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)

Talk about a hard call.Investors may have been quick to attach their unmistakable meaning to last month's disclosure by VaxGen Inc. of disappointing Phase III results for its HIV vaccine - the company's stock value nosedived by 47.3 percent - but the scientific world was far from convinced a disaster had taken place.

Science is all about experiments, so here's an idea for the blackboard: Imagine a world where biotechnology pays pharmaceutical companies to develop compounds.