* Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc., of La Jolla, Calif.,received a notice of allowance in its U.S. applicationcovering the chemical composition of its HIV drug,Viracept, or AG1343.

* American Biogenic Sciences Inc., of Copiague, N.Y.,was issued U.S. patent No. 5,453,359 covering animmunoassay and kit for the in vitro detection ofthrombus precursor protein.

* Applied Imaging Corp., of Santa Clara, Calif., wasissued U.S. patent No. 5,432,054 related to its fetal cellanalysis technology.

* Diatech Inc., of Londonderry, N.H., was issued U.S.patent No. 5,443,815 covering technology used to attach aradioisotope to receptor-targeting synthetic peptides.

* Interneuron Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass.,said U.S. patent No. 5,449,683 was issued. It waslicensed from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,and covers the use of low doses of melatonin forinduction of sleep.

* Molecumetics Ltd., of Seattle, was issued U.S. patentNos. 5,440,013 and 5,446,128 covering processes andcomposition of matter for its Smart Librarypeptidomimetic core technology.

* North American Vaccine Inc., of Beltsville, Md., wasissued a U.S. patent covering the manufacture of a proteinused in its conjugate vaccine for the prevention ofmeningitis.

* OraVax Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., received a notice ofpatent allowance covering the use of the monoclonal IgAantibody, HNK20, against respiratory syncytial virus.

* Pharmos Corp., of New York, received a notice ofallowance for a U.S. claim covering SubmicronEmulsions as an ocular drug delivery vehicle.

* Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y.,and its collaborator were issued two U.S. patents, No.5,453,361 covering production of recombinant humanbrain-derived neurotrophic factor, and No. 5,438,121,covering BDNF proteins and compositions.

* Somatix Therapy Corp., of Alameda, Calif., was issuedU.S. patent No. 5,449,614 covering the use of apackaging cell line to produce non-replicating retroviralvectors for human gene therapy.

* Texas Biotechnology Corp., of Houston, was issuedU.S. patent No. 5,444,050 covering a series of selectinantagonists that were developed using structure-baseddesign technologies.

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