* Aviron, of Mountain View, Calif., will have options listed and traded over the counter on the American Stock Exchange beginning Thursday. The company's stock and option symbols are AVIR and QCV respectively.

* Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Baltimore, received a $627,500 contract from the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy to support development of cocaine addiction treatments. The company also said it has received a U.S. patent on compounds it has under study for the condition.

* ImmunoGen Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and BioChem Pharma Inc., of Laval, Quebec, have inked a collaboration agreement involving BioChem and ImmuGen's 95-percent-owned subsidiary, Apoptosis Technology Inc. (ATI). The agreement grants BioChem an exclusive, worldwide license to ATI's proprietary screens based on two families of proteins involved in apoptosis. The screens will be used in identifying leads for anticancer drug development. The deal also covers the identification of targets and development of new screens in the two areas.

* Xytronyx Inc., of San Diego, has won shareholder approval of a name change to Pacific Pharmaceuticals Inc., reflecting "the redefinition of the company as a biopharmaceutical in-licensing, research and development company." Pacific focuses on cancer therapy development.

* ImmunoGen Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., received a two-year, $750,000 Phase II grant from the Small Business Innovation Research Program of the Department of Health and Human Services. The company will use the funds to advance development of the humanized form of its tumor-activated prodrug huC242-DM1.

* Novartis Pharmaceuticals A.G., of Basel, Switzerland, has begun marketing Apligraf Human Skin Equivalent in Canada, where the product was approved this spring as a treatment for venous ulcers. Organogenesis Inc., of Canton, Mass., developed Apligraf and is manufacturing it for Novartis.

* Structural Bioinformatics Inc., of San Diego, closed a $5 million financing that included oversubscriptions by first-round investors. The lead investor was Biotechnology Development Fund, of Palo Alto, Calif. Other major investors included New York Life, E.J. Financial and Nina Kung Wang, of Hong Kong. The privately held company said it is on track for planned expansions in 1997 and 1998.

* InSite Vision Inc., of Alameda, Calif., has obtained an exclusive worldwide license from the University of Connecticut Health Center, of Farmington, Conn., for diagnostic uses of the newly discovered gene for primary congenital glaucoma. InSite and the health center are developing a diagnostic kit for the disease based on this new genetic information.

* Molecular Biosystems Inc., of San Diego, completed patient enrollment in two myocardial perfusion Phase II trials of Optison for use in echocardiography. The U.S. and U.K. studies are designed to measure the ability of Optison to detect perfusion defects in patients with known or suspected heart disease.

* Neoprobe Corp., of Dublin, Ohio, began new clinical trials of RIGScan CR49 (¹²⁵I-CC49 monoclonal antibody) for use with the company's gamma-detecting probe to help surgeons find cancer during surgery. Neoprobe is sponsoring a compassionate use program for metastatic colorectal cancer and a multicenter study for patients with adenocarcinomas.

* NeXstar Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Boulder, Colo., and The Liposome Co. Inc., of Princeton, N.J., have reached a settlement in connection with all of their outstanding patent litigation. Under terms of the settlement, all current U.S. and international litigation proceedings between Liposome and NeXstar will be dismissed, and Liposome has granted NeXstar immunity from suit in connection with the worldwide production and sales of Ambisome, NeXstar's liposomal formulation of amphotericin B. Also, the companies have granted each other options to take licenses under other patented technology. As part of the settlement, NeXstar agreed to make certain payments to Liposome. Other terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

* Sensus Corp., of Austin, Texas, reported that Trovert, a growth hormone antagonist, has been designated by the FDA as an orphan drug for the treatment of acromegaly. Orphan drug designations are given to drugs and biologics that treat medical conditions affecting 200,000 or less, and for which adequate cures or treatments do not exist. Acromegaly is a hormonal disease marked by development of coarse facial features, enlarged joints and thickened bones, swelling of soft tissue and the enlargement of the tongue, heart and other internal organs.

* Sequus Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif., has signed exclusive agreements with two companies in the MSJ Group, Genesis Pharma S.A., of Athens, Greece, and M.S. Jacovides & Co. Ltd., of Cyprus, for the marketing, sales and distribution of Amphocil in Greece and Cyprus. Amphocil is designed to treat progressive and potentially fatal systemic fungal infections while reducing the kidney toxicities associated with conventional amphotericin B therapy.

* Terrapin Technologies Inc., of South San Francisco, Calif., and Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., of Tokyo, have signed a collaborative agreement covering TER286, an anticancer agent patented by Terrapin. Taiho will fund research and development, while Terrapin will be responsible for preclinical testing and the preparation of an investigational new drug application (IND). Upon approval of the IND, Taiho will license rights to Japan and possibly other Asian countries.