Oxford GlycoSciences plc, of Oxford, England, filed a joint patent application with Pfizer Inc. describing discoveries made in their research and development collaboration in Alzheimer's disease. The company also said it filed patent applications covering a number of different proteins for various potential uses in breast cancer and neurological disorders.

Palatin Technologies Inc., of Princeton, N.J., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,027,711, covering the company's MIDAS peptide technology.

Protein Polymer Technologies Inc., of San Diego, received a U.S. patent on methods based on its tissue adhesive technology. U.S. Patent No. 6,015,474 covers methods of closing and sealing wounds or tissue defects using a primer and a protein-based tissue adhesive, as well as the composition comprising the primer and tissue adhesive.

Sequenom Inc., of San Diego, was issued two new U.S. patents, No. 6,024,925 titled "Systems and Methods for Preparing Low Volume Analyte Array Elements" and No. 6,022,688 titled "Method for Dissociation of Biotin Complexes." The company also has received a notice of allowance for "DNA Sequencing by Mass Spectrometry."

Symyx Technologies Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,030,917, covering methods of preparing arrays for use in accelerating the discovery and optimization of commercially important polymers and catalysts for such polymers.

Transgene SA, of Strasbourg, France, was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,040,174 titled "Defective Adenoviruses and Corresponding Complementation Line." It covers packaging cell lines designed to eliminate the risk of generating self-replicating adenoviruses during the production of adenoviral vectors and a method of production using such cell lines.

Transkaryotic Therapies Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said Massachusetts General Hospital was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,018,097, which is exclusively licensed to TKT and covers a novel process for evaluating the effect of drugs on functioning human genes in transgenic animals.

Unigene Laboratories Inc., of Fairfield, N.J., received a notice of allowance for its U.S. patent application describing its enhanced production technology, which can produce peptides in greater quantities and at lower cost than the original patented production process, the company said.

Valentis Inc., of Burlingame, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,040,295 titled "Formulated Nucleic Acid Compositions and Methods of Administering the Same for Gene Therapy," which covers a method of administering DNA plasmid/polymer formulations to muscle.

Vivus Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,037,346 titled "Local Administration of Phosphodiesterase (PDE) Inhibitors for the Treatment of Erectile Dysfunction."

Xanthon Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., was issued U.S. Patent No. 5,968,745 titled "Polymer-Electrodes for Detecting Nucleic Acid Hybridization and Method of Use Thereof." It describes a nonconductive polymer layer suitable for immobilizing biological binding members on an electrode.