Six months after acquiring the Humalex antibody platform from Humalys, Vivalis SA secured its first license agreement for the technology, a wide-ranging alliance in infectious disease with Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis Group. Nantes, France-based Vivalis is receiving an up-front payment of €3 million (US$3.6 million), plus another potential €35 million in milestones per indication, as well as royalties on product sales. (BioWorld International)

Orexo AB is getting an up-front payment of $10 million and will get another $11.5 million in research funding on the back of an alliance with Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV to develop two of its preclinical programs, which target pathways involved in arachidonic acid metabolism. For good measure, J&J, of New Brunswick, N.J., is throwing an as yet unselected third compound of its own into the mix. (BioWorld International)