BioWorld International articles from February 2002

BioWorld International archives from February 2002

EU biotech industry welcomes European Commission strategy.
February 6, 2002... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European biotechnology industry has given an enthusiastic welcome to the European Union's latest attempt to bring order to the often-chaotic regulatory environment for biotechnology. After months of reflection and...

Gene comparisons suggest new targets for Down's syndrome.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... LONDON -- A recent study has pinpointed genes that are dramatically down-regulated in Down's syndrome, raising hopes that it may one day be possible to provide therapy to modify the course of the disease. Because all people with Down's syndrome...

France Biotech wants initiatives to assist industry across EU.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... PARIS -- The European Union should adopt common measures to stimulate its biotechnology industry, setting the goal of being head-to-head with the U.S. by 2007 and ahead of it by 2015. That was the message delivered by the president of...

Cytos raises CHF45m in third round following productive year.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... The Swiss therapeutics vaccine development firm Cytos Biotechnology AG raised CHF45 million (US$26.5 million) in its third funding round, boosting total investment raised to date to CHF106 million. The Zurich-based company is planning an...

Adaptive Screening emerges as player in nanotechnology.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... LONDON -- Adaptive Screening Ltd., a privately held start-up in the emerging field of bionanotechnology, said it attracted Frank Craig, former vice president of R&D at Amersham Biosciences and co-founder of Aurora Biosciences Corp., to be its...

Alizyme plc. (Other News To Note).(renzapride)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... * Alizyme plc, of Cambridge, UK, said it received approval for a second Phase IIb trial of ATL-1251 (renzapride) in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). ATL 1251 is already in a 500-patient Phase IIb trial where it is being evaluated for the...

German officials compromise in embryonic stem cell debate.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... BORNHEIM, Germany -- The German Parliament, or Bundestag, last week decided to allow importation of human embryonic stem (ES) cells into Germany, with certain restrictions. The parliament decided to create a law that "counteracts using...

BioVisioN raises EUR15m to progress programs in peptides.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... BORNHEIM, Germany -- BioVisioN AG raised about EUR15 million (US$13.1 million) in its second financing round. The funds are expected to fuel the company's growth from a technology company to a product development company, BioVisioN CEO...

Genmab A/S. (Other News To Note).(manufacturing facility)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... * Genmab A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, said its board approved the purchase of 100,000 square meters of land on which it plans to build a manufacturing facility. Initial plans for the plant run to 10,000 square meters, with additional office...

Gyros AB. (Other News To Note).(new facilities)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... * Gyros AB, of Uppsala, Sweden, said it doubled the size of its company headquarters to keep pace with market interest in its CD-based microlaboratory platform technology. The microfluidics technology specialist, a spinout from Amersham...

BioImage raises EUR15.2m for protein translocation work.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... BioImage A/S attracted a mix of local and international investors to its second-round financing, which yielded EUR 15.2 million (US$13.2 million). Abingworth Management Ltd., of London, and funds advised by Apax Partners led the...

Cerep extends drug discovery deal with Sanofi-Synthelabo.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... PARIS -- Cerep and the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Synthelabo have renewed and broadened the drug discovery collaboration they entered in December 1997. Under the terms of an addendum signed for 2002, the companies have agreed to...

Hybrigenics, Mindsense align to advance work in depression.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... PARIS -- The French functional proteomics company Hybrigenics entered into a research collaboration with the Israeli company Mindsense Biosystems Ltd. to identify novel biomarkers and drug targets for the diagnosis and possible treatment of...

LION bioscience AG, of Heidelberg, Germany, said it completed the acquisition of Cleveland-based NetGenics Inc. in an exchange for 1.12 million LION American depository shares. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... * LION bioscience AG, of Heidelberg, Germany, said it completed the acquisition of Cleveland-based NetGenics Inc. in an exchange for 1.12 million LION American depository shares. Previous NetGenics founder, President and CEO Manuel Glynias...

