¿ Accelrys Inc., the software subsidiary of Pharmacopeia Inc., of Princeton, N.J., said it released MedChem Explorer 2.0, a new-generation software suite that offers chemists easy access to powerful and validated drug design and analysis tools on standard personal computers. The company said the release, which introduces Accelrys¿ Discovery Studio technology, will improve work flow and integrate data and applications throughout the drug discovery process.

¿ Acorda Therapeutics Inc., of Hawthorne, N.Y., said it was awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant by the National Institutes of Health, of Bethesda, Md. The $100,000 grant will fund collaborative research between Acorda and Herbert Geller, Sally Meiners and David Crockett, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey ¿ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. The work will build on previous research indicating components of tenascin-C can promote regeneration of central nervous system nerve fibers, the company said.

¿ Albany Molecular Research Inc., of Albany, N.Y., said it received a $98,466 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) for the development of novel compounds to treat cocaine and other stimulant abuse. The Phase I research project will focus on the feasibility of using AMRI¿s combinatorial biocatalysis technology to improve the pharmacological profile of several lead compounds selected by NIDA, which have shown efficacy in preclinical assays.

¿ Avant Immunotherapeutics Inc., of Needham, Mass., said it responded to the FDA¿s clinical hold letter in connection with the company¿s TP-10 clinical trials in infants undergoing cardiac surgery. Avant said its response included a summary of safety data and clinical outcomes in patients treated to date, including the Data Safety Monitoring Board¿s recommendation to resume enrolling patients while adding new laboratory tests to the study protocol. Avant suspended enrollment in its two Phase II-b pediatric trials of TP-10 after the DSMB on Aug. 17 asked for additional information, including patient records for reported side effects. The FDA has 30 days to review the company¿s response.

¿ Avigen, of Alameda, Calif., said it obtained an exclusive worldwide license to Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory¿s interest in a patent covering a potential new Parkinson¿s disease therapy, of which Avigen is a joint owner. The treatment uses Avigen¿s adeno-associated virus vector to deliver a gene that makes a chemical that is deficient in Parkinson¿s patients. Under terms of the agreement, Avigen has exclusive rights to a family of U.S. and European patent applications. In addition, Avigen also has the right to sublicense any eventual patents to third parties.

¿ Cell Pathways Inc., of Horsham, Pa., announced preliminary, positive results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study of Aptosyn (exisulind) in the treatment of precancerous sporadic adenomatous polyps of the colon. The company said the multinational study, involving 114 adenomatous polyp patients who completed the year-long trial at centers in the U.S., Sweden and Israel, showed that exisulind caused the pre-existing polyps to regress and reduced their further growth in treated patients. Experts estimate that approximately 50 percent to 60 percent of colon polyps are precancerous adenomatous ones.

¿ Centagenetix Inc., of Boston, said its scientists pinpointed an area on human chromosome 4 that is likely to contain a gene or genes associated with extraordinary longevity. The company, which performs studies on centenarians in an effort to discover the genetic basis of longevity, said its identification of specific longevity-related genes will enable it to identify novel drug targets associated with age-related diseases. The discovery was made in the Harvard University laboratories of Centagenetix co-founders Thomas Perls, Louis Kunkel and Annibale Puca, and will be published in today¿s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Centagenetix, which said its database may represent the ¿Ideal Genome,¿ said it will continue to study centenarians because they¿ve withstood or delayed age-related diseases.

¿ CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Newtown Pa., said it signed an exclusive licensing and marketing agreement with Atrix Laboratories Inc., of Fort Collins, Colo., to market Atrix¿s dental products ¿ Atridox, Atrisorb-FreeFlow and Atrisorb ¿ in the U.S. Atrix will manufacture the products at an agreed transfer price and will receive royalties on future net sales. For the marketing rights, CollaGenex paid a $1 million up-front licensing fee. Furthermore, Atrix purchased 330,556 newly issued shares of CollaGenex stock at a premium to the market price. The proceeds from the share purchase will be used primarily to fund a strengthened marketing campaign for Atridox and to launch the Atrisorb-D product, the company said.

¿ Corvas International Inc., of San Diego, presented its strategy for the discovery and development of new solid tumor cancer therapies that target the serine protease gene family, at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Chicago. The company said its scientists and collaborators solved the 3-dimensional molecular structure of the functional domain of matriptase, a serine protease target for breast and prostate cancer drug development. The information is expected to facilitate the design of drugs that block or otherwise exploit the activity of matriptase and related proteases, the company said.

¿ CV Therapeutics Inc. and Incyte Genomics Inc., both of Palo Alto, Calif., expanded their 1998 research agreement to focus on identifying genes involved in the development of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. Under the new agreement, CVT will develop biological models to study genes implicated in cardiovascular disease, and the company will supply mRNA from these models to Incyte, which will analyze them using microarray technology and generate RNA expression data. Thus far, the companies said, the collaboration has been successful in identifying novel therapeutic targets, including the ABCI gene and other cardiovascular targets.

