¿Agilent Technologies Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., and Caliper Technologies Corp., of Mountain View, Calif., said they introduced the Protein 200 LabChip kit for automatic sizing and analysis of protein samples. Each LabChip kit enables complete analysis of 10 different protein samples in less than 30 minutes.

¿Boston Life Sciences Inc., of Boston, said it signed an agreement with MDS Nordion Inc., of Ottowa, Ontario, for the Canadian company to supply Altropane, a radioimaging agent, for Boston Life's regulatory filing for the Parkinson's disease diagnostic agent, and to manufacture the compound when and if Altropane is approved. The compound recently completed Phase III trials.

¿QLT Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, and CIBA Vision Corp., of Atlanta, filed a supplemental new drug application for Visudyne, the company's age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treatment. The company plans to ask for expansion to include other ocular conditions characterized by choroidal neovascularization (CNV), an abnormal subretinal blood vessel growth. Indications included in the sNDA include pathologic myopia, ocular histoplasmosis syndrome, angloid streaks and CNV due to retinal abnormalities and idiopathic causes. Specifically, the company is requesting an expansion to include treatment for patients with predominantly classic subfoveal choroidal neovascularization caused by AMD, or subfoveal CNV secondary to other macular disease. Findings presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Opthamology meeting in May supported the sNDA. The company requested the FDA consider the issue a priority for review within a six-month period. A similar request will be made of the European Union before the end of the year, CIBA said. Visudyne was originally approved for marketing in the U.S. in April. (See BioWorld Today, April 14, 2000. p. 1.)

¿Cytomation Inc., of Boston, said it introduced its automated ultra-high-speed single cell analyzer, the MoFlo HTS, developed originally to sort chromosomes for the Human Genome Project. The company said the MoFlo is capable of sorting tens of thousands of cells per second and measuring multiple parameters for each cell.

¿Genometrix Inc., of The Woodlands, Texas, has made available its population diversity panel to validate SNPs. The company says the panel will be valuable for determining ethnic allele patterns and frequencies of SNPs.

¿Genomic Solutions Inc., of Ann Arbor, Mich., said it sold four GeneTAC Hybridization Stations to the Roslin Institute. The four make a total of 100 units sold since the product's introduction in June 1999. GeneTAC is an automated system for the hybridization of microarrays.

¿GPC Biotech AG, of Munich, Germany, said it has agreed to a collaboration with Bayer AG, of Leverkusen, Germany, to provide Bayer AG with compound mode-of-action studies for up to 50 Bayer antibacterial development candidates using GPC's proprietary Reverse Genomics technology platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

¿Mycota Biosciences Inc., of Montreal, said it acquired an exclusive license for novel fungal genomics technology from McGill University, also of Montreal. Mycota will use the technology in its drug screening of Candida albicans, a prevalent human fungal pathogen.

¿NetGenics Inc., of Cleveland, said it acquired the ChemSymphony and MetaSymphony informatics programs from FamilyGenetix Ltd. for a total price of $1 million. The Java-based software is used for the creation and visualization of chemical structures.

¿NsGene A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, said it has joined Denmark's Technical University (DTU) in a collaboration for the research and development of bioinformatics tools for identification of new genes. The agreement calls for DTU to retain all rights to novel bioinformatics methods the collaboration develops and grants NsGene all rights to novel genes with therapeutic applicability. DTU also will receive royalties on all payments received by NsGene related to commercialization of new products based on genes identified by DTU.

¿Phytera Inc., of Worcester, Mass., said it acquired exclusive North American distribution and commercialization rights to the Phase I/II novel cancer agent BAM-002, in an agreement with Novelos Therapeutics Inc., of Newton, Mass. BAM-002 is in an open-label, 84-patient controlled study for late-stage non-small-cell lung cancer.

¿Tularik Inc., of South San Francisco, said it began a Phase I study in the UK for it's oral anti-cytomegalovirus drug candidate T611. In preclinical studies, T611 demonstrated selective inhibition of a viral enzyme required for replication in CMV viruses, which cause serious infection for patients with compromised or immature immune systems.

¿University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey researchers said they have developed the first successful procedure for converting cultured bone marrow stem cells exclusively into nerve cells. The work was done through research funded by the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. The results were published in the August 15 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience Research.

¿Valentis Inc., of Burlingame, Calif., said it has entered into a collaborative agreement with Eurogene Ltd., of London, for the development of a nitric oxide synthase gene medicine for the prevention or treatment of restenosis following bypass graft surgery. The companies will share research costs and potential revenues related to the delivery and expression of a gene encoding the intracellular enzyme eNOS. An eNOS gene medicine developed by the collaboration could enter clinical trials within a year following successful preclinical studies, Valentis said.

¿Vion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New Haven, Conn., said it received $2.67 million from the exercise of 113,333 unit purchase options and the underlying warrants. The options, which expired on August 13, originally were granted in connection with Vion's 1995 initial public offering. Vion now has about 25.9 million shares outstanding.

¿Zonagen Inc., of The Woodlands, Texas, said it has received a copy of the letter sent by the UK's Medicines Control Agency following up a notification last year to Schering-Plough Corp., of Madison, N.J., of patient enrollment suspension in Vasomax trials. The MCA letter indicates that Vasomax is not a significant carcinogenic risk, eliminating the safety concern behind the 1999 enrollment suspension. Schering-Plough licensed Vasomax from Zonagen in 1997. Zonagen is appealing an FDA decision in the U.S. that put trials there on hold.