Micromet AG. (Other News To Note).(vice president)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... * Micromet AG, of Martinsried, Germany, appointed Per Gjorstrup vice president, clinical development. Gjorstrup previously held positions in clinical development with international biopharmaceutical companies, including Schwarz Biosciences,...

Mologen AG and Schering AG, both of Berlin, signed an agreement to develop cell-based therapies using Mologen's DNA vector MIDGE. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... * Mologen AG and Schering AG, both of Berlin, signed an agreement to develop cell-based therapies using Mologen's DNA vector MIDGE. The goals of development include cell-based treatments for cancer. Details of the contract were not disclosed. A...

Morphochem AG, of Munich, Germany entered into its second chemical genomics collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Aventis Pharma SA. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... * Morphochem AG, of Munich, Germany entered into its second chemical genomics collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Aventis Pharma SA, of Strasbourg, France. Morphochem plans to generate anti-infective small-molecule compounds against a...

Proteome gains patent, pushes forward in prion diagnostics.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... LONDON -- Proteome Sciences plc said it has been granted a patent on its proteomics technique for detecting abnormal prions in blood, paving the way to the first diagnostics for prion diseases in live humans and animals, and offering the...

MorphoSys AG, of Martinsried, Germany, said that the U.S. District Court in Washington denied Melbourn, UK-based Cambridge Antibody Technology plc's motion to dismiss or transfer a suit filed by MorphoSys seeking declaratory judgment for non-infringement and invalidity of the U.S. "Winter II" patent (U.S. patent No. 6,248,516). (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... * MorphoSys AG, of Martinsried, Germany, said that the U.S. District Court in Washington denied Melbourn, UK-based Cambridge Antibody Technology plc's motion to dismiss or transfer a suit filed by MorphoSys seeking declaratory judgment for...

Pharmagene plc, of Royston, UK, said the Japanese pharmaceutical company Kyowa Hakko Kogyo renewed its contract for Pharmagene's Phase ZERO service. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... * Pharmagene plc, of Royston, UK, said the Japanese pharmaceutical company Kyowa Hakko Kogyo renewed its contract for Pharmagene's Phase ZERO service for testing drug candidates in human tissue prior to clinical trials. Financial details were...

The UK Medical Research Council (MRC), one of the major funders of the public Human Genome Project (HGP), has agreed a contract with Celera Genomics, of Rockville, Md., to give UK academics access to Celera's sequence databases. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... * The UK Medical Research Council (MRC), one of the major funders of the public Human Genome Project (HGP), has agreed a contract with Celera Genomics, of Rockville, Md., to give UK academics access to Celera's sequence databases. The agreement...

Xerion Pharmaceuticals AG and Procorde GmbH, both of Martinsried, Germany, started a target validation collaboration with the initial focus on a cardiovascular target protein. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 6, 2002... * Xerion Pharmaceuticals AG and Procorde GmbH, both of Martinsried, Germany, started a target validation collaboration with the initial focus on a cardiovascular target protein. This has been shown to be functionally relevant in Procorde's...

NeuroSearch, Ingelheim enter $80m alliance around NS2330.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... Shares in NeuroSearch A/S surged more than 50 percent Friday on news of its largest ever deal, a US$80 million pact with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH to develop its candidate Alzheimer's and Parkinson's drug, NS2330. NeuroSearch, of...

Genetic tests predict cancer risks, melanoma study shows.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... LONDON -- Tests to predict which people are more likely to develop certain cancers and which people with cancer are likely to do well following treatment are likely to be available soon. Researchers in the UK already have shown that a small...

Irish government backs EUR15m biotech life sciences seed fund.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... DUBLIN, Ireland -- Enterprise Ireland, the government agency responsible for indigenous industrial development, wants to see 40 biotechnology start-ups emerge over the next five years. The organization unveiled its long-awaited strategy for...

