* Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New Haven, Conn.,was awarded a $2 million grant from the AdvancedTechnology Program, a Department of Commerceinitiative. The grant will support development ofgenetically engineered pig organs for transplantation intohumans.

* Alpha-Beta technology Inc., of Worcester, Mass.,started a Phase I trial of Betafectin PGG-glucan toenhance the growth of blood cell types involved in thereconstitution of bone marrow function.

* Canji Inc., of San Diego, and the National CancerInstitute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health, arecollaborating on the preclinical development ofretinoblastoma gene therapy for bladder cancer. TheNCI's Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program willcollaborate with Canji on human clinical trials, whichcould be ready to begin in 1996.

* Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., saidunderwriters exercised their overallotment option topurchase 375,000 shares of stock at $10 each. The initialsale of 2.5 million shares in a public offering wascompleted Oct. 12, 1995.

* Mitotix Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., received anexclusive worldwide license to all therapeuticapplications of cyclin E from the Fred Hutchinson CancerResearch Center, of Seattle. Cyclin E is a regulator of theDNA replication phase of the cell division cycle.

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