¿ Demegen Inc., of Pittsburgh, said it entered into a research and licensing option agreement with Dow Chemical Co. to design new products for use in industrial and commercial applications. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed. Demegen, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers, designs and develops natural and novel peptides for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases, said it has several drugs under development, including ones for HIV-related oral candidiasis, cystic fibrosis and glioblastoma.

¿ Genzyme Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., said it will fully fund production of the transgenic enzyme being used to treat nine patients with Pompe disease until the patients can transition to a form of the enzyme derived from CHO cells. The company said the funding decision was taken when Pharming Group NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, which manufactured the transgenic enzyme, filed for receivership. Genzyme, which shared production costs equally with Pharming, its partner since 1998, said it asked Pharming to continue producing the enzyme and to supply it to hospitals involved in the treatment of these patients. The company said it offered to acquire Pharming¿s 50 percent interest in two joint ventures the companies had formed to develop a Pompe treatment. But the offer was rejected, Genzyme said.

¿ Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, of Beerse, Belgium, and Biofrontera Pharmaceuticals AG, of Leverkusen, Germany, entered into a research collaboration to explore the potential benefits of nicotinic modulation in the treatment of Alzheimer¿s disease. The objective of the collaboration is to determine how Janssen¿s galantamine¿s (Reminyl) dual actions may contribute to the therapeutic benefit that Reminyl has demonstrated in recent clinical trials, the company said. Reminyl inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in memory and learning, and modulates nicotinic receptors, an action that is believed to result in greater release of acetylcholine. Janssen is a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

¿ Medivir, of Huddinge, Sweden, entered a new antibiotics collaboration with Michael Curtis at Barts, the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary and the University of London. The collaboration is funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Medical Research Council and Medivir under DTI¿s Applied Genomics initiative. The project aims to use a novel and highly focused applied genomics approach to develop protease inhibitors as specific antimicrobials against M. tuberculosis, H. pylori, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. Each of these bacteria is responsible for causing considerable human disease, which are proving increasingly difficult to treat.

¿ Natimune A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, said an article in Aug. 25 issue of the The Lancet reported that a deficiency of the normal human plasma protein mannose-binding lectin ( MBL) is strongly associated with the occurrence and severity of chemotherapy-related infections. MBL is a plasma protein that plays an important role in the innate immune defense and recognizes a broad range of clinically significant bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. Natimune holds commercial rights to MBL, and is developing the recombinant protein for replacement therapy in MBL-deficient individuals.

¿ OraPharma Inc., of Warminster, Pa., started a Phase I trial of its product, OC-1012, for the prevention of mucositis. The trial will be double blind and placebo controlled. OC-1012 will be administered to patients undergoing bone marrow transplants at the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. OraPharma expects to release data from this trial during the first half of 2002. The company said the trial marked a significant expansion of its product development platform into the field of oncology.

¿ Orion Corp., of Espoo, Finland, and Pharmacia Corp., of Peapack, N.J., said they signed an agreement under which they will collaborate in the development and commercialization of Orion Pharma¿s investigational new drug deramciclane in the U.S. The drug belongs to a class of anti-anxiety medicines known as 5-HT2 receptor antagonists and is being investigated for generalized anxiety disorder in Phase III clinical studies in Europe. Orion, the pharmaceutical division of Orion Corp., will receive $30 million up front from Pharmacia upon the signing and milestone payments throughout the clinical development program. The agreement provides Pharmacia with rights to develop and market deramciclane in countries outside the U.S. and Europe.

¿ Photogen Technologies Inc., of New Hope, Pa., announced the beginning of a Phase I study of PH-10, its topical drug for actinetic keratosis, a potentially precancerous condition characterized by scaly discolorations on the face and scalp. The study will evaluate the safety of three different doses of PH-10 in separate patient groups. All patients will receive a single PH-10 dose followed by green-light administration on lesions. Actinetic keratosis is the second indication for Ph-10 under development at Photogen; the first was psoriasis.

¿ Salus Therapeutics Inc., of Salt Lake City, said it received a $750,000 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health, of Bethesda, Md. The award will support its multiple sclerosis drug discovery program. Duane Ruffner will be principal investigator on the project.

¿ Viventia Biotech Inc., of Toronto, announced the completion of a transaction disclosed in May with Dan Family Holdings Ltd., of Toronto, for C$6 million (US$3.9 million) in funding. DFH purchased 17.9 million units at C33.5 cents per unit. Each unit includes one common share and one purchase warrant, enabling the holder to purchase one common share at 33.5 cents for up to five years. After closing, DFH and affiliates will own 81.5 percent of Viventia. Assuming full exercise of the warrants, the stake would be 84.4 percent.