EU officials want legislation covering tissue, cell implants.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Yet more new legislation impacting the biotechnology industry is under preparation in the European Union. Health ministers and senior officials from the 15 EU member states agreed on the need for new EU rules governing the...

Proteom raises 3m [pounds sterling] to further work around protein interactions.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... LONDON -- Proteom Ltd. raised 3 million [pounds sterling] (US$4.3 million) in its first funding round to develop its in silico proteomics platform for predicting protein-protein interactions and designing peptides that will bind with specific...

Co.don AG. (Other News To Note).(tissue engineering)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... * Co.don AG, of Teltow, Germany, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University entered a collaboration in basic research on tissue engineering, aimed at improving tissue grafts. Financial details were not disclosed.

Evotec OAI, of Hamburg, Germany, and Ionix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, are collaborating on analgesic drug discovery. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... * Evotec OAI, of Hamburg, Germany, and Ionix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, are collaborating on analgesic drug discovery. Ionix utilizes ion channel drug targets related to pain. Ionix's medicinal chemists provide lead structures,...

Graffinity Pharmaceutical Design GmbH. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... * Graffinity Pharmaceutical Design GmbH, of Heidelberg, Germany, appointed Victor Matassa vice president of research and development. He previously was with Eli Lilly's London research center as director of medicinal chemistry for Europe.

Transgene says restructuring in place, products moving along.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... PARIS -- Transgene SA, which already has five products in clinical development, mostly for the treatment of cancer, is hoping to initiate clinical trials of a new therapeutic gene this year and aims to have its first product on the market by...

Scancell partners antibody drug in Asia with Korean company.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... LONDON -- Scancell Ltd. agreed to a collaboration and licensing agreement with ISU Chemical Co Ltd. in Seoul, South Korea, to develop and manufacture Scancell's antibody, SC100, for the treatment of solid tumors. Scancell said this is its...

Metabolic eyeing Phase IIb trial in obesity after positive IIa study.(Metabolic Pharmaceuticals Ltd.)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... SYDNEY, Australia -- Metabolic Pharmaceuticals Ltd. said last week that a Phase IIa trial of a fragment of human growth hormone showed significant effects on the weight of the clinically obese participants in the trial. The Melbourne-based...

German Society of Proteome Research. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... * German Society of Proteome Research (DGPF) last week announced its inauguration at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany. It was founded by members from academia and biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Among DGPF...

Jerini AG, of Berlin, started Phase I clinical trials of the bradykinin antagonist, Icatibant, in decompensated liver cirrhosis with resistant ascites. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... * Jerini AG, of Berlin, started Phase I clinical trials of the bradykinin antagonist, Icatibant, in decompensated liver cirrhosis with resistant ascites. Jerini in-licensed the drug from Aventis Pharma SA in late 2001.

LION bioscience AG, of Heidelberg, Germany, sold all of its shares in Tripos Inc., of St. Louis. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... * LION bioscience AG, of Heidelberg, Germany, sold all of its shares in Tripos Inc., of St. Louis. Total net proceeds to LION came to US$22.5 million, LION said. Following LION's purchase of Cincinnati-based NetGenics Inc., LION no longer...

Micromet AG. (Other News To Note).(bispecific antibody derivative)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... * Micromet AG, of Martinsried, Germany, started a multicenter Phase I trial with its bispecific antibody derivative, MT103, to treat patients with B-cell lymphoma. MT103 is the first representative of Micromet's proprietary family of...

Oxford GlycoSciences plc, of Abingdon, UK, said it has licensed two of its automated proteomics patents to GeneProt Inc., of North Brunswick, N.J., in return for an upfront fee of $1 million and undisclosed annual payments (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... * Oxford GlycoSciences plc, of Abingdon, UK, said it has licensed two of its automated proteomics patents to GeneProt Inc., of North Brunswick, N.J., in return for an upfront fee of $1 million and undisclosed annual payments. The deal gives...

