Advanced Magnetics Inc. (AMI) announced Friday that it hasreceived a $2 million milestone payment from the SquibbDiagnostics division of Bristol Myers Squibb Co.

The payment is associated with BMS 180549 (formerly AMI-227), an intravenous diagnostic used during magneticresonance imaging (MRI) to assess lymph node status. Theagent is currently completing Phase II clinical trials. AMI ofCambridge, Mass., will receive a total of $10 million in stagedlicensing fees for BMS 180549; Squibb first licensed the agentfrom the company in 1991 and has paid AMI two previousmilestone payments.

AMI had also licensed another MRI agent called AMI-HS toSquibb but regained rights to the agent late last year. Thecompany is currently preparing an investigational new drugapplication for AMI-HS, AMI's president, Jerome Goldstein, toldBioWorld. -- Karl Thiel

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