Say "Festo" to a member of the general public and he's likely to think of pasta, red wine and merriment. Say it to almost any of the competing parties in biotechnology, though, and your listener is likely to groan louder than the victim of a bad pun. (BioWorld Financial Watch)

Almost a year after netting its first collaboration with Novo Nordisk A/S, TransTech Pharma Inc. has chalked up its second - this one a multiyear deal with Cephalon Inc. to discover and develop small molecules for as many as three therapeutic targets. (BioWorld Today)

Praecis Pharmaceuticals Inc., in the process of overcoming an FDA snag in its bid for Plenaxis as a prostate cancer treatment, revealed positive early data with the gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist in a Phase II/III endometriosis study. (BioWorld Today)

Second-quarter earnings disappointments, recent clinical trial failures and investors' apparent refusal to credit any of the good news have pushed biotechnology valuations down to levels not seen since the mid-1990s. (BioWorld Financial Watch)