BioWorld International articles from June 2008

BioWorld International archives from June 2008

Ark set to move into phase III trials with Trinam and Vitor.
June 4, 2008... LONDON -- Ark Therapeutics plc made significant advances in two of its programs, getting an FDA go-ahead for the Phase III trial of Trinam, a gene-based therapy for preventing blood vessels blocking in vascular access grafts, and securing...

AM-Pharma brings in $11m with first closing of Series C.
June 4, 2008... AM-Pharma BV raised 7 million [euro] (US$10.9 million) in a first closing of its Series C round, which it aims to close out at 20 million [euro] in total. Existing investors Forbion Capital Partners, of Naarden, the Netherlands, and...

Genetic test could predict response to chemotherapy.
June 4, 2008... LONDON -- A study in Finland of more than 2,000 women with breast cancer has identified a genetic variant that makes it possible to predict whether a woman will respond well to a common type of chemotherapy. The discovery raises the...

Edmond de Rothschild closes 150 million [euro] BioDiscovery fund.
June 4, 2008... PARIS -- Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners raised 150 million [euro] (US$231.5 million) for a new venture capital fund to invest in European life sciences companies. Called BioDiscovery III, it is the Paris-based investment firm's...

DxS signs Roche deal for KRAS, EGFR mutation tests.
June 4, 2008... LONDON -- As evidence mounts that mutations in KRAS and EGFR are predictive of which patients will respond to therapies such as Erbitux, Vectibix, Iressa and Tarceva, a privately owned UK company, DxS Ltd., said it signed an exclusive...

European Parliament seeks urgent debate on biotech.
June 4, 2008... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Parliament added its voice to the growing controversy over European Union biotechnology regulation on May 22, when it called for an urgent debate to discuss the use of modern biotechnology. The call came...

3SBio Inc., of Senyang, China, signed a development-commercialization deal with AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., to obtain Chinese approval and to market ferumoxytol.(Other News To Note)
June 4, 2008... 3SBio Inc., of Senyang, China, signed a development-commercialization deal with AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., to obtain Chinese approval and to market ferumoxytol, an intravenous iron replacement therapeutic agent being...

Antisoma plc, of London, said it received a $25 million milestone payment from Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG.(Other News To Note)
June 4, 2008... Antisoma plc, of London, said it received a $25 million milestone payment from Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG, triggered by the recent start of a Phase III trial of ASA404 in non-small-cell lung cancer.

Innate launches preclinical work on first antibody in Novo deal.
June 4, 2008... PARIS -- Innate Pharma SA launched the regulatory preclinical development of IPH 2301, an immuno-modulating monoclonal antibody targeting a receptor found on NK (natural killer) cells, CD8 T cells and a subpopulation of CD4 T cells. It is...

BAC BV, of Naarden, the Netherlands, has entered into a collaboration with LFB Biotechnologies, of Les Ulis, France.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
June 4, 2008... BAC BV, of Naarden, the Netherlands, has entered into a collaboration with LFB Biotechnologies, of Les Ulis, France, to discover and develop a custom CaptureSelect ligand for the purification of a recombinant Factor VIIa product developed by...

BioAlliance Pharma SA.(Other News To Note)
June 4, 2008... BioAlliance Pharma SA, of Paris, reported new results from in vivo studies of AMEP, which previously showed that the plasmid codes for a peptide that binds to surface receptors on tumor cells and already had been found to have promising...

Caprotec Bioanalytics GmbH, of Berlin, has signed a collaboration agreement with Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, acting for its division Merck Serono.(Other News To Note)
June 4, 2008... Caprotec Bioanalytics GmbH, of Berlin, has signed a collaboration agreement with Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, acting for its division Merck Serono. Under the terms of the agreement, Caprotec will apply its Capture Compound Mass...

Celgene International Sarl.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
June 4, 2008... Celgene International Sarl, of Boudry, Switzerland, said it withdrew its European marketing application for lenalidomide in patients with transfusion-dependent anemia due to low- or intermediate-1-risk myelodysplastic syndromes associated with...

