* Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., of San Diego, began a Phase II trial of LiquiVent (perflubron), an oxygen carrying liquid, for use in adult patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome who are being supported by a mechanical breathing ventilator. LiquiVent, the company said, is designed to facilitate the exchange of respiratory gases, promote removal of debris from the lungs and protect the lungs by reducing exposure to the harmful effects of mechanical ventilation. Earlier this month, Alliance partner Hoechst Marion Roussel, of Frankfurt, Germany, ended their collaboration on development of LiquiVent. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 9, 1997, p. 1.)

* Gene Logic Inc., of Columbia, Md., raised another $2.78 million in connection with its recent initial public offering (IPO) when underwriters — BancAmerican Roberston Stephens, Hambrecht & Quist LLC and UBS Securities LLC, all of New York — exercised overallotment options for 347,000 shares at $8 per share. In its November IPO, Gene Logic sold a total of 3.347 million shares for $26.78 million. (See BioWorld Today, Nov. 24, 1997, p. 1.)

* Incyte Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., entered a genomic database partnership with Rhone-Poulenc SA, of Paris. the agreement gives Rhone-Poulenc access to Incyte's LifeSeq gene sequence and expression database and PathoSeq microbial genome database in exchange for annual fees. Incyte also could receive royalties on products developed with its technology and database information. Financial details were not disclosed.

* LXR Biotechnology Inc., of Richmond, Calif., raised another $1.76 million in a second closing of a private placement, selling 1.007 million shares at $1.75 per share. With the first closing of $5.5 million, net proceeds from the two financings totaled $7.2 million.

* Oncor Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., received two Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grants from the National Institutes of Health for development of the company's gene amplification and mutation detection technologies.

* PathoGenesis Corp., of Seattle, said the FDA approved the company's inhaled formulation of the antibiotic tobramycin, called TOBI, for treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in cystic fibrosis patients. The company said TOBI is the first inhaled antibiotic solution approved in the U.S. for cystic fibrosis.

* Synaptic Pharmaceutical Corp., of Paramus, N.J., extended for another year a collaboration with Merck & Co. Inc., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., for development of drugs to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia. The agreement is the second time the collaboration has been extended since the two companies started working on the project in 1993. The research focuses on compounds that block the alpha-1a adrenergic receptor.