• Aclara BioSciences Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., entered into an eTag expert access agreement with Procter & Gamble, of Cincinnati, under which P&G Pharmaceuticals will gain access to Aclara's eTag Assay System for use in research and development activities. The agreement will include eTag assay products and services for multiplexed assays to monitor expression of genes as well as proteins.

• AltaRex Corp., of Waltham, Mass., said Unither Pharmaceuticals, a wholly owned subsidiary of United Therapeutics Corp., of Silver Spring, Md., initiated an OvaRex (oregovomab) Phase III trial program to treat advanced ovarian cancer. AltaRex said the two trials, supported by its completed and planned Phase II studies, would form the basis for an OvaRex registration program in North America and Europe. In April, AltaRex entered a license agreement with Unither for its cancer antibody portfolio for North America, Japan and other territories. Both Unither trials are scheduled to be conducted in the U.S. in Stage III/IV ovarian cancer patients who have successfully completed primary treatment of surgery and chemotherapy.

• Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, said its underwriters exercised an overallotment option to purchase about 1.34 million shares of common stock associated with its follow-on offering that priced Jan. 16. Including the overallotment shares, the offering totals about 10.54 million shares at $16.60 each, resulting in expected net proceeds of about $164 million. Goldman, Sachs & Co. acted as book-running and joint lead manager for the offering. Other joint lead managers included Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and Banc of America Securities LLC. Fortis Securities Inc. acted as co-manager.

• AVI BioPharma Inc., of Portland, Ore., said that scientist Vikram Arora presented data from two preclinical studies evaluating orally administered NeuGene antisense drugs as therapeutic agents for blocking gene targets in liver. The data were presented at the Keystone Symposia in Tahoe City, Calif. AVI's NeuGene antisense (AVI-4126) targeting the c-myc gene slowed the regenerative process in the rat liver after a 70 percent partial removal of the liver. Analysis of the liver tissue from rats showed a substantial reduction in the target protein c-myc. The second study targeted the gene for liver enzyme cytochrome P450 3A2 using AVI-4472. Oral administration of that product reduced the targeted cytochrome P450 enzyme levels in the rat liver about fivefold over a 24-hour period. Both studies were partially funded by the U.S. Public Health Service.

• BioCurex Inc., of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., said it is considering proposals for funding its research and operations. It said it anticipates its funding requirements will be met in the near term. The company focuses on cancer diagnosis, tumor imaging and therapeutics.

• Bionomics Ltd., of Adelaide, Australia, reported that its scientists developed a new model for inherited human epilepsy known as the digenic model. Bionomics said the new model adds another component to the company's ionX drug discovery platform for epilepsy, and continues to implicate the critical role of genes that regulate ion channel function as a cause of epilepsy. The company also reported it progressed the patent for the digenic model with individual filings in countries around the world.

• Case Western Reserve University researchers reported finding a gene that is essential for normal levels of anxiety and aggression. The researchers in Cleveland said that when this gene is removed or knocked out in a mouse, aggression and anxiety are greatly elevated compared to a control mouse. Other neurologic functions, such as motor coordination, feeding and locomotor activity do not appear altered in the knockout mouse, the researchers said in a study published in the Jan. 23, 2003, issue of Neuron.

• Corgentech Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., said the FDA granted fast-track designation for the company's second product, CGT021, which soon will enter a Phase I/II trial for the prevention of arterio-venous graft failure in end-stage renal disease patients requiring hemodialysis. The study is a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in patients with chronic renal failure requiring hemodialysis.

• DeCode Genetics Inc., of Reykjavik, Iceland, and IBM Corp., of Armonk, N.Y., entered a three-year alliance to jointly market a set of integrated applications, technologies and services for analyzing, managing and storing genetic, genealogical and clinical data. They will market and sell DeCode's Clinical Genome Miner Discovery system running on IBM hardware and software, a product that will be made available globally by the middle of the year. DeCode's stock (NASDAQ:DCGN) rose 19 cents Thursday, to close at $2.46.

• GeneData AG, of Basel, Switzerland, and Novartis Pharma AG, also of Basel, entered a multiyear agreement to develop an integrated software platform for comprehensive visualization and analysis of high-throughput screening and compound profiling data. Novartis also acquired a license for the GeneData Screener software system on which the platform is based. GeneData will integrate the development efforts into its GeneData Screener system under full marketing rights for the software and scientific methods being developed jointly with Novartis.

• GlycoGenesys Inc., of Boston, received notification from Nasdaq that after review of information submitted to Nasdaq and the company's Form 8-K filed on Jan. 14, the company complies with equity requirements for the Nasdaq SmallCap Market. In addition, Nasdaq granted the company an additional 180-day grade period, through July 18, to regain compliance with Nasdaq's listing requirement to maintain a minimum bid price of $1 per share.