Scil biomedicals GmbH, of Martinsried, Germany, said enrollment in a Phase II trial of the SMART anti-L-selectin antibody in trauma patients was completed. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... * Scil biomedicals GmbH, of Martinsried, Germany, said enrollment in a Phase II trial of the SMART anti-L-selectin antibody in trauma patients was completed. The international multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial has enrolled 84...

Xenova Group plc, of Slough, UK, said its cancer drug XR11576, which is licensed to Millennium Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Cambridge, Mass., has entered Phase I trials in the UK and the Netherlands. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 13, 2002... * Xenova Group plc, of Slough, UK, said its cancer drug XR11576, which is licensed to Millennium Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Cambridge, Mass., has entered Phase I trials in the UK and the Netherlands. The open-label trial in patients with solid...

Microscience completes 25.5m [pounds sterling] round, plans clinical programs.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... LONDON -- Microscience Ltd. raised 25.5 million [pounds sterling] (US$36.3 million) in a third-round funding, enabling it to put five infectious disease vaccines into clinical trials this year and develop them through to Phase IIb. CEO Rod...

Common gene links immune system's generation of diversity.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... LONDON -- The strange observation that some vertebrate species use one method to generate diverse immunoglobulin molecules while others use another may not seem so strange after all, now that researchers in Germany have discovered that the same...

Hungarian firm ComGenex adds discovery to chemistry services.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... Hungarian combinatorial chemistry specialist ComGenex Inc. is beginning to build a drug discovery business alongside its traditional services activity and recently disclosed its first U.S. partner. The Budapest-based company signed a...

British Biotech gains license to cancer drug in Phase II.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... LONDON -- British Biotech plc made further headway on its strategy of expanding its pipeline through in-licensing as it entered a collaboration with MethylGene Inc. for MG98, a cancer drug in Phase II trials. The deal gives British Biotech...

Alizyme receives approval for Phase III trial of Colal-Pred.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... LONDON -- Alizyme plc said it has received approval for its first Phase III clinical trial of Colal-Pred for maintaining remission in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), and announced Phase IIb data in patients with the active form of the...

LION streamlining operations, eliminating about 80 positions.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... BORNHEIM, Germany -- LION bioscience AG, through its acquisition of San Diego-based Trega Biosciences Inc. in 2000 and the purchase of Cleveland-based Netgenics Inc. last month, said it has the components needed to become a one-stop shop of...

EU commissioner continues push for changes in policy.(European Union)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Commission has raised the stakes again in its bid to win broader backing for biotechnology. European Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler called for an end to what he described as the European Union's...

HiberGen raises EUR3.8m in follow-on funding from Trinity.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... DUBLIN, Ireland -- Trinity Biotech plc is exercising an option to make a follow-on investment in the early stage genomics firm HiberGen Ltd. The diagnostics company is investing EUR3.8 million in HiberGen, following a seed round it completed in...

Oxagen, Insmed inter alliance on polycystic ovary syndrome.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... LONDON -- The clinical genomics company Oxagen Ltd. formed a partnership with Insmed Inc., of Richmond, Va., to investigate the genetics of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and related metabolic disorders, including Type II diabetes. The...

Arrow raises 7m [pounds sterling] in second round for anti-infectives work.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... LONDON -- Arrow Therapeutics Ltd. raised 7 million [pounds sterling] (US$10 million) from existing investors in its second funding round. Finance Director Piers Morgan told BioWorld International the money was sufficient for the next two...

Australian researchers isolate gene implicated in hay fever.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... SYDNEY, Australia -- Two researchers at the University of Melbourne said they developed a new treatment that would avoid the side effects of the present treatment for a common form of hay fever. Husband and wife team Prem Bhalla and Mohan...

Sanofi-Synthelabo selects melanoma vaccine from IDM.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... PARIS -- Sanofi-Synthelabo SA already selected for development the first cell drug for cancer from the co-development agreement signed last month with Immuno-Designed Molecules SA (IDM). Under the 10-year agreement, Sanofi-Synthelabo, of...

