Immtech International Inc., of Vernon Hills, Ill., was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,291,565 B1 titled, “Method of Combating Infectious Diseases Using Dicationic Bis-Benzimidazoles.”

Infigen Inc., of Deforest, Wis., said Utah State University at Logan was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,306,591 covering methods for detecting the genetic defect known to sheep producers as “Spider Lamb Syndrome,” which causes skeletal deformities in young lambs.

Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,326,199 covering a method of modifying RNA in a cell containing RNase H with antisense inhibitors that have a DNA component that can utilize the RNase H mechanism, and have been modified to have nuclease resistance and increased binding properties.

Osiris Therapeutics Inc., of Baltimore, was issued a notice of allowance for its U.S. patent application covering the use of allogeneic human mesenchymal stem cells.

Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,335,155 covering the company’s core pharmaceutical lead discovery technology, known as tethering. The claims of the patent cover methods for discovering binding elements, called monophores, that are selected by a biological target and then can be rapidly identified by mass spectrometry.