• A.P. Pharma Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., sold its Analytical Standards division to GFS Chemicals Inc., of Columbus, Ohio. The unit was no longer considered part of A.P. Pharma's strategic focus. Terms of the sale included a cash payment of $2.1 million and a royalty on sales varying from 5 percent to 15 percent through 2007, with guaranteed minimum annual royalty payments. The division uses A.P. Pharma's microsphere technology as a testing standard for gauging the purity of municipal drinking water. A.P. Pharma's primary focus is the development of its bioerodible injectable and implantable systems.

• Antigenics Inc., of New York, reportedly filed a lawsuit against Piper Jaffray in a Manhattan court. News reports say Piper Jaffray, which is owned by U.S. Bancorp, threatened to drop research coverage when Antigenics considered a Piper Jarray rival to manage a $60 million stock offering. The suit claims Antigenics chose UBS Warburg LLC, of New York, to manage the offering, and Piper Jarray then dropped coverage of Antigenics, thus hurting its stock before the offering. Antigenics raised $62 million in January. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 24, 2003.)

• Biogen Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., reported a charge of $55 million to its 2002 fourth-quarter earnings, reflecting the final settlement of litigation with Berlex Laboratories Inc., of Richmond, Calif. Net income for 2002 now totals $199 million, or $1.31 per share, which included 28 cents per share of net non-operating or unusual charges. Excluding those charges, 2002 operating earnings were $242 million, or $1.59 per share. Net income for the fourth quarter now totals $41 million, or 27 cents per share, including 16 cents per share of net non-operating or unusual charges. Revenues for the year ended Dec. 31 increased to about $1.1 billion, up from about $1 billion. The company gave guidance of operating earnings per share in 2003 of $1.63 to $1.78, and diluted earnings per share in the first quarter of 2003 in the range of 31 cents to 38 cents.

• Caliper Technologies Corp., of Mountain View, Calif., said it has received a revised acquisition proposal from LB Acquisitions LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Little Bear Investments LLC, reflecting an increase in the cash portion of the proposal to $4.50 per share. The company believes that the revised proposal, like the original proposal, is not in the best interests of Caliper's shareholders, it said. Caliper believes that its assets are not appropriately valued in the proposals.

• Cell Genesys Inc., of Foster City, Calif., reported updated data from the initial Phase I/II trial of GVAX lung cancer vaccine. Data from the trial, which involved patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, the majority of whom had failed prior treatment with surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy, were last updated in September 2000. Eighteen of 22 patients who completed the course of vaccinations demonstrated enhanced antitumor immunity as measured by delayed-type hypersensitivity skin reactions following treatment with GVAX lung cancer vaccine. Also, two patients continue to experience disease-free survival at least 3.5 years after treatment, one of whom has bronchoalveolar carcinoma, a subtype of NSCLC that might be more responsive to GVAX lung cancer vaccine. Five additional patients were reported to have stable disease with no evidence of tumor progression for up to 33 months. A paper on the trial was featured in the Feb. 15, 2003, issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

• CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Newtown, Pa., served a complaint in the District Court for the Eastern District of New York on West-ward Pharmaceutical Corp., of Eatontown, N.J. CollaGenex alleges that West-ward infringed its Periostat patents by filing with the FDA an abbreviated new drug application for a capsule formulation of Periostat. CollaGenex filed and served a motion for preliminary injunction in the same court seeking to prevent West-ward from introducing a 20-mg capsule of doxycycline hyclate into the U.S., should the FDA approve West-ward's application. CollaGenex is seeking awards of triple damages, costs and reasonable attorney fees.

• Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, entered a nonexclusive license agreement with Targeted Genetics Corp., of Seattle, which will evaluate and use PER.C6 for research and development in the vaccine field. Targeted Genetics also received an option for a nonexclusive license to commercialize the resulting vaccines. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Discovery Partners International Inc., of San Diego, said its board adopted a shareholders rights plan, designed to enable shareholders to realize the full value of their investment by providing for fair and equal treatment of all stockholders in the event that an unsolicited takeover attempt is made. The company said the plan is not in response to any specific acquisition attempt. Discovery offers services and products for drug discovery.

