Curacyte AG, of Munich, Germany, filed a patent application in Germany that covers 26 peptide inhibitors of Factor XIIIa. Factor XIIIa is the terminal enzyme of the blood-clotting cascade. Potential indications of the new inhibitors might include heart attack, said Curacyte’s scientific adviser, Jeffrey Weitz, of McMaster University in Canada. Curacyte plans to file an international patent application in the next five months.

Europroteome AG, of Hennigsdorf, Germany, appointed Christian Knobloch vice president, business development. Knobloch previously was medical director with the Belgian subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company Knoll AG, of Ludwigshafen, Germany.

MediGene AG, of Martinsried, Germany, said a long-term Phase III trial of Polyphenon E ointment against genital warts showed complete clearance of genital warts in 44.9 percent of the patients treated. The study started with 78 patients. After three months of treatment the warts had disappeared in 59 percent of the patients. After the last treatment, 40 of the successfully treated people participated in a 12-week survey. All of the women in this survey had complete clearance. In men, the recurrence rate was 23 percent. Men in the survey reported 77 percent clearance of warts. The data prove the efficacy of Polyphenon ointment, MediGene said. It plans to start an additional Phase III study within the next few months.

Mologen Holding AG, of Berlin, plans to offer its shares on the German regulated market (Geregelter Markt) at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Mologen’s shares now are traded over the counter in the “Freiverkehr,” a less-regulated stock market segment in Germany. Based on present estimates, it is expected that quotation in the regulated market will commence in the middle of the coming year, Mologen said. In addition, Mologen’s supervisory board appointed Guido G. R. Sandler new vice chairman of its board. Sandler’s position at Mologen includes responsibilities for financing, capital markets and investment management. He was a co-founder of the Berliner Effektenbank AG, which acted as underwriter at Mologen’s initial public offering on the Berlin stock market in June 1998.

Noxxon AG, of Berlin, for US$5 million acquired an exclusive sublicence to Cambridge, Mass.-based Archemix Corp.’s SELEX patent portfolio. SELEX is a method to identify among millions of different RNA-oligonucleotides (aptameres) the one molecule that binds best to a certain target protein. Noxxon’s license is related to therapeutic applications of mirrored aptameres, or spiegelmeres. The company focuses on developing spiegelmeres into drugs.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., of Jerusalem, received tentative approval from the U.S. FDA for 250-, 500- and 750-mg Ciprofloxacin tablets, the generic version of Bayer AG’s Cipro, used to treat bacterial infections including anthrax. “The FDA looked at the file and approved the drug, and now we await the final approval, which is not expected until Bayer’s patents expire at the end of 2003,” said Dorit Meltzer, Teva’s director of investor relations.