Acusphere Inc., of Watertown, Mass., was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,423,345 titled "Matrices Formed of Polymer and Hydrophobic Compounds for Use in Drug Delivery."

Cell Pathways Inc., of Horsham, Pa., received a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office generally covering cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase 2 and 5 inhibition to treat inflammatory bowel diseases, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

Collgard Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Boston, was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,420,371 for the use of Tempostatin (halofuginone hydrobromide) and its derivatives for the prevention of angiogenesis and for treating cancer.

Diversa Corp., of San Diego, was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,455,254 titled "Sequence-Based Screening." The company said it is the first to include claims for discovery of biomolecules from the environment based upon gene sequencing of mixed populations of genomes.

Geron Corp., of Menlo Park, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,458,589 with claims directed to hepatocytes derived from human embryonic stem cells. The company said it is the first U.S. patent issued to Geron arising from its internal development of human embryonic stem cell technology and products.

Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., reported the issuance of its 1,000th patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,448,079, which covers antisense compounds targeted to genes encoding p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases. In addition, nine other Isis patents were awarded, including four of which are gene-related: U.S. Patents Nos. 6,448,080; 6,448,081; 6,451,538; and 6,451,602. Four of the additional patents are chemistry-related; U.S. Patents Nos. 6,447,998; 6,448,373;6,451,968; and 6,451,991. The remaining patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,451,524, covers a method of identifying target nucleic acid sequences.

Maxim Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,350,785 titled "Methods and Compositions for the Topical Treatment of Damaged Tissue Using Reactive Oxygen Metabolite Production or Release Inhibitors."

Mymetics Corp., of Annapolis, Md., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,455,265 covering a set of claims related to Mymetics' anti-HIV mimicry platform.

Nastech Pharmaceutical Co. Inc., of Bothell, Wash., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,451,848 titled "Compositions and Methods Comprising Morphine Gluconate."

Oncolytics Biotech Inc., of Calgary, Alberta, was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,455,038 titled "Reovirus for the Treatment of Cellular Proliferative Disorders."

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tustin, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,451,312 covering new vascular targeting agent therapeutics. Peregrine's VTA technology is based on targeting agents that specifically target tumor blood vessels.

PharmaSonics Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., was issued four U.S. patents and has received a notice of allowance for four other patent applications. Of note, the company said, is U.S. Patent No. 6,387,116, which covers the application of the Sonotherapy treatment of arteriovenous grafts and fistulas, which are commonly used for vascular access in hemodialysis patients.

Protein Polymer Technologies Inc., of San Diego, was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,380,154 titled "Synthetic Proteins for In Vivo Drug Delivery and Tissue Augmentation." The company also was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,423,333 titled "Sealing or Filling Tissue Defects Using Polyfunctional Crosslinking Agents and Protein Polymers."

Repligen Corp., of Waltham, Mass., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,444,792 titled "CTLA4-Cgamma4 Fusion Proteins."