¿ AltaRex Corp., of Waltham, Mass., said it will raise C$8.4 million (US$5.4 million) when it closes a private placement of special warrants within several weeks. Net proceeds will be used for the continued funding of OvaRex MAb. HSBC Securities Inc. is acting as agent. Each special warrant is priced at C$2.80 and will automatically convert into one common share of AltaRex upon the occurrence of certain events.

¿ BioSpecifics Technologies Corp., of Lynbrook, N.Y., began trading its shares on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market under the symbol ¿BSTC.¿ BioSpecifics, founded in 1990, focuses on tissue remodeling and wound healing.

¿ Novactyl Inc., of St. Louis, said it received FDA approval on its first investigational new drug application and will proceed to Phase I trials in herpes labialis. Novactyl is developing topical and systemic uses for its technology in viral diseases, oncology, acne and neurodegenerative diseases.

¿ Genencor International Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., and Gyros AB, of Uppsala, Sweden, agreed to establish a one-year collaboration to apply Gyros¿ microfluidic technology to Genencor¿s screening capabilities. They will work to design application-specific nanoscale microlaboratories in a compact disc format. Gyros will design applications and compact discs for Genencor¿s screening assays. Genencor will serve as a technical evaluation site for Gyros¿ prototype microfluidic robot and compact discs. Financial terms were not disclosed.

¿ Harvard Bioscience Inc., of Holliston, Mass., said that, along with the University of Wisconsin, Madison, it received a $492,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for the development of its MitoScan96 toxicity screening assays. The two-year Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant will be used to develop dedicated instruments that will accommodate both cuvette and 96-well microplate-based formats.

¿ Orphan Medical Inc., of Minneapolis, said data from an open-label trial of Xyrem (sodium oxybate) oral solution for narcolepsy indicated that Xyrem produced an overall improvement in both the quality and the integration of sleep for narcolepsy patients. The 14-week trial also produced data that indicated an improvement in daytime sleepiness for treated patients.

¿ Transkaryotic Therapies Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) will present TKT with a special humanitarian award at its annual tribute banquet in Washington. The award is in recognition of TKT¿s $1 million gift to launch the NORD/Rosco Brady/Lysosomal Storage Disease Fellowship Program and TKT¿s commitment to developing treatments for rare diseases.

¿ Trinity Medical Group USA Inc., of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., said its registration statement to trade on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board was declared effective by the SEC. It is offering up to 2 million shares in a public offering, which will be made only by means of a prospectus available by request from its investor relations department. The company plans to continue trading under its current symbol, TMGU. Trinity owns the marketing and sales rights to Remune, licensed from The Immune Response Corp., of Carlsbad, Calif. Trinity¿s stock closed Thursday at $4.90.

¿ Waratah Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Montreal, said a peer-reviewed abstract published by the American Diabetes Association confirmed the prolonged efficacy of Waratah¿s Islet Neogenesis Therapy (INT) treatment in mature animals with diabetes. The abstract will be presented at the annual ADA meeting, running from June 22 to June 26.