• 4SC AG, of Martinsried, Germany, reached its first milestone in a research collaboration withRecordati, of Milan, Italy. In three months, 4SC evaluated a pool of more than 3.3 million small organic molecules for their binding efficacy on a target from Recordati. The company provided several active and selective compounds, triggering research and milestone payments. The companies did not disclose the size of the payments.

• Astex Technology Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, said it joined the Partnership for Structural Biology (PSB), at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, thus providing the company with guaranteed access to a new X-ray beamline dedicated to structural biology and underpinning its high-throughput X-ray crystallography technology. The PSB has been set up by four research institutes to play a leading role in structural biology research in Europe. Selected biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have been invited to become associate members.

• Domantis Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, announced a research and license agreement with Abbott Laboratories, of Abbott Park, Ill., to access Domantis' domain antibody technology. The partners will collaborate on the identification and optimization of domain antibodies to two undisclosed Abbott targets, and Abbott will also have nonexclusive access to the technology for other targets. Domantis will get undisclosed R&D funding and license fees, and will receive milestones and royalties on any products. Domain antibodies consist of the smallest functional binding units of antibodies, and are less than one-tenth the size of conventional antibodies. Domantis said that will allow it to combine the enormous natural diversity and specificity of antibodies with the advantages of small molecules, including lower manufacturing costs and multiple modes of delivery.

• Evolutec Ltd., of Oxford, UK, which develops compounds isolated from the saliva of ticks and other parasites, said it received its first IND from the FDA to commence Phase I/II trials of rEV131, derived from tick salivary glands. The trial, in allergic conjunctivitis, will begin in the next few weeks, with data expected in January. The IND for rEV131 is a first also for Cobra Biomanufacturing plc, of Keele, UK, as this is the first time the FDA has accepted a product it has manufactured for clinical trials. rEV131 binds histamine with high affinity and specificity.

• Evotec OAI AG, of Hamburg, Germany, entered a medicinal chemistry optimization program agreement with British Biotech plc, of Oxford, UK. The agreement covers British Biotech's antibiotic metalloenzyme inhibitor research program, which focuses on inhibitors of peptide deformylase (PDF). Evotec chemists will design and synthesize additional PDF inhibitors, which British Biotech will screen as possible drug candidates. In addition to fees for services, Evotec OAI stands to gain milestone payments if discovery projects meet defined goals and products are commercialized. Specific financial terms were not disclosed.

• GeneScan Europe AG, of Freiburg, Germany, will move to the regulated segment of the Deutsche Boerse (DB) as a part of DB's disbandment of the Neuer Markt and GeneScan's ongoing cost-cutting efforts. This segment of the stock market will have less stringent reporting requirements than DB's Prime Standard section. GeneScan expects the proposed change to save approximately €200,000 per year. The company also is streamlining management and reducing the number of supervisory board members from six to three.

• Immuno-Designed Molecules SA, of Paris, initiated a Phase II trial of its therapeutic vaccine Uvidem for metastatic melanoma. The trial will be carried out on up to 60 patients at about 10 centers in France, Germany and Australia, and will involve patients who have received only one line of chemotherapy and whose lesions are measurable. Uvidem, originally known as IDD-3, is being developed in conjunction with Sanofi-Synthélabo, of Paris, under the terms of a 10-year co-development agreement signed in January. IDD-3 is composed of dendritic cells taken from the patient's white blood cells (monocytes) with the help of interleukin-13, a substance discovered by Sanofi-Synthélabo, into which tumor-specific antigens derived from a melanoma cell line are introduced in vitro. Half the patients will be treated with a formulation of IDD-3 containing normal dendritic cells and the other half with one containing "mature" dendritic cells to determine whether maturing these cells results in a stronger immune system response.

• InforSense Ltd., of London, announced a collaboration with AstraZeneca R&D in Molndal, Sweden, to integrate its Kensington Discovery Edition bioinformatics system into AstraZeneca's discovery processes. Terms were not disclosed.

• ML Laboratories plc, of Warrington, UK, said it entered a license agreement with Medarex Inc., of Princeton, N.J., giving Medarex the right to use ML's Ubiquitous Chromatin Opening Elements (UCOE) gene expression technology in its research programs. The agreement follows the termination of ML's collaboration with Corixa Corp., of Seattle, and the sale of certain assets by Corixa to Medarex, including antibody-toxin conjugates and certain preclinical product development programs. UCOEs are DNA elements that enhance and stabilize the expression of proteins by preventing gene silencing, an ability that ML Labs said will have broad application in the manufacture of proteins.

• NicOx SA, of Sophia-Antipolis, France, and AstraZeneca plc, of London, have selected a second drug candidate for development from the French company's class of anti-inflammatory and analgesic compounds known as CINODs (COX-inhibiting nitric oxide donators), which it is developing for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. The second CINOD, AZD 4717, was selected following the completion of a joint screening and characterization program that also identified other future potential drug candidates. The CINOD class of drugs combines balanced COX1 and COX2 inhibition with controlled nitric oxide donation.

• Transgene SA, of Strasbourg, France, will conduct a Phase II trial of its immunotherapeutic vaccine candidate MVA-Muc1-IL2 in metastatic renal cell carcinoma. The trial will be carried out on 25 patients in four to six centers in Europe, starting in Belgium, and will evaluate the efficacy of subcutaneous injections of MVA-Muc1-IL2 as a single agent administered as a first-line treatment to patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma expressing the Muc1 antigen. Tumor response will be evaluated every 12 weeks, and patients showing disease progression will then receive standard therapy based on immunomodulators in addition to the vaccine. The trial will thus test MVA-Muc1-IL2 in both a monotherapy and combination setting.