* BASF Bioresearch Corp., of Worcester, Mass., signed anagreement with Ares-Serono, of Norwell, Mass., to manufactureSerono's mammalian cell-derived recombinant human growthhormone for commercial production. The product currently is beingused under a treatment investigational new drug application for AIDSwasting.

* Cambridge Biotech Corp., of Worcester, Mass., said a bankruptcyappellate panel issued a 21-day stay pending appeal of a U.S.Bankruptcy Court's confirmation of the company's reorganizationplan. The stay was requested by the Institut Pasteur, of Lyon, France,and Pasteur Sanofi Diagnostics Inc., of Chaska, Minn., which objectto Cambridge Biotech's assumption of patents it licensed from thecompanies.

* Ibah Inc., of Blue Bell, Pa., acquired Resource Biometrics Inc., ofEmeryville, Calif., for common stock. Resource Biometrics providessoftware products and data services to the pharmaceutical,biotechnology and medical device industries.

* Meridian Diagnostics Inc., of Cincinnati, purchased the entericproduct line of Cambridge Biotech Corp., of Worcester, Mass., for$5.5 million in cash, an advance on royalties and otherconsiderations. The line includes tests for adenovirus, rotavirus, C.difficile, and Lyme disease.

* Neurocrine Biosciences Inc., of San Diego, said it is about to beginPhase I trials of its lead compound, the peptide vaccine NBI-5788,assessing safety in 30 multiple sclerosis patients. The news triggereda $3 million milestone payment from collaborator Ciba-Geigy Ltd.,of Basel, Switzerland.

* Oncor Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., obtained an exclusive worldwidelicense to the p43 blood test for detecting early stage breast cancer.Oncor intends to conduct further test before submitting a premarketapproval application. Oncor intends initially to market the test as acompanion to conventional mammograms in high-risk women.

* Scios Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., said partner KakenPharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, submitted a new drug applicationin Japan for Fiblast (basic fibroblast growth factor) for treatment ofrecalcitrant dermal ulcers. The filing is the first for a Scios-discovered product.

* Synteni, of Palo Alto, Calif., and Expression Systems Inc., ofEmeryville, Calif., entered a joint research program to use Synteni'sGene Expression Micro-array technology to discover new diagnosticand therapeutic target genes for ataxia telangiectasia, an autosomalrecessive disease characterized by cerebellar degeneration and anincrease in cancer susceptibility.

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.