¿ Aquasearch Inc., of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, said the U.S. Department of Energy awarded the company $1.7 million toward a collaborative project with Physical Sciences Inc., of Andover, Mass., to apply Aquasearch photobioreactor technology to recover and sequester carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning systems using the photosynthesis of microalgae. Aquasearch uses technology focused on microalgae photosynthesis to capture and store so-called greenhouse gasses.

¿ Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, said the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has granted the company $100,000 toward the evaluation of antiviral therapy through the NIH's Phase I Small Business Innovation Research program. Avanir will use the funding to evaluate the potential benefits of combining n-docosanol with acyclovir and other nucleoside antivirals in animal models of herpes simplex viruses.

¿ CuraGen Corp., of New Haven, Conn., said M. Scott Salka, formerly president and CEO of Arcaris Inc., of Salt Lake City, has been named president of 454 Corp., a CuraGen subsidiary. 454 Corp. is focused on large-scale genome analysis and the development of genomic and proteomic technologies.

¿ D-Pharm Inc., of Rehovot, Israel, said the first stage of the Phase I safety assessment of the company's neuroprotective drug candidate DP-b99 is complete. Results of the placebo-controlled, randomized study showed the compound was well-tolerated and produced no cardiovascular or central nervous system side effects. DP-b99 is designed to control apoptotic processes by regulating the intracellular homeostasis of divalent metal ions.

¿ Elan Corp., of Dublin, Ireland, said the European Commission has granted the company marketing authorization for Myocet, the company's liposome-encapsulated doxorubicin citrate complex, in combination with cyclophosphamide for treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Elan acquired Myocet, formerly known as Evacet, in its April merger with The Liposome Company.

¿ Hemispherx Biopharma Inc., of Philadelphia, said its European subsidiary filed an application for orphan drug designation for Ampligen, now in Phase III trials for treatment of severe CFS. The application takes advantage of 1999 changes in European Parliamentary laws allowing for 10-year European Union market exclusivity.

¿ Hemosol Inc., of Toronto, said it filed a new drug submission with the Canadian Therapeutics Products Programme of Health Canada for the hemoglobin replacement drug Hemolink. The company said it expects to market the drug in Canada next year.

¿ Hyseq Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif. said the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has, in a clarification of the court's October 27, 1999, Markman order, ruled in Hyseq's favor concerning terms at issue in patent litigation with Affymetrix Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif. The court, Hyseq said, rejected Affymetrix's assertion that Hyseq's patents only cover the use of oligonucleotide probes in solution, and further ruled that the term sequencing does not cover methods for resequencing or polymorphism detection. The Markman order is a procedural step for framing claims at issue in patent litigation.

¿ Insmed Inc., of Richmond, Va., said it will change its symbol (NASDAQ:INSM) to INSMD for 30 days as a result of a one-for-four reverse stock split made effective July 28. On Aug. 28, the symbol will revert to INSM.

¿ InterMune Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Burlingame, Calif., began enrollment in a Phase III safety and efficacy clinical trial of aerosolized Actimmune (interferon gamma 1b) for the treatment of pulmonary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. InterMune currently markets Actummune Injection for chronic granulomatous disease and severe malignant osteoporosis.

¿ Lexicon Genetics Inc., of The Woodlands, Texas, said it will join with Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, in a research collaboration to discover novel drug candidates that target G protein-coupled receptors.

¿ Mylan Laboratories Inc., of Pittsburgh, agreed to collaborate with Genpharm Inc., of Ontario, on the marketing of two undisclosed products. A Mylan subsidiary, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, will be the exclusive U.S. marketer of the products, which have combined sales of $500 million in the U.S.

¿ Nanogen Inc., of San Diego, said the Space and Naval Warfare Center in San Diego awarded the company a contract worth $1.6 million over the next two years. Nanogen will develop and refine sample preparation protocols on microelectronic chips.

¿ NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Salt Lake City, Utah, said ALX-0600, an analog of the growth-regulating hormone glucagon-like peptide 2, was designated an orphan drug by the FDA. ALX-0600 is indicated for treatment of short bowel syndrome and is currently in a pilot Phase II trial to assess safety and tolerability in addition to improvements in nutrient absorption.

¿ Oxigene Inc., of Boston and Stockholm, Sweden, said Phase I trials of Declopramide, indicated as a complement to chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancer patients, indicated a promising safety profile. The company plans to begin Phase II trials of the apoptosis-inducer as second-line therapy for colon cancer.

¿ Phase-1 Molecular Toxicology, of Santa Fe, N.M., is collaborating with Schering AG, of Frankfurt, Germany, and Berlex Biosciences, of Richmond, Calif., on methods for toxicological screening of preclinical drug candidates.

¿ Procyon BioPharma Inc., of Montreal, reported its common shares are now trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol PBP. The company has more than 42 million shares outstanding. Procyon is focused on the advancement of two technologies for cancer treatment: antinuclear antibodies and prostrate secretory protein.

¿ Siga Technologies Inc., of New York, said the Small Business Innovation Research Program awarded the company two Phase I research grants totaling $122,000 to support Siga's antibiotic development. One grant will be used for research toward the development of protease inhibitors that target the DegP enzyme, a bacterial protease. A second grant will target antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

¿ V. I. Technologies Inc., of Watertown, Mass., agreed with the American Red Cross to a six-year extension of an exclusive distribution license for virally inactivated transfusion plasma products. The agreement will cover current products in addition to the company's next-generation transfusion plasma product. Transfusion plasma products are designed to reduce the risk of infection by blood-borne viruses like HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

¿ Xenogen Corp., of Alameda, Calif., signed a licensing agreement that will allow the Novartis Research Foundation (a unit of Novartis AG), of Basel, Switzerland, to use Xenogen's real-time in vivo imaging technology for pre-clinical drug development studies. The three-year, multi-million-dollar agreement comes after an evaluation license produced a successful assessment of the technology, which allows for the non-invasive detection, tracking and monitoring of bioluminescent or fluorescent cells inside living animals.