Acambis plc. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... * Acambis plc, of Cambridge, UK, announced positive results in the second Phase II trial of its vaccine against Japanese encephalitis, paving the way for Phase III trials to start next year and validating its ChimeriVax vaccine technology. The...

Amaxa GmbH. (Other News To Note).(foreign operations)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... * Amaxa GmbH, of Cologne, Germany, is establishing operations in the U.S., where it has half of its sales of Nucleofector, its proprietary device for nonviral gene transfer into primary cells. The company plans to establish facililities in...

Artus GmbH, of Hamburg, Germany, said it developed a novel system for RNA amplification called the Array-Amp Kit. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... * Artus GmbH, of Hamburg, Germany, said it developed a novel system for RNA amplification called the Array-Amp Kit. It enables researchers to amplify mRNA without reducing the size of the amplification products. The underlying technology is...

Cerep SA. (Other News To Note).(revenues)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 20, 2002... * Cerep SA, of Paris, reported a 51 percent jump in revenues to EUR27.7 million (US$24.2 million) last year from EUR18.3 million in 2000, and expects to post a net profit of EUR1.95 million for 2001, against a loss of EUR1.05 million the year...

Gyros AB, of Uppsala, Sweden, which is developing CD-based microfluidics technology, said the Uppsala branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research is evaluating its first application, which is due for commercial release shortly. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... * Gyros AB, of Uppsala, Sweden, which is developing CD-based microfluidics technology, said the Uppsala branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research is evaluating its first application, which is due for commercial release shortly. The...

H. Lundbeck A/S and BankInvest Biomedical Venture, both of Copenhagen, Denmark, said each has invested US$5 million privately held biotechnology star-up Warren Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... * H. Lundbeck A/S and BankInvest Biomedical Venture, both of Copenhagen, Denmark, said each has invested US$5 million in privately held biotechnology startup Warren Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Yorktown, N.Y. Lundbeck also has licensed from Warren...

NicOx SA. (Other News To Note).(Prednisolone)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... * NicOx SA, of Sophia Antipolis, France, reported positive results from a Phase I trial of NCX 1015, its nitric oxide-releasing derivative of the glucocorticoid Prednisolone, which is being developed for the treatment of chronic inflammatory...

Vernalis Group plc, of Winnersh, UK, announced an extension of its R&D agreement with Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, in obesity and said the two have agreed to a new collaboration in diabetes. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 20, 2002... * Vernalis Group plc, of Winnersh, UK, announced an extension of its R&D agreement with Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, in obesity and said the two have agreed to a new collaboration in diabetes. No financial details were...

Oxford BioMedica encouraged by early gene therapy studies.(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... LONDON -- Oxford BioMedica plc said it achieved positive interim results from Phase I/II trials of MetXia and TroVax, showing the two cancer gene therapy products were safe and prompted clinical improvements in several of those treated. ...

Antisoma raises 22M [pounds sterling] through discounted rights offering.(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... LONDON -- Antisoma plc took steps to avoid its looming funding gap with a 4-for-3 rights issue to raise 22 million [pounds sterling] (US$31.3 million). The issue is priced at 20 pence per share, representing a 30 percent discount. However,...

European academics, industry differ on patent grace period.(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European academics favor the introduction of a "grace period" in patent law covering biotechnology inventions, so they can continue publishing their results early, but the European biotechnology industry is firmly against...

French challenge another Myriad patent on breast cancer gene.(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... PARIS -- The Paris-based cancer center Institut Curie is contesting another patent issued by the European Patents Office to the U.S. company Myriad Genetics Inc. for the BRCA1 cancer susceptibility gene, after filing a formal complaint in...

