¿ Atairgin Technologies Inc., of Irvine, Calif., is collaborating with Washington State University in Pullman to expand Atairgin's patented proprietary technology in bioactive lipid regulators, called lysophospholipids, to new therapeutic applications, including fertility and reproductive cancers. The collaboration will focus on advancing the technology to additional therapeutic applications.

¿ BioStratum Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., has initiated clinical trials of Pyridorin for the treatment of diabetic kidney disease. The drug, which will be orally administered in human subjects beginning this week, has demonstrated efficacy and safety in preclinical studies, the company said.

¿ Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., of Princeton, N.J., said the FDA approved new indications for its marketed nucleoside analogues, Zerit (stavudine) and Videx (didanosine). Each may now be used as a first-line component of a combination antiretroviral therapy regimen for HIV-1-infected patients.

¿ Cellegy Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, said it has successfully completed a Phase II clinical trial using its transdermal testosterone gel for the treatment of male hypogonadism. The company plans to enter Phase III clinical trails by the end of the year.

¿ Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., has filed with the UK's Medicines Control Agency for a license to market Menjugate, its conjugate vaccine against meningococcal C disease. The filing is needed for the company to participate in a comprehensive national immunization program against meningococcal C disease.

¿ Emisphere Technologies Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y., said that Novartis AG, of Basel, Switzerland, initiated clinical testing of a solid oral dosage form of one of its compounds using Emisphere's oral drug delivery technology. The study is a Phase I safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic study in healthy subjects and is being conducted in the UK.

¿ Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, said it established Fujisawa Investments for Entrepreneurship L.P. in the United States on Sept. 1. It is a fund initially set at $5 million for equity investments in start-up pharmaceutical research ventures.

¿ InSite Vision Inc., of Alameda, Calif., received a $1.5 million milestone payment from Pharmacia & Upjohn, of Bridgewater, N.J., for the completion of Phase II clinical trials evaluating the company's ISV-205 glaucoma treatment and other related activities. The payment will take the form of an equity investment, increasing Pharmacia & Upjohn's ownership of InSite Vision's common shares to just under 10 percent.

¿ Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp., of Plainsboro, N.J., received approval for $251,148 in funding through a Phase I grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health. The money was granted through the small business innovation research fast-track program. It will support the preclinical and clinical development of an RGD-peptide modified version of the Integra artificial skin product.

¿ Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., said researchers at its division, Ibis Therapeutics, published a paper describing a major advance in understanding the binding of small molecule drugs to RNA in the Aug. 21, 1999, issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper is titled "Determinants of Aminoglycoside Binding Specificity for rRNA Using Mass Spectrometry."

¿ Protein Design Labs Inc., of Fremont, Calif., signed a patent license agreement with an unnamed pharmaceutical company for certain non-exclusive rights under PDL's antibody humanization patents to an unnamed antibody in clinical development. PDL will receive a non-refundable, non-creditable fee, annual maintenance fees and royalties on sales of the antibody. Specific terms were not disclosed.

¿ Sangamo BioSciences Inc., of Point Richmond, Calif., signed a collaborative research agreement with Genset SA, of Paris, to provide specific Universal GeneTools to Genset for use in its target validation programs. Sangamo has similar collaborations with Pfizer Inc., of New York; Bayer Corp., of Pittsburgh; and SmithKline Beecham plc, of London.

¿ Third Wave Technologies Inc., of Madison, Wis., signed an agreement to provide Warner-Lambert Co., of Morris Plains, N.J., with a portfolio of Invader assays for evaluation in genotyping and gene expression applications. The Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research Division of Warner-Lambert will be the first to implement Third Wave's Invader technology across several area of drug discovery and development.