¿ 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Exton, Pa., received a two-year Small Business Innovation Research grant totaling nearly $1 million from the National Institutes of Health. The funding is intended to continue research to crystallize and determine high-resolution 3-D structures of G protein-coupled receptors.

¿ Aurora Biosciences Corp., of San Diego, said Module Three, the final component of its ultra-high-throughput screening system, was accepted and validated at the Merck & Co. facility in North Wales, Pa. The platform combines compound management, plate replication, assay preparation, hit identification, selection and retests of the hits.

¿ Axonyx Inc., of New York, said a publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science suggests the mechanism of action of Phenserine, the company¿s lead Alzheimer¿s therapeutic, is inhibition of the production of beta-amyloid protein. Phenserine is currently in a Phase II proof-of-concept trial. Beta-amyloid levels were reduced by 14 percent eight hours after treatment with Phenserine in three cell lines of nervous system origin.

¿ Bayer Corp., of Tarrytown, N.Y., acquired certain development, manufacturing and sales agency rights to immunodiagnostic products for the detection of hepatitis C and HIV antibodies from Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., and Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, N.J. Bayer said the move is to expand its immunodiagnostics laboratory testing platform, the ADVIA Centaur Immunoassay System.

¿ Cepheid Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., entered an exclusive distribution agreement with BioSynTech Sdn Bhd, of Subang Jaya, Malaysia, to market the Smart Cycler system, accessories and consumables in the life science research markets in Malaysia and Singapore. BioSynTech will provide sales, marketing and customer support and serve as the exclusive distributor in the region. Commercial launch in the region is slated for July.

¿ Cyclacel Ltd., of Dundee, UK, completed a #34 million (US$47.6 million) Series C private placement with a global syndicate of institutional investors. The oversubscribed placement was led by INVESCO Private Capital, of New York. Cyclacel, which specializes in the cell cycle and its applications in addition to oncologics development, said proceeds will fund operations for more than two years and advance several candidates into clinical trials.

¿ CytRx Corp., of Atlanta, said Flocor (purified poloxamer 188) received fast-track designation from the FDA for treatment of acute chest syndrome associated with sickle cell disease. Flocor already was been granted fast-track status for treatment of vaso-occlusive crisis of sickle cell disease.

¿ Diversa Corp., of San Diego, said it successfully developed and automated its GigaMatrix platform, an ultra-high-throughput screening platform. GigaMatrix is the first system to utilize plates with 100,000-well density, the company said.

¿ Gendaq Ltd., of London, said a research paper to be published this week shows the potential of protein-binding DNA microarrays for basic research and genomics. The paper describes the use of double-stranded DNA microarrays to measure binding of zinc finger proteins against multiple DNA targets in parallel.

¿ Gene Logic Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., made an equity investment for an undisclosed amount in Metabometrix Ltd., of London, concurrent to the initiation of a research collaboration. The activities are part of Gene Logic¿s ongoing efforts to broaden the content of its biological information product portfolio. Metabometrix focuses on metabonomics, the elucidation of changes in metabolite patterns associated with drug toxicity or disease processes through the direct measurement of metabolites in bodily fluids.

¿ Nymox Pharmaceutical Corp., of Maywood, N.J., said its scientists discovered a new family of therapeutic compounds it intends to develop for use in humans. The compounds are referred to as necroxins and are related to polypeptides delineated in pulmonary, epithelial and other tissues.

¿ Hemispherx Biopharma Inc., of Philadelphia, commenced treatment cycles in two new Phase IIb trials with Ampligen, designed to overcome and/or prevent multidrug-resistant HIV. Ampligen has both immunological and antiviral potential, Hemispherx said. The trials are called REARM 1 and REARM 2, and are designed to determine whether antiviral activity against mutated HIV can be improved by novel additions to current drug regimens and whether immune reconstitution can occur in this therapeutic setting.

¿ Miravant Medical Technologies Inc., of Santa Barbara, Calif., said it completed enrollment in the Phase I trial for its PhotoPoint drug, MV9411, enrolling 20 healthy volunteers. Each volunteer received a single topical application of various doses of MV9411 and the volunteers will be followed for 30 days to evaluate drug safety. MV9411 is being investigated as a treatment for skin disorders, such as plaque psoriasis.

¿ Neoprobe Corp., of Dublin, Ohio, said a paper in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine detailed results from a preclinical trial of 99mTc (mannosyl-dextran), a radiotracer to identify lymphatic tissue in sentinel node procedures for which Neoprobe holds a license option. Neoprobe said the compound appears to overcome some of the shortcomings of the radiotracer currently in use for sentinel node biopsy.

¿ Phytomedics Inc., of Dayton, N.J., and Vilmorin Clause & Cie, of Paris, entered a strategic collaboration to combine Vilmorin¿s germplasm collections and Phytomedics¿ discovery and manufacturing platforms to develop and commercialize health-promoting crops and plant-derived therapeutic agents. Financial details were not provided.

¿ Praecis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Waltham, Mass., said in response to inquiries and to clarify statements made by the company that it would seek to respond promptly to the deficiencies cited in the letter it received from the FDA with respect to the new drug application for Plenaxis (formerly abarelix depot). The company emphasized that due to the nature of the deficiencies it could not predict when its response would be completed. Praecis¿ stock (NASDAQ:PRCS) dropped 17 percent Thursday, or $2.66, closing at $12.76.

¿ Protein Therapeutics Inc., of Tucson, Ariz., received orphan drug designation from the FDA for the use of oral human gammaglobulin for the treatment of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. This marks the first indication for the use of oral human immunoglobulin, the company said.

¿ Qiagen Genomics Inc., of Seattle, entered a license and purchase agreement with the Life Sciences Group of Shimadzu Corp., of Japan. The nonexclusive agreement calls for Qiagen to sell its Masscode system and license the related technology to Shimadzu for high-throughput single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping.

¿ Replicon Technologies Inc., of Birmingham, Ala., said it will target its technology on the population of patients who have developed brain and spinal cord cancers and metastases. In preclinical studies the company¿s technology centered on replicons, viral capsids containing self-amplifying RNA derived from poliovirus, substantially increased the survival of mice with brain tumors.

¿ Serono SA, of Geneva, Switzerland, said researchers at the Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute developed a procedure to improve the sensitivity of tests used to detect abnormal prion proteins that cause such diseases as scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. A paper describing the research is published in the June 14, 2001, edition of Nature. The research marks the first time abnormal prion protein has been cultivated in vitro. The research may help to identify drug targets for prion disease, Serono said.

¿ The Biotechnology Industry Organization, of Washington, said the Centers for Disease Control attributed no allergic reactions to StarLink genetically modified corn. BIO said the finding is consistent with ¿the mass of data¿ it already had on StarLink corn.