Exiqon A/S.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
June 4, 2008... Exiqon A/S, of Vedbaek, Denmark, signed a collaborative research agreement with the Kleberg Center for Molecular Markers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center to discover microRNA-based biomarkers for breast cancer. Under that...

Hebei Huaxing Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., of Beijing, and Kiwa Bio-Tech Products Group Corp., of Claremont, Calif., entered a contract for a joint venture named Hebei Kiwa Huaxing Bio-Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.(Other News To Note)
June 4, 2008... Hebei Huaxing Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., of Beijing, and Kiwa Bio-Tech Products Group Corp., of Claremont, Calif., entered a contract for a joint venture named Hebei Kiwa Huaxing Bio-Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. The new company will develop and...

Horizon Discovery.(Other News To Note)
June 4, 2008... Horizon Discovery, of Cambridge, UK, said it will be a founding member of VIMCAD, a consortium of leading UK Oncology research groups that will apply in vitro cellular modeling and imaging techniques to translate molecular and cell-based...

Kiadis Pharma BV.(Other News To Note)
June 4, 2008... Kiadis Pharma BV, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, said it is collaborating with the Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant Center at the Julius-Maximilians University in Wurzburg, Germany, on its lead product, ATIR, which aims to prevent graft-vs.-host...

Movetis NV.(Other News To Note)
June 4, 2008... Movetis NV, of Turnhout, Belgium, said the European Medicines Agency accepted the marketing application for Resolor (prucalopride) in chronic constipation in adults for whom laxatives fail to provide adequate relief. Resolor is a selective,...

PartnerTech AB, of Malmo, Sweden, and Biotage AB, of Uppsala, Sweden, have signed a new agreement to manufacture instruments for DNA analysis and microwave synthesis.(Other News To Note)
June 4, 2008... PartnerTech AB, of Malmo, Sweden, and Biotage AB, of Uppsala, Sweden, have signed a new agreement to manufacture instruments for DNA analysis and microwave synthesis. The agreement, which runs for two years and renews automatically, is worth an...

Pluristem Therapeutics Inc.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
June 4, 2008... Pluristem Therapeutics Inc., of Haifa, Israel, demonstrated the potential of its placental expanded (PLX) cells, which are placental-derived mesenchymal stromal cells that have been expanded in its proprietary PluriX 3D bioreactor, for Crohn's...

Progen Pharmaceuticals Ltd.(Other News To Note)
June 4, 2008... Progen Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Brisbane, Australia, said data showed that compounds in its preclinical cancer epigenetics program functionally inhibited the activity of LSD-1, a new epigenetic cancer target which, if inhibited, may activate...

Santaris Pharma.(Other News To Note)
June 4, 2008... Santaris Pharma, of Copenhagen, Denmark, has begun a Phase I human volunteer trial of SPC3649 (LNA-antimiRTM-122), which it said is the first microRNA medicine to be tested in man. The study will include up to 48 healthy male volunteers. The...

Santen Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, and MacuSight Inc., of Union City, Calif.(Other News To Note)
June 4, 2008... Santen Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, and MacuSight Inc., of Union City, Calif., entered a research and development collaboration and license agreement for the Japanese and Asian development and commercialization of sirolimus in...

TMO Renewables Ltd., of Guildford, UK, and Integrated Genomics Inc., of Chicago, agreed to extend their collaboration on the discovery of cellulosic bioethanol production systems.(Other News To Note)
June 4, 2008... TMO Renewables Ltd., of Guildford, UK, and Integrated Genomics Inc., of Chicago, agreed to extend their collaboration on the discovery of cellulosic bioethanol production systems. The initial targets of the collaboration are two of IG's...

Trophos SA.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
June 4, 2008... Trophos SA, of Marseille, France, reported that its neuroprotective agent TRO19622 demonstrated analgesic activity in preclinical models of painful peripheral neuropathy. Daily oral administration of TRO19622 was found to improve motor nerve...

Astex strikes $500m deal for its FGFR inhibitor.
June 11, 2008... LONDON -- Astex Therapeutics Ltd. sealed a deal worth a potential $500 million, licensing its fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor and agