., of Auckland, New Zealand, entered a collaboration with EvoGenix Pty. Ltd., of Sydney, Australia, to undertake a joint research and development program to discover anti-inflammatory drugs. In the first phase of the research project, both parties will screen and test sequences in a library of antibody-like molecules to identify inhibitors of specific biological activity. Later phases will involve selection of a therapeutic molecule to focus on targets in inflammation and begin preclinical testing before human trials. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Gyros AB, of Uppsala, Sweden, licensed a patent to Cellectricon AB, of Gothenburg, Sweden. Gyros said the patent covers the manufacture and use of elastomeric microfluidic devices, processes that Cellectricon said are used in developing its Dynaflow platform, a high-throughput drug discovery product. Financial terms were not disclosed. Last month Gyros entered a similar licensing agreement based on the same patent with Fluidigm Corp., of South San Francisco.

• Iconix Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., entered an agreement to provide chemogenomic profiling and analytical services to Eisai Co. Ltd., of Tokyo. Scientists from both companies will collaborate to gain a chemogenomic understanding of Eisai's early stage drug candidates to better predict their pharmacology and toxicology before clinical development. Eisai also expects to learn of off-target effects and mechanisms of action of its compounds. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• ILEX Oncology Inc., of San Antonio, said its subsidiary, ILEX Oncology Services, reached a settlement of a dispute with a former contract research organization customer. As a result, ILEX Services will pay $16.5 million and account for that with a one-time charge in the first quarter. ILEX previously reported that it planned to exit the CRO business in line with its strategy to focus on the commercialization and development of its compounds.

• Introgen Therapeutics Inc., of Austin, Texas, said an article published in the April 2003 issue of Seminars in Cancer Biology reviews Introgen's products, Advexin and INGN 241, among others. It reports successes in clinical trials with Advexin and describes Phase I studies with INGN 241 as promising. Advexin is being evaluated in two Phase III studies, five Phase II studies and numerous Phase I studies. INGN 241 is being evaluated in Phase I and Phase II trials for various solid tumors.

• Lipomics Technologies Inc., of West Sacramento, Calif., named Thomas Anderson CEO and added the title of chief scientific officer to President Steven Watkins. Prior to joining Lipomics last year as its vice president of business development, Anderson was a consultant to a number of companies with biotechnology interests. Watkins was a founder of privately held Lipomics and president since its inception.

• Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said its researchers and others at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Harvard University discovered a new pathway underlying the body's innate immune response. The company said the research, published in the online edition of Nature Immunology, advances the understanding of how the immune system responds rapidly to infection before the activation of more specific responses such as antibody production. The new pathway features two proteins known as I kappa B kinase epsilon and TANK-binding kinase-1.

• Molecular Engines Laboratories, of Paris, reported the publication of a study on TSAP6, one of the main target genes involved in tumor reversion, in a March 2003 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The company said the findings emphasize the importance of its recent discoveries of potential therapeutic targets against cancer. TSAP6, which it called one of its three most important therapeutic targets, is a gene involved in the process of tumor reversion of two leukemia and three breast cancer cell lines.

• Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, of Boca Raton, Fla., granted an exclusive worldwide license to its whole-cell vaccine technology for Staphylococcus aureus infections in cattle to Pharmacia Animal Health, of Kalamazoo, Mich., a division of Pharmacia Corp., of Peapack, N.J. The vaccine is being developed to provide protection from the three S. aureus strains that comprise more than 98 percent of the S. aureus isolates found to cause mastitis in cattle. Pharmacia Animal Health, which made an up-front cash payment and will make future cash payments if certain milestones are achieved, also will pay royalties based on product sales upon regulatory approval. More specific financial terms were not disclosed.

• NeoPharm Inc., of Lake Forest, Ill., said new preclinical data for LE-SN38 were published in the March 2003 edition of the proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research. In vitro cytotoxicity of LE-SN38 against several human and mouse tumor cell lines, including colon, lung, breast, ovarian, pancreatic and leukemia, was evaluated in comparison to CPT-11. Depending on the cancer cell line, LE-SN38 was found to be 300- to 1,700-fold more cytotoxic than CPT-11. At equal doses, antitumor efficacy of LE-SN38 against human pancreatic tumor in SCID mice and murine P388 or P388/ADR leukemic mice tumor model showed significantly enhanced therapeutic efficacy in comparison to CPT-11. The data on its NeoLipid liposomal formulation of SN38, the active metabolite of the cancer drug CPT-11 (irinotecan), originally were scheduled for poster presentations at last week's American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Toronto, which was canceled because of a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak.

• Neurome Inc., of La Jolla, Calif., said the April 15, 2003, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences includes a paper that details its work in the field of Alzheimer's disease. Neurome said its technologies enable 3-dimensional reconstruction of brain images for quantitative analysis to measure gene expression, regional volumetric changes and subtle cellular changes in the brain.

• Oxxon Pharmaccines Ltd., of Oxford, UK, said it raised $23 million in a private financing round. The funds will be used to drive Oxxon's therapeutic vaccine clinical programs in the areas of chronic infectious diseases and cancer. An international syndicate took part in the investment, led by Questar Capital Management and including Isis Capital, NIF Ventures, Gray Ghost and an additional unnamed institutional investor.

• Pfizer Inc., of New York, said the Federal Trade Commission accepted a consent decree clearing the way for its acquisition of Pharmacia Corp., of Peapack, N.J. The companies will begin operating on a combined basis later this week.

• United Therapeutics Corp., of Silver Spring, Md., reported data at the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation meeting in Vienna, Austria, showing that long-term therapy with treprostinil (Remodulin) in severe pulmonary hypertension patients improves New York Heart Association function class and exercise tolerance and improves long-term survival. No severe side effects related to the delivery system were reported. The abstract for the paper was published in the January 2003 issue of the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation.

• ViroLogic Inc., of South San Francisco, said data published in the current issue of AIDS support the clinical utility of its PhenoSense HIV assay for phenotypic analysis of anti-retroviral drug susceptibility information to guide therapeutic decisions in the management of HIV/AIDS patients. ViroLogic said findings from the randomized clinical trial, conducted by researchers from the AIDS Clinical Trial Group, showed that reduced resistance in the PhenoSense HIV assay is an important independent risk factor for drug treatment failure, and provides clinicians with information to predict long-term treatment outcomes over almost three years.

• Vitalife, of Tel Aviv, Israel, reported the closing of its first fund, totaling $50 million. HarbourVest Partners, a private equity firm, joined Vitalife's existing investors, including Discount Capital Markets and Investments, SCP Private Equity Partners, Boston Scientific and Evergreen. Vitalife focuses on investing in Israeli life sciences companies.

• Xenova Group plc, of Slough, UK, reported the results of an open-label, physician-sponsored Phase II study targeting the treatment of human papillomavirus-associated ano-genital intraepithelial neoplasia. The study involved 29 patients at three centers in the UK. Early results indicate that a prime boost strategy, using a combination of Xenova's TA-CIN and TA-HPV therapeutic vaccines, was safe and well tolerated and demonstrated clear clinical responses, even in women with longstanding disease. TA-HPV, a recombinant fusion protein, is an immunotherapeutic vaccine. Of the 26 patients meeting the entry requirements, 60 percent showed evidence of symptomatic improvement, 9 percent showed a partial response and one patient had a complete response. Five were HPV16-negative at the end of the study.