¿ Access Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Dallas, has been approved for listing on the American Stock Exchange. Effective today, its stock will trade under the symbol: AKC.

¿ Aquila Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of Framingham, Mass., completed a $3 million self-directed private placement of 500,000 newly issued common stock. Aquila placed the shares with the State of Wisconsin Investment Board. There are now 8.5 million shares outstanding.

¿ Cell Pathways, Inc., of Horsham, Pa., completed enrollment in its open-label Phase II trial of Aptosyn (exisulind) as a treatment for precancerous colon polyps in children with familial adenomatous polyposis. The study will investigate whether Aptosyn reduces the number of polyps in these children after one year of treatment.

¿ Celltech Therapeutics Ltd., of Slough, UK, signed a long-term agreement with Lonza Biologics, of Basel, Switzerland, to manufacture its anti-TNF antibody product CDP571, for the treatment of Crohn's disease.

¿ Cel-Sci Corp., of Vienna, Va., said that one of its directors purchased $700,000 worth of common stock. In addition, two institutional investors purchased $7 million shares. The company now has more than $16 million in cash or enough to operate the company for another two years, it said.

¿ Chromos Molecular Systems Inc., of Burnaby, British Columbia, published a paper that reports the successful generation of healthy transgenic mice carrying a mammalian artificial chromosome in their germline, as well as the generation of viable bovine embryos carrying the artificial chromosome. The Chromosome Research paper demonstrated that a mammalian artificial chromosome can be microinjected into a mouse embryo, retained stably in that mouse into adulthood and then passed on to the offspring of that mouse. The healthy founder mouse passed the artificial chromosome on to 46 percent of her offspring.

¿ Cortex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Irvine, Calif., applied for a listing on the NASDAQ stock market. The review should take six to eight weeks.

¿ deCode Genetics, of Reykjavik, Iceland, successfully mapped a gene that contributes to the risk of suffering a stroke. The study represents the first genome-wide screen in humans for gene variants contributing to the most common forms of stroke that has yielded positive results, the company said. The work was done in collaboration with F. Hoffmann-LaRoche Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland.

¿ Diacrin Inc., of Charlestown, Mass., said that the underwriters of its recent public offering exercised their option and purchased an additional 450,000 shares, adding another $4.9 million net to the company's proceeds. The total amount raised by the offering was $36.8 million. PaineWebber Inc., of New York, acted as the sole book runner. Nomura International plc, of London, also led the offering. (See BioWorld Today, March 24, 2000, p. 1.)

¿ Draxis Health Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, filed a new drug submission with the Canadian Health Protection Branch for Levulan 20 percent topical solution with photodynamic therapy for treating actinic keratoses or precancerous skin lesions of the face and scalp.

¿ Enzon Inc., of Piscataway, N.J., raised another $12.5 million as a result of the underwriters of its recent public offering exercising their overallotment option. The underwriters purchased another 300,000 shares at $44.50 each. Total net proceeds raised by Enzon reached $95.7 million. The managing underwriters were Morgan Stanley Dean Witter; CIBC World Markets, and SG Cowen Securities Corp., all of New York. (See BioWorld Today, March 22, 2000 p. 1.)

¿ ImClone Systems Inc., of New York, received a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant by the National Cancer Institute to study the effect of active immunization on the inhibition of tumor angiogenesis growth. ImClone will seek to stimulate the immune system to target Flk-1, a key receptor in blood vessel formation, which binds to vascular endothelian growth factor.

¿ Genteric Inc., of Alameda, Calif., raised more than $9 million in a Series A private placement of its equity securities. The company will use the proceeds to refine its gene therapy delivery system, which is designed to out-perform viral vector systems and provide a safer treatment alternative, the company said. Alta Partners, of San Francisco; MedVenture Associates, of Orinda, Calif., and Sanderling Ventures, of Menlo Park, Calif., participated as did several individual investors.

¿ Repligen Corp., of Needham, Mass., started a Phase II trial with the hormone secretion in children with autism. The double-blind, placebo-controlled study will involve up to 140 autistic children aged three to six. After documentation of their autistic and gastrointestinal symptoms, each child will receive three treatments and a follow-up evaluation over a 10-week period. The primary objective is to determine if secretin improves the social and communicative deficits of autism.

¿ Nortran Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, started a placebo-controlled Phase II trial of CP1, in patients with chronic idiopathic cough. The primary objective is to determine if CP1 is effective in reducing heightened sensitivity to tissue stimuli.

¿ Sequenom Inc., and Methexis Genomics N.V., of Ghent, Belgium, will use their combined technology to discover and assess genetic variations, including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in targeted regions of human and plant genomes and to create and sell commercial products and services using these technologies. Methexis also purchased Sequenom's MassArray system as a platform for its Differential Sequencing technology for the discovery of genetic variations, such as SNPs.

¿ Theragenics Corp., of Buford, Ga., said a nine-year clinical study showed that brachytherapy with TheraSeed - Palladium 103 seed implants - perform equal to, or better than, traditional prostate cancer treatments. During seed therapy, TheraSeeds are inserted into the prostate without the need for surgery, concentrating the impact of short-range, short-lived radiation directly into cancerous tissue. The outpatient procedure lasts about an hour.