Agensys Inc., of Santa Monica, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,329,503 titled “Serpentine Transmembrane Antigens Expressed in Human Cancers and Uses Thereof,” covering STEAP-1 protein sequences. Agensys also was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,277,972 titled “BPC-1: A Secreted Brain-Specific Protein Expressed and Secreted Prostate and Bladder Cancer Cells.”

AVAX Technologies Inc., of Kansas City, Mo., was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,333,028 titled “Composition and Method of Using Tumor Cells,” related to the application of its AC vaccine technology to ovarian cancer.

Bioheart Inc., of Weston, Fla., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,261,832 titled “Automated Cell Processor,” which is directed to methods of providing an automated cell processor designed to reduce the cell culture space, labor intensiveness and high cost associated with current cell culture.

Endovasc Ltd. Inc., of Montgomery, Texas, received a notice of allowance for its patent application filed on May 1999 covering the use of biodegradable surface coating and a method for making it.

Geron Corp., of Menlo Park, Calif., said Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,331,406 with claims directed to the use of human embryonic germ cells in drug screening assays. The patent is licensed exclusively to Geron from Johns Hopkins.

ImmunoGen Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,333,410 B1, which covers the preparation and purification of thiol-containing maytansinoids, such as DM1, the lead small-molecule effector drug used in the company’s tumor-activated prodrug technology.

Metabasis Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,312,662 covering its HepDirect technology and its medical uses. The patent also provides the company with claims to composition of matter, methods of manufacture and methods of use for key compounds.

NeoPharm Inc., of Lake Forest, Ill., was issued a patent covering the use of its NeoLipid liposomal delivery system for the delivery of antisense compounds.

Stressgen Biotechnologies Corp., of San Diego, said U.S. Patent No. 6,335,183 was issued to the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research granting exclusivity for the method of inducing or enhancing an immune response in a patient by administering a pharmaceutical composition comprising a fusion protein. Stressgen has a worldwide exclusive license to the patent. Separately, Stressgen said the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,338,952, building upon the method-of-use patent issued earlier by granting exclusivity for the compositions comprising heat shock fusion proteins, as well as the DNA encoding for such fusion proteins, and methods for manufacturing them.

Symphogen A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, said Boston University was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,335,163 B1 regarding the development of recombinant polyclonal antibodies. Boston University is a research partner of Symphogen, which holds the worldwide exclusive license to the patent.