3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Exton, Pa., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,036,920, covering a rapid and broadly applicable method for obtaining quantitative measurements of drug-binding affinity to virtually any protein or nucleic acid target - a technology called ThermoFluor.

AltaRex Corp., of Waltham, Mass., was issued a patent by the Australian patent office titled "Method and Composition for Reconforming Multi-Epitopic Antigens to Initiate an Immune Response." It covers the company's antibody-based ImmunoTherapy technology platform and forms the basis for a proprietary position for OvaRex MAb.

Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,043,082, covering the use of the Ariad Regulated Gene Expression Technology (ARGENT) system for pharmaceutical regulation of cellular processes, including gene expression and protein production.

Atrix Laboratories Inc., of Fort Collins, Colo., was issued a formal notice of allowance, indicating it will be issued a patent that substantially extends its protection of the Bioerodible Mucoadhesive (BEMA) technology.

BioSpecifics Technologies Corp., of Lynbrook, N.Y., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,022,539 for the use of its injectable collagenase enzyme to treat Peyronie's disease.

BioTransplant Inc., of Charlestown, Mass., and The Massachusetts General Hospital were issued U.S. Patent No. 6,030,833 titled "Transgenic Swine and Swine Cells Having Human HLA Genes." It describes a novel method of modifying swine cells, organs and tissues so they can be transplanted into a human recipient with reduced danger of rejection.

Boston Life Sciences Inc., of Boston, was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,025,331, covering pharmaceutical compositions of Troponin I to prevent and treat metastases from solid tumors.

Caliper Technologies Corp., of Mountain View, Calif., said the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory was issued a U.S. patent covering fundamental microfluidic chip technology. Patent No. 6,033,546 is titled: "Apparatus and Method for Performing Manipulations for Chemical Analysis and Synthesis."

Celgene Corp., of Warren, N.J., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,045,501, which covers a registration and monitoring program designed to ensure safe and efficient distribution of a variety of potent pharmaceuticals with serious safety considerations.

Cell Genesys Inc., of Foster City, Calif., said it received notices of allowed claims for two new U.S. patents relating to its proprietary adeno-associated viral gene delivery technology. One relates to methods of producing the AAV vector and the other relates to the delivery of genes to the central nervous system using the AAV vector.

Celtrix Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Jose, Calif., was issued a U.S. patent on the use of SomatoKine (IGF-I/BP3), its lead product, for the treatment of both Type I and Type II diabetes.

Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,027,729, which is directed to hepatitis C polypeptides encoded throughout the genomes of hepatitis C viruses.

Chromos Molecular Systems Inc., of Burnaby, British Columbia, was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,025,155 and allowed a second patent, covering methods for making artificial chromosomes and their use for producing therapeutic proteins.

Cortex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Irvine, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,030,968 titled "Positive AMPA Receptor Modulation to Enhance Brain Neurotrophic Factor Expression."

Cytogen Corp., of Princeton, N.J., received a notice of allowance from the Japanese Patent Office for a patent titled "Totally Synthetic Affinity Reagents." It covers a method of identifying ligands or portions of proteins that interact with receptors, protein domains, antibodies or nucleic acids.

DGI BioTechnologies LLC, of Edison, N.J., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,010,861 titled "Target-Specific Screens and Their Use for Discovering Small Organic Molecular Pharmacophores."

Digital Gene Technologies Inc., of La Jolla, Calif., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,030,784 relating to the company's TOGA total gene expression technology, covering a novel method for the simultaneous sequence-specific identification of differentially expressed mRNAs and measurement of their relative concentrations.

Diversa Corp., of San Diego, was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,030,779 relating to sequence-based gene discovery from the environment, referred to as "genomic biopanning."

Electropharmacology Inc., of Alachua, Fla., received a notice of allowance from the U.S. patent office for an application describing a group of novel modifications of the natural building blocks of DNA. It will be used to develop small-molecule drugs to target disease-linked genes and proteins.