* Anika Research Inc., of Woburn, Mass., completed a privateplacement of 1.4 million shares, grossing $3.9 million. The companyis developing hyaluronic acid products for surgical and therapeuticapplications.

* Cangene Corp., of Toronto, received approval to sell WinRho SDin Canada for immune thrombocytopenic purpura. It already wasavailable in Canada for preventing Rh disease.

* Chiron Diagnostics, a unit of Emeryville, Calif.-based ChironCorp., said the FDA accepted filing of a premarket approvalapplication for Chiron's quantitative HIV bDNA probe assay, calledthe Quantiplex HIV RNA Assay. The assay measures the amount ofHIV in plasma.

* Genome Therapeutics Inc., of Waltham, Mass., said underwriterOppenheimer & Co. Inc., of New York, exercised an option on450,000 shares from a recent public offering, bringing in another$5.9 million. The total shares sold now is 3.45 million and grossproceeds are $44.85 million.

* Neurogen Corp., of Branford, Conn., began Phase I trials of itsanti-obesity compound, NGD 95-1, an orally active small molecule.The drug selectively targets Neuropeptide Y, a neurotransmitterinvolved in the stimulation of appetite and eating behaviors. It isbeing developed with Pfizer Inc., of New York.

* PerSeptive Biosystems Inc., of Framingham, Mass., saidshareholders approved the issuance of stock for the acquisition ofPerSeptive Technologies II Corp., which was formed in 1993 andcontracted with PerSeptive to conduct research and development inthe areas of diagnostics, screening, DNA and protein sequencing andDNA and peptide synthesis.

* Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y., receivednotice from Amgen Inc., of Thousand Oaks, Calif., that Amgenintends to purchase additional Regeneron shares. Amgen now ownsabout 6 percent of Regeneron. In a 1990 standstill agreement Amgensaid it wouldn't buy more than 20 percent of Regeneron.

* The Immune Response Corp., of Carlsbad, Calif., completedenrollment in a 90-patient Phase II trial of its therapeutic, whichtargets T cells, in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Results from theplacebo-controlled, double-blind study are expected by the end of theyear.

* Unimed Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Buffalo Grove, Ill., closed aprivate placement of 1.4 million shares for gross proceeds of $8.4million. Also, Chairman John Kapoor exercised 800,000 warrants,bringing in another $1.7 million.

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