Last week's blowup of Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s antisense drug, Affinitak, in a Phase III trial for non-small-cell lung cancer placed a question mark above that category of therapeutics, but nobody is flying the white flag of surrender yet. (BioWorld Financial Watch)

Shares of Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. fell 31.9 percent after the company disclosed data from the first of two Phase III studies with Affinitak, showing the antisense drug partnered with Eli Lilly and Co. failed to meet its primary endpoint. (BioWorld Today)

What better way to turn around a company than on the government's dime?

With encouraging small-animal data in hand, Vical Inc. said it will begin human testing of its anthrax DNA vaccine by the end of this year. (BioWorld Today)