* Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., of San Diego, said the managingunderwriters for its recent public offering intend to exercise theiroption to buy 365,000 shares at $16.50 each.

* Amgen Inc., of Thousand Oaks, Calif., started initial human clinicaltesting of tumor necrosis factor binding protein for rheumatoidarthritis. The double-blind, placebo-controlled study primarily willassess safety and tolerability.

* Celgene Corp., of Warren, N.J., initiated a Phase II trial of thethalidomide drug Synovir for the treatment of chronic intractablediarrhea in HIV patients. Enrollment has begun in London with sitesin the U.S. and Mexico to open soon.

* IMRE Corp., now of San Diego, settled a patent infringement claimregarding the Prosorba column. With the settlement IMRE gained anon-exclusive right to the device. Further terms were not revealed.Also, IMRE said it received stockholder approval to change its nameto Cypress Bioscience Inc.

* Neomecs Inc., of Minneapolis, received a $750,000 small businessinnovation research grant from the National Center for HumanGenome Research for a continuing study aimed at increasing thesensitivity and usefulness of DNA probes in diagnostic and researchapplications.

* SuperGen Inc., of Emeryville, Calif., added another $3.15 millionto its March 12, 1996, initial public offering with the exercise ofoverallotment options by the lead underwriter, Paulson InvestmentCo. Inc., of Portland, Ore. The company sold more than four millionunits at $6 each for gross proceeds of $24.15 million. Each unitconsists of one share and one warrant to buy another share for $9.(See BioWorld Today, March 14, 1996, p. 2.)

* Sugen Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., signed a collaborativeresearch and development agreement with the National CancerInstitute for the application of Sugen's transcript imaging technologyto identify differences in expression patterns of signal transductiongenes.

* The Lemelson Foundation, of New York, in association with theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), of Cambridge, Mass.,named Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer 1996 co-recipients of the$500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for invention and innovation. Cohen,of Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., and Boyer, of theUniversity of California at San Francisco, developed the method forproducing recombinant DNA in 1973 and are credited with launchingthe biotechnology industry.

* The Liposome Co., of Princeton, N.J., said data from a Phase I/IItrial of Abelcet, which uses a lipid complex for delivery of the anti-fungal drug, amphotericin B, showed the product was effective intreating children with hepatosplenic candidiasis, a fungus infection ofthe liver and spleen. The studies also revealed no kidney toxicity sideeffects. Abelcet was approved by the FDA in November 1995 as asecond-line therapy for aspergillosis.

* Vaxcel Inc., of Atlanta, signed an agreement with Corixa Corp., ofSeattle, for use of the former's Optivax vaccine delivery and adjuvantsystem with vaccines under development by Corixa. Financial termswere not disclosed. Vaxcel is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based CytRxCorp.

* ViroPharma Inc., of Malvern, Pa., said data from Phase II trials ofVP 63843 demonstrated the antiviral compound was effective inreducing symptoms associated with an enterovirus that causes flu-likesymptoms. The small molecule drug is designed to inhibit replicationof RNA viruses within the picornavirus family, such as the commoncold and viruses of the gastrointestinal tract. The study involved 33volunteers who were infected with the enterovirus. Sixteen receivedthe drug twice a day for a week and the others received a placebo.ViroPharma said on peak symptom days 50 percent of the placebogroup were sick compared with none in the drug group.

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