• DOR BioPharma Inc., of Lake Forest, Ill., began developing an orally administrable vaccine against botulinum toxin. DOR executed a letter of intent to exclusively license issued U.S. Patent No. 6,051,239 and corresponding international patent applications that claim the oral administration of nontoxic modified botulinum toxins as vaccines. The intellectual property subject to the letter of intent also includes patent applications covering the inhaled and intranasal routes of delivery. The vaccines were invented at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

• Entropin Inc., of Indio, Calif., updated development of its chemical entity, ENT-103, and said it believes it has sufficient funds to complete preclinical research. It also said it would seek corporate partners or other funding sources to complete subsequent IND filing and clinical trials. The Entropin board met with the scientific advisers to review the progress of preclinical studies being performed at Harvard Medical School and the University of Arizona. In preclinical models for post-incisional pain and neuropathic pain, ENT-103 continues to perform as an active pain reliever, the company said.

• Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., said that Columbia Casualty Co. withdrew its lawsuit filed against Indevus claiming breach of contract and seeking declaratory judgment. Indevus has withdrawn its counterclaims against CNA. The CNA lawsuit, filed in August 2001, sought damages in excess of $20 million. No amount will be paid by either party to the other in settlement of these claims. Indevus focuses on developing a portfolio of products and product candidates, including products for ischemic stroke and overactive bladder.

• MetaPhore Pharmaceuticals Inc., of St. Louis, named Alan Dunton its president and CEO. Previously, he was the president and managing director of the Janssen Research Foundation, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, N.J. Privately held MetaPhore is developing small-molecule mimetics of naturally occurring human enzymes.

• Mymetics Inc., of Providence, R.I., said Peter McCann, after consulting with Mymetics' board, resigned as CEO and president. Until a new CEO is hired, Michael Allio, its chairman, will assume responsibilities for day-to-day operations. Mymetics is developing therapeutic products and vaccines against retroviruses.

• Oncolytics Biotech Inc., of Calgary, Alberta, said it completed its animal toxicology program examining the systemic delivery of Reolysin. Small primates received Reolysin intravenously for 28 days. The product was well tolerated. Oncolytics is focused on developing the human reovirus, Reolysin, as a cancer therapeutic.

• Pro-Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Newton, Mass., said dosing of patients in a Phase I trial of Davanat has begun. The trial is investigating cancer patients with solid tumors who have failed standard surgical, radiation and chemotherapeutic regimens. The trial combines Davanat with 5-FU. The company uses carbohydrate molecules to upgrade the safety and efficacy of anticancer agents, it said.

• Serono SA, of Geneva, and Biogen Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and their drugs were the subject of an article in the Feb. 15, 2003, issue of The Lancet. The study reported results that questioned the efficacy of interferon drugs commonly used to treat multiple sclerosis. Data published in the journal show that while Rebif, marketed by Serono, and Avonex, marketed by Biogen, reduced in the first year the number of patients that relapse by 25 percent, two-year follow-up results proved inconclusive.

• V.I. Technologies Inc., of Watertown, Mass., said it filed with the SEC a preliminary proxy statement seeking shareholder approval to increase its authorized shares of common stock by 15 million. The shares are essential to ensure that it has sufficient shares to use in its previously announced $20 million rights offering to shareholders and the $4 million equity investment by Pall Corp. The company's Inactine technology, in Phase III trials, is designed to inactivate a range of viruses, bacteria and parasites.

• Virxsys Corp., of Gaithersburg, Md., said it would begin Phase I trials of the genetic treatment of HIV/AIDS, a study the company said will involve the first-ever use of a lentiviral vector, VRX496, in humans. The trials are expected to begin in the next 90 days and are expected to involve HIV-infected patients who have failed two consecutive combination anti-retroviral drug therapy regimens.

• Vivus Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., completed patient treatment in its at-home study of Alista, the company's formulation of alprostadil applied locally to the female genitalia. Alprostadil is a synthetic version of prostaglandin E1, a naturally occurring vasodilating agent. Vivus expects to report data by the end of the first quarter from its the study of Alista, a product designed to increase blood flow to the female genitalia, thereby promoting engorgement and other natural processes that occur during sexual stimulation.