¿ BioChem Pharma Inc., of Laval, Quebec, said its antiviral AIDS and hepatitis B therapeutic, lamivudine, has been approved for manufacture in Japan for hepatitis B. Additional drug information for medical institutions will be carried out with co-promoter Ajinomoto Pharma Co. Ltd., of Japan.

¿ Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., said its $700 million acquisition of PathoGenesis Corp., of Seattle, through its subsidiary Picard Acquisition Corp., was completed following the midnight Sept. 18 conversion of shares of PathoGenesis to the right to receive $38.50. Chiron acquired the company through a cash tender offer for all outstanding PathoGenesis shares at $38.50 per share. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 15, 2000, p. 1.)

¿ Environmental Protection Agency officials in Washington reaffirmed Bacillus thurigiensis corn products are of little danger to monarch butterflies, contrary to widely published reports. The agency reported an estimated benefit from Bt -plant pesticides to growers of more than $100 million in 1999.

¿ Invitrogen Corp., of San Diego, said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland that found two of Invitrogen's patents, U.S. Nos. 5,668,005 and 5,244,797, unenforceable. The decision fully reinstates Invitrogen's position in Rnase H-minus reverse transcriptases. Invitrogen acquired the technology through its merger with Life Technologies Inc. Sept. 14.

¿ Immunomedics Inc., of Morris Plains, N.J., again clarified cessation of a clinical trial at the Garden State Cancer Center in New Jersey. The company said an FDA hold put on the trial at the center does not affect its products, especially the lymphoma therapeutic epratuzumab, known as LymphoCide, a naked humanized antibody against the Cd22 marker of B-cell lymphomas. It has two early-stage pilot studies ongoing at the site. The FDA suspended the trial at the site, one of 30 facilities participating in the trial, because of alleged documentation and record-keeping insufficiencies related to a single physician, Immunomedics CEO David Goldberg said. He said no product-related adverse events were reported. The company's stock (NASDAQ:IMMU), which fell as much as $3.68 Friday, closed unchanged at $22.94.

¿ Ortec International Inc., of New York, said it extended the expiration date of its Class B warrants to December 31, 2000. The warrants have an exercise price of $15 and were set to expire Sept. 28. The warrants were issued as part of Ortec's initial public offering in January 1996.

¿ Symyx Technologies Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., and Dow Chemical Co., of Midland, Mich., entered an agreement for the development of catalysts for manufacture of pharmaceutical intermediates, chemical building blocks linked to create pharmaceutical products. Dow will fund the research and make payments upon technical successes and commercialization in return for rights to use the catalysts in its manufacturing processes.