European Commissioner wants to ensure EU gets proper credit. (European Union Roundup).(biotechnology innovations)(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Union has been quick to claim part of the credit for two recent biotechnology breakthroughs. After the publication in the Feb. 21 issue of Nature of the analysis of the genome of fission yeast, European...

FDA fast-tracks Genmab's rheumatoid arthritis antibody.(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... Despite receiving fast-track status from the FDA, Danish firm Genmab A/S is sticking to current projections for its HuMax-CD4 treatment for patients with active rheumatoid arthritis who do not respond to current treatment. "We would say we...

Atugen AG, of Berlin, said it will sign a technology evaluation agreement with Vancouver, British Columbia-based Kinetek Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... * Atugen AG, of Berlin, said it will sign a technology evaluation agreement with Vancouver, British Columbia-based Kinetek Pharmaceuticals Inc. Kinetek will evaluate Atugen's antisense target validation technology in its research and...

Bayer AG, of Leverkusen, Germany, and Aventis SA of Strasbourg, France, signed a nonbinding letter of intent to potentially combine their blood plasma businesses, Aventis Behring and Bayer Biological Products, including the marketing rights for the recombinant Factor VIII products, Helixate FS/NexGen and Kogenate. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... * Bayer AG, of Leverkusen, Germany, and Aventis SA, of Strasbourg, France, signed a nonbinding letter of intent to potentially combine their blood plasma businesses, Aventis Behring and Bayer Biological Products, including the marketing rights...

BioProtein Technologies. (Other News To Note).(chief operating officer)(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... * BioProtein Technologies, of Paris, which is specialized in the production and extraction of therapeutic proteins from the milk of transgenic rabbits, appointed Guy de Martynoff as chief operating officer. Martynoff has 20 years of experience...

BioTissue Technologies AG. (Other News To Note).(chief executive officer)(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... * BioTissue Technologies AG, of Freiburg, Germany, said it expects Victor Tiegermann to take over from Wilhelm Brandner as CEO as of March 1, after Brandner retires. Tiegermann previously held management positions in European and U.S. medical...

ExonHit Therapeutics SA. (Other News To Note).(head of clinical development)(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... * ExonHit Therapeutics SA, of Paris, appointed Philippe Guillet as head of clinical Research. As such, he will be responsible for the clinical development of the company's two leading drug candidates, EHT-201 and EHT-202, which are being...

MorphoSys AG, of Martinsried, Germany, and XOMA Ltd., of Berkley, Calif., entered into cross-licensing agreements for antibody-related technologies. (Other News To Note).(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... * MorphoSys AG, of Martinsried, Germany, and XOMA Ltd., of Berkley, Calif., entered into cross-licensing agreements for antibody-related technologies. MorphoSys and its partners receive a license to use the XOMA antibody expression technology...

Infineon makes electronic biochip.(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... BORNHEIM, Germany -- Infineon Technologies AG said it produced an electronic biochip that it expects will enter clinical evaluation in hospitals in 2003. The chip can detect at the same time 128 different types of biomolecules, such as DNA...

CAT brings on Chambre as CEO.(Cambridge Antibody Technology Group PLC, Peter Chambre)(Brief Article)
February 27, 2002... LONDON -- Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc said that Peter Chambre, former chief operating officer of Celera Genomics Inc., will become chief executive officer when the company's founder, David Chiswell, retires in April. Chambre is...

NicOx SA. (Other News To Note).(revenue loss)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 27, 2002... * NicOx SA, of Sophia Antipolis, France, posted a loss of EUR11.5 million (US$10 million) for 2001, nearly four times higher than the year before (EUR3 million). Whereas it received R&D income of EUR5.6 million in 2000, it generated no revenue...

Ester Neurosciences gets OK for myasthenia gravis trials.
February 27, 2002... TEL AVIV, Israel -- Ester Neurosciences said it received regulatory approval in Europe and Israel to conduct Phase lb trials of EN101, a novel antisense drug for the treatment of myasthenia gravis (MG). EN101 is the lead compound in Ester's...