* Aprogenex Inc., of Houston, which said it has enough cash only toget through mid-May, is in the process of conducting two privateplacements.

* Atrix Laboratories Inc. and Paravax Inc., both of Fort Collins,Colo., entered into a worldwide license agreement to develop aproduct to treat periodontal disease in dogs and cats.

* Biochem Pharma Inc., of Laval, Quebec, said its board adopted ashareholder rights plan. The company said the plan is not designed toblock takeover bids, and was not adopted because takeover bids arepending.

* Neurex Corp., of Menlo Park, Calif., said it completed the firstsegment of a Phase I/II study with SNX-111 for severe pain in cancerpatients. Eight of nine evaluable patients were considered to haveresponded to therapy.

* Tripos Inc., of St. Louis, and Panlabs, of Bothell, Wash., enteredinto a two-year collaboration aimed at creating new libraries ofchemicals and improved methods of searching out new product leads.

* U.S. Bioscience Inc., of West Conshohocken, Pa., said a review ofEthyol will be held June 9 before the FDA's Oncologic DrugAdvisory Committee.

* Vical Inc., of San Diego, said Merck & Co. Inc., of New York,exercised its remaining three options to license Vical's naked DNAvaccine technology for the development of vaccines for hepatitis B,herpes simplex and tuberculosis infections. Merck paid Vical $3million for the rights.

* Angiogenesis Technologies Inc., of Vancouver, Canada, haslicensed from Mount Sinai Hospital Corp., of Toronto, technologyfor developing treatments aimed at proliferative disorders, metastasesand drug resistant tumors using vanadate, a salt derived fromvanadium. The technology involves using vanadate to inhibittranscription factors implicated in the proliferation of malignant cells.

* Apex Bioscience Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., began aPhase I safety trial of piridoxilate hemoglobin polyoxethylene (PHP)in the U.S. The drug is being developed as a treatment for acutenitric-oxide mediated hypotension and as an adjunct to cancerchemotherapy.

* Celgene Corp., of Warren, N.J., began trials of Synovir, orthalidomide, for rheumatoid arthritis at New York UniversityHospital of Joint Diseases. The company said thalidomide is aninhibitor of tumor necrosis factor alpha, which has been linked to thedisease.

* Chemtrak Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., said the FDA cleared itsAccumeter high density lipoprotein test for use by health careprofessionals to detect good and bad cholesterol. The company said itintends to file for approval of the test for use by consumers this year.

* Cortecs International Ltd., of London, entered an agreement withDenmark-based Osteometer BioTech A/S for development of a test todetect collagen breakdown, which is an indicator of osteoporosis.

* Gensia Inc., of San Diego, and Atrix Laboratories Inc., of FortCollins, Colo., have agreed to co-develop a treatment of solid tumorcancers based on Atrix's Atrigel drug delivery system. The productwill combine an existing anti-cancer drug with the Atrigel controlled-release technology, eliminating the need for daily injections.

* ImmuLogic Pharmaceutical Corp., of Waltham, Mass., said it hasclosed its Palo Alto, Calif. facility and is consolidating researchoperations in Waltham. The company said it expects to save $5million a year by shutting down the Palo Alto plant and bystreamlining other operations.

* Quadra Logic Technologies Inc., of Vancouver, Canada, and itspartner, Ciba Vision Ophthalmics, a subsidiary of Switzerland-basedCiba-Geigy Ltd., began a Phase I study of benzoporphyrin derivative,a light-activated drug, for treatment of age-related maculardegeneration.

* Quintiles Transnational Corp., of Morrisville, N.C., acquired twocontract research organizations recently. The company boughtFrance-based Benefit International S.A. and its subsidiaries for $16million in cash and stock and purchased San Diego Clinical *Research Associates in a stock swap valued at $3.4 million.

* Synsorb Biotech Inc., of Calgary, Canada, has proposed theacquisition of Chembiomed Ltd., of Edmonton, Canada. Synsorb saidit was founded with technology developed by Chembiomed.

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