• Helicon Therapeutics Inc., of New York, exercised its option to license for $250,000 the IPL455,903 compound from Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Richmond, British Columbia. Helicon said it plans to develop the compound, jointly developed under a collaboration begun in February 2001 to identify a candidate to treat cognitive disorders from Inflazyme's library of phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitors, as a potential drug for memory disorders. Going forward both parties will establish a joint research committee to plan and oversee development of IPL455,903. Inflazyme may supply certain development resources to Helicon, at Helicon's cost. Inflazyme has the option to form a 50/50 joint venture with Helicon for further development and subsequent commercialization, an option it may exercise before the completion of a Phase IIa study. If Inflazyme does not exercise this option, Helicon would be responsible for continued development and would pay Inflazyme royalties.

• Helix BioMedix Inc., of Bothell, Wash., said that as of Dec. 31, it had raised more than $1.5 million in a private sale of common stock, triggering the conversion of about $3.3 million of convertible promissory notes into the company's common stock at $1 per share. The company is focused on developing and commercializing bioactive peptides.

• Human Genome Sciences Inc., of Rockville, Md., reported the creation of Human Genome Sciences Europe GmbH, a subsidiary that will be responsible for European clinical trials of the company's drugs in clinical and late-stage preclinical development. The new subsidiary will be based in Dusseldorf, Germany.

• ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Costa Mesa, Calif., settled its litigation with Ribapharm Inc., also of Costa Mesa, of which ICN owns about 80.1 percent of its shares. Concurrent with the settlement, much of Ribapharm's management turned in their resignations, effective immediately. The resignations included chairman and CEO Johnson Y.N. Lau, Chief Financial Officer Thomas Stankovich and General Counsel Roger Loomis, as well as board members Kim Campbell, Arnold Kroll, Hans Thierstein and John Vierling.

• ICOS Corp., of Bothell, Wash., began European shipments of Cialis (tadalafil), an oral PDE5 inhibitor to treat erectile dysfunction. Developed by Lilly ICOS LLC, a joint venture between ICOS and Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, Cialis is expected to be available by prescription in European pharmacies within the next few weeks. It was granted European marketing authorization on Nov. 12.

• InterMune Inc., of Brisbane, Calif., initiated a Phase I study to evaluate PEG-Alfacon, a PEGylated version of Infergen (interferon alfacon-1), as a treatment for chronic hepatitis C virus. InterMune markets Infergen, a bioengineered Type 1 interferon alpha, for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C infections. The study will enroll about 40 healthy volunteers.

• Large Scale Biology Corp., of Vacaville, Calif., said the FDA granted the company orphan drug designation for its plant-produced human alpha-Galactosidase A enzyme for the treatment of Fabry disease. The company said it is accelerating its planned filing of an investigational new drug application with the FDA and has established a relationship with a clinical research center specializing in genetic diseases to undertake a Phase I trial later this year. By employing its Geneware and biomanufacturing technologies, LSBC has produced bulk quantities of clinical-grade alpha-Galactosidase A in its commercial-scale facility in Owensboro, Ky. Large Scale's stock (NASDAQ:LSBC) gained 12 cents Thursday, or 20.8 percent, to close at 69 cents.

• Lynx Therapeutics Inc., of Hayward, Calif., said it is reducing its work force by about 25 percent, bringing its employees down to 90 people. The affected groups are mainly the research and development personnel based in Heidelberg, Germany, and those in its proteomics group in California. The move is intended to focus on Lynx's proteomics analysis technology, Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing (MPSS). The company is discontinuing its internal proteomics development efforts, including investing in its Protein ProFiler platform. In April, the company reduced its work force by 30 percent. It also raised $22.6 million at that time. (See BioWorld Today, April 19, 2002.)

• Repligen Corp., of Waltham, Mass., began a Phase I/II trial of RG2133, a prodrug of uridine, in patients with either bipolar disorder or major depression. In addition to standard clinical evaluations of safety and efficacy, the trial will assess potential changes in brain chemistry by magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The open-label trial will evaluate oral administration of RG2133 in 20 patients.

• SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Mateo, Calif., said Sigma-Tau SpA, of Rome, and its affiliates increased their aggregate ownership to nearly 10 percent of SciClone's outstanding stock by purchasing about 505,000 unregistered shares of stock for $1.8 million. All warrants held by Sigma-Tau to purchase shares of SciClone have been canceled, and no new warrants were issued. Sigma-Tau markets Zadaxin in the European Union and will have access to the data from SciClone's U.S. Phase III hepatitis C trials for regulatory filing purposes.

• Senetek plc, of Napa, Calif., said it acquired patent rights to the systemic uses of Cytokinins to include injection therapy and an expanded indication for inflammatory diseases. Details were not disclosed. Senetek focuses on products applicable to the anti-aging markets in skin care and sexual dysfunction categories.