Three academic scientists jointly won the 2004 Nobel Prize for research into ubiquitin ligases, and Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. is taking home an "award" of its own - a deal with Merck & Co. Inc. to investigate the new class of drugs for cancer therapies and others. (BioWorld Today)

Amgen Inc. launched a $100 million venture capital fund for start-up biotechnology firms that will let the West Coast giant get a piece of the early stage action as far away as Boston. (BioWorld Today)

Industry leaders like to use phrases such as "going forward" and "as the company evolves," even though a troubling number of firms in biotechnology (and other industries) tend instead to stall, slide or die.

With 6 million shares offered at $64.50 each, OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. is raising $387 million while waiting with partner Genentech Inc. for word from the FDA regarding Tarceva, their drug for non-small-cell lung cancer. (BioWorld Today)

Dyax Corp.'s human antibody libraries drew a deal of undisclosed financial size with Biogen Idec Inc., which is providing research funding to Dyax for at least three years in an arrangement that's slightly different from earlier library deals. (BioWorld Today)