¿ Acambis plc, of Cambridge, UK, said it has received a broad U.S. patent for its passive vaccine for treating Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD). C. difficile is an antibiotic-resistant bacterium, to which hospital patients and the elderly are particularly susceptible. The passive vaccine uses globulin from plasma donors who have been vaccinated with active vaccine against C. difficile. When administered to patients already suffering from CDAD, it enables them to mount an immune response that their immune systems alone are not capable of. In the Phase I/II trial the vaccine was safe, well tolerated and highly immunogenic at all dose levels. A Phase II efficacy trial is planned for 2002.

¿ Antisoma plc, of London, said it is extending its investor relations program by providing a full translation of its web site into German. The company claimed it was the first UK listed biotechnology company to do so, and said the move is in recognition of the importance of continental European capital markets.

¿ Astex Technology Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, a specialist in the use of high-throughput X-ray crystallography in drug discovery, has signed an agreement giving it access to the synchrotron radiation source at the Daresbury Laboratory, Cheshire, UK. The Daresbury synchrotron is the oldest in the world, but its role of servicing UK academics is about to be taken over by a new synchrotron in Oxford. Daresbury is trying to secure its future by becoming a resource for industry, and recently set up a Structural Genomics Center offering to solve protein crystal structures. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

¿ Co.don AG, of Teltow, Germany, founded a wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore named co.don Tissue Engineering Pte. Ltd. The tissue-engineering specialist co.don wants to provide its chondrocyte transplant for regeneration of deficient joint cartilage (co.don chondrotransplant) from Singapore to markets in the Pacific region. Initially, co.don wants to produce the transplants in Germany for patients in the Pacific region and then transfer them to Singapore. Co.don expects approval for import into Singapore to be granted in the next few months. The company wants to start production in Singapore by the end of 2002 or beginning of 2003. Co.don¿s Singapore facility is headed by orthopedist David K. Kennedy, a former director with the Australian company Genesis Biomedical Ltd.

¿ Innovo Biotechnologies, of Galilee, Israel, received an investment of $500,000 from a group of investors, including U.S.-based ProSeed Capital Holdings and Biocom Investments of the Ofer Technologies Group in Tel Aviv, Israel. The funds are earmarked for development of a vaccine for West Nile Virus using technology to insert genes from the pathogen into plasmids, which, when injected, are designed to create immunity by inducing a cytotoxic T-cell immune response. Innovo, founded in late 1998, created this platform for infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) in poultry.

¿ KS Biomedix Holdings plc, of Guildford, UK, said it received approval to move its lead compound, KSB302 for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, into a European Phase IIb trial. The study will involve 300 patients at 20 to 25 centers and is expected to conclude early in 2002. KSB301 is a small molecule that modulates biochemical imbalances associated with RA. The primary endpoint will focus on joint pain.

¿ PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc, of Oxford, UK, said it has been granted two U.S. patents that strengthen its hold on the powder injection of both DNA and conventional vaccines. The first covers PowderJect¿s microparticle DNA vaccine technology, an application first filed in 1989. The second covers all mammalian transdermal needle-free vaccinations with any vaccine in powder form. The claims encompass all conventional forms of vaccine, whether based on pathogens, subunits, viral particles or proteins.

¿ SR Pharma plc, of London, plans two trials of its immune potentiator SRL 172 as a adjuvant to hepatitis B vaccine. The first trial will assess if SRL 172 helps chronic carriers of the disease rid themselves of the virus. In a second trial SRL 172 will be tested in combination with the vaccine to see if it provokes an immune response in individuals who have failed to develop an antibody response to the vaccine alone. Non-responsiveness is of particular concern in health care workers and the police, who have high risk of exposure. Both trials are to be carried out at the Women¿s and Children¿s Hospital in Adelaide, Australia.

¿ Xenova Group plc, of Slough, UK, said Phogen Ltd., its joint venture with the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity, has demonstrated its VP22 vector is capable of the intracellular delivery and controlled release of proteins and peptides. VP22, derived from herpes simplex virus, enters cells and can be maintained stably within them for many days. Light activation induces particle disruption, releasing the cargo to the nucleus and cytoplasm within seconds. It is only at this point that the biologically active cargo begins to function. The vectors are stable in serum, are not cytotoxic and give efficient and sustained delivery, the company said.