¿ MediGene AG, of Martinsried, Germany, has been granted a U.S. patent for the company¿s adeno-associated viruses technology. AAV technology allows safe and efficient integration of foreign DNA into targets and overcomes many difficulties associated with the delivery of therapeutic genes into patients, MediGene said.

¿ The UK¿s BioIndustry Association launched a manifesto to put biotechnology on the public and political agenda in the lead-up to the general election, expected to be held in June. As part of a new strategy, it will target patients and the public directly to explain how biotechnology could benefit them personally. The manifesto outlines policies to foster the development of a competitive industry in the UK. Launching it, Paul Drayson, chairman of the association and CEO of PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc, said, ¿My vision for 2005 is for the UK to be the life sciences hub of Europe, and the bridge between the European and U.S. healthcare markets.¿ As well as leading in the application of biotechnology, the UK must lead the ethical debate, he added.

¿ Apovia AG, of Martinsried, Germany, and the Belgian Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology have entered into a collaboration for the development of a universal influenza A vaccine. Apovia will provide VIB with research funding for the vaccine. Preclinical development is expected to start at mid 2002. VIB will grant Apovia the option to an exclusive worldwide license to develop and market the vaccine. It is based on a domain of the influenza A virus, which is believed to be nearly invariable. The vaccine is expected to cross-protect against multiple influenza A strains. Apovia wants to produce the vaccine in Escherichia coli using its CorVax vaccine carrier. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

¿ Biovector Therapeutics, of Toulouse, France, has initiated a Phase I clinical trial of a novel anti-HIV vaccine candidate, VAC12. The vaccine is a mixture of four new generation lipopeptides with HIV epitopes, co-linearly linked to a tetanic toxoid epitope, known for its capacity to induce cellular immune response. The technology was developed by French public research establishments and licensed to a subsidiary of Biovector, called Peptide Immune Ligands. The trial will last 18 months and will be conducted on 15 healthy volunteers at Cochin Hospital in Paris. The results are expected in the third quarter of 2002.

¿ Evotec OAI, of Hamburg, Germany, and Serono SA, of Geneva, have signed an agreement on assay development and screening services. Evotec will develop a novel biological assay for one of Serono¿s cellular targets using its proprietary VLiP technology. Evotec OAI hopes to perform screening and compound profiling using its EVOscreen technology to identify chemical compounds that mimic one of Serono¿s proprietary proteins. Many of the 200,000 compounds to be tested have been synthesized by Evotec OAI for Serono in a separate combinatorial chemistry program started in 1998. Fees for this new service agreement were not disclosed. The agreement includes an option for Serono to negotiate similar services for additional targets.

¿ Modex Therapeutics Ltd., of Lausanne, Switzerland, said it assisted StemCells Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., in a successful placing of Modex shares representing 7.5 percent of its equity with European institutional investors. This ends the involvement of StemCells (formerly Cytotherapeutics Inc.) with Modex, a company it co-founded in 1996 and to which it licensed its cell encapsulation technology. In 1999, StemCells sold this technology to French firm Neurotech SA, in return for an immediate payment and future royalties. As part of this week¿s transaction, the U.S. company has assigned these royalty rights to Modex for an undisclosed amount.

¿ PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc, of Oxford, UK, said it is the first to achieve protective immunity by using a hepatitis B DNA vaccine in volunteers who do not respond to current commercial vaccines. In the Phase I data released last week, the PowderJect DNA vaccine was shown to be highly immunogenic, producing protective levels of antibodies in 80 percent of volunteers who had not responded to three doses of commercial vaccine. The DNA vaccine, administered with PowderJect¿s needle-free system, also elicited protective levels in 50 percent of subjects who had not responded to as many as nine doses of commercial vaccine. In a previous trial, the DNA vaccine elicited protective levels of antibodies in 100 percent of unvaccinated volunteers.

¿ Protherics plc, of Macclesfield, UK, said its anti-thrombotic research collaboration with Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, had reached its next stage, triggering a US$1 million milestone payment. The collaboration was set up to optimize Factor Xa inhibitor leads, and to identify new leads, using Protherics¿ computer-aided molecular design system. Protherics is currently in the process of divesting its CAMD operations, and Andrew Heath, Protherics¿ CEO, said reaching the milestone is a significant validation of the value of the CAMD technology.