Aviva Biosciences Corp., of San Diego, was awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office covering core elements of its platform technology. The patent comprises broad claims relative to electromagnetic elements on biochips for various biological assays.

Bionomics Ltd., of Adelaide, Australia, filed provisional patent applications covering 32 novel genes involved in angiogenesis. The company said this represents a significant milestone for it, having identified a total of 137 angiogenesis genes.

Biotech Holdings Ltd., of Vancouver, British Columbia, was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,291,495 detailing methods for use of insulin-sensitizing drugs in combination therapies for treatment of all forms of diabetes.

Corazon Technologies Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif., was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,290,689 titled ¿Catheter Devices and Methods for Their Use in the Treatment of Calcified Vascular Occlusions.¿ The patent includes multilumen catheter-based systems that will deliver proprietary, demineralization solutions to the treatment sites in diseased heart or leg arteries where calcified total or partial blockages exist, which prevent passage of guidewire or catheters that are used for definitive interventional therapy.

Cyclacel Ltd., of Dundee, Scotland, was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,242,201 covering the drug target proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Cyclacel¿s CYC102 program is seeking to prevent cancer cell proliferation through drugs acting on PCNA.

Gliatech Inc., of Cleveland, was notified by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office of an allowance for patent claims covering the use of anti-properdin agents as treatments to inhibit harmful inflammation. Gliatech is developing therapeutic antibodies to properdin as potential treatments for acute inflammatory condition, which results from cardiopulmonary bypass surgery, heart attacks and stroke.

Inhibitex Inc., of Atlanta, was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,288,214 with claims directed to proprietary antibodies against a Staphlococcus aureus collagen-binding MSCRAMM protein. MSCRAMM proteins are a family of surface proteins that mediate the binding of bacteria to human tissue. Inhibitex licensed exclusive worldwide rights to this technology in an agreement with Texas A&M University.