DepoMed Inc.'s Phase III once-daily diabetes drug Metformin GR netted the company a sweet licensing deal with Biovail Corp., in which the latter is buying 2.4 million newly issued DepoMed shares - 15 percent of the outstanding common shares - for $12.3 million and agreeing to pay $25 million if and when the continuous-release drug wins approval by the FDA. (BioWorld Today)

Although the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Orlando, Fla., which wrapped up last week, spewed much data and generated plenty of talk, the news wasn't all good for biotechnology firms, nor was it all bad. In a down market, however, the word "mixed" doesn't carry quite the cautious optimism it once did at least not for those with cash on the line. (BioWorld Financial Watch)

In the wake of mixed study results disclosed at a scientific meeting, the refusal of its partner to retool overseas research as a way of helping dislodge the FDA-stalled cancer drug Erbitux, and disappointing first-quarter earnings, ImClone Systems Inc. reportedly plans to run several more trials in the U.S. (BioWorld Today)

Girding for a marketplace battle in oncology, Amgen Inc. offered encouraging data regarding its anemia product Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa), approved in September for dialysis and nondialysis patients with chronic liver failure and already being used off-label for cancer patients. (BioWorld Today)

With both sides still out for blood in the battle over their respective anti-anemia erythropoietin products, Transkaryotic Therapies Inc. (which won European approval in March for Dynepo) and Amgen Inc. (guarding the franchise it has, through the blockbuster Epogen) matched lawyers two weeks ago in an appeals hearing that offered few revelations. (BioWorld Financial Watch)

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. said collaborator GlaxoSmithKline plc is likely to file for approval of the HIV protease inhibitor GW433908 - which last month entered its third pivotal Phase III trial - by the end of the year in the U.S. and Europe. (BioWorld Today)