• Altana AG, of Bad Homburg, Germany, and GPC Biotech AG, of Martinsried, Germany, reached milestones in their multiyear alliance to establish the U.S. Altana Research Institute in Waltham, Mass. Successful technology transfer, along with a research milestone in a joint drug discovery program, earned payments of $2.45 million for GPC Biotech. The plan for the institute, which was begun in November 2001, calls for Altana to invest $120 million through mid-2007, with $60 million to go to GPC Biotech, which also is eligible to earn additional research fees and milestone and royalty payments from two drug discovery programs.

• Amedis Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, and Argenta Discovery, of Harlow, UK, entered a collaboration to apply Amedis' in silico drug-optimization technology to Argenta's drug discovery activities. Amedis has developed a silicon-based medicinal chemistry system for optimizing leads and artificial intelligence technology for predicting the drug-like properties of molecules in advance of any laboratory testing.

• BioPartners GmbH, of Zug, Switzerland, agreed to develop an improved interferon beta for treating multiple sclerosis for Rentschler GmbH & Co. KG, of Laupheim, Germany. BioPartners will have exclusive global marketing rights for the new product. The new compound will be derived from Rentschler's current compound and a patented formulation that will remove human serum albumin from the compound. The companies believe the change will improve safety because it will be less likely to cause antibody production. Rentschler already has undertaken preclinical studies. BioPartners will conduct a Phase III clinical trial for the product. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

• Confirmant Ltd., of Abingdon, UK, said it signed a license with the University of Pennsylvania for Confirmant's proteomics database, the Protein Atlas of the Human Genome. The Atlas is a combined genomics and proteomics database of about 11,000 genes, their structure and the protein variants they encode. Confirmant is a joint venture between the proteomics specialist Oxford GlycoSciences plc, also of Abingdon, and the telecoms equipment company, Marconi plc, of London.

• Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, said it signed a research license agreement with Centocor Inc., of Malvern, Pa., a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, regarding its PER.C6 human cell line expression platform. The agreement enables Centocor to evaluate the platform for the production of monoclonal antibodies, and it has secured an option to acquire a nonexclusive commercial license for manufacturing one or more monoclonal antibody products using PER.C6. Terms were not disclosed, but Crucell will receive an up-front payment and annual maintenance fees, plus royalties on sales of any products that enter production. Crucell previously entered an agreement with Centocor concerning development and commercialization of its CD46-specific human antibodies for cancer.

• Evotec OAI AG, of Hamburg, Germany, provided a drug candidate to Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., that has advanced in clinical testing. The advance triggered a milestone payment to the German company. The candidate came from a partnership that began in 1998, and the size of the payment was not disclosed. Evotec also has begun a drug discovery partnership with KeyNeurotek AG and the Institute of Medical Technology Magdeburg GmbH, both of Magdeburg, Germany. The project aims to identify small-molecule drug candidates to treat distinct central nervous system, autoimmune, allergic and dermatologic diseases. Evotec will assist in developing compounds based on their lead targets. The program is partly assisted by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

• Galapagos Genomics NV, of Mechelen, Belgium, said it launched its SilenceSelect gene silencing platform as a complement to its adenovirus-based gene expression. SilenceSelect contains a collection of sequences that induce knock-down of 5,000 genes of therapeutic interest. The array-based platform, the company said, will enable pharmaceutical firms to identify particular genes that modulate disease phenotypes on an industrial scale.

• Ingenium Pharmaceuticals AG, of Martinsried, Germany, licensed key patents on animal genetic modification from Incyte Genomics Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif. The license clears an obstacle to Ingenium's plans to market its Ingenotyping technology in the United States. The technology is a method for producing mouse models with subtle genetic alterations for use in drug discovery and development. Ingenium provides mammalian models with knockouts and other functional genetic alterations in approximately four months. Financial details of the license were not disclosed.

• NeuTec Pharma plc, of Manchester, UK, said it will start a Phase IIb trial of AuroGrab for the treatment of the hospital superbug infection Methicillin-resistant Staphylo-coccus aureus (MRSA) this quarter. That followed the successful completion of a Phase IIa dose-ranging study in eight patients. AuroGrab is a recombinant antibody based on natural antibodies isolated from patients who recovered from MRSA. NeuTec's lead product, MycoGrab for the treatment of systemic candidiasis infections, also is in Phase IIb.

• Oxford GlycoSciences plc, of Abingdon, UK, said it submitted an application for approval of Zavesca, an oral treatment for Type I Gaucher's disease, in Israel. The company expects a decision in six to nine months. The application was filed by OGS's marketing partner, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the largest pharmaceutical company in Israel. Israel has the second largest market for Gaucher's disease after the U.S., with 550 identified patients, of whom 200 are currently being treated with injected enzyme replacement therapy. Separately, OGS said it is to be granted a European patent covering the methods and apparatus it uses for identifying and isolating biomarkers in its proteomics technology.

• SkyePharma plc, of London, is extending its drug delivery capabilities with a strategic investment of £2 million (US$3.2 million) in Micap plc, of Warrington, UK, a specialist in microencapsulation technology. SkyePharma also obtained an option to use the technology for drug delivery.

• Southampton Polypeptides Ltd. in the UK has spun out of Southampton University with £300,000 (US$484,000) in seed investment. The company has a platform technology for strengthening the links between amino acids, which it will apply to the discovery and development of stable peptide and protein drugs. Mario Polywka, a former CEO of the drug discovery services company, Oxford Asymmetry plc, (now part of OAI Evotec AG in Hamburg, Germany), will be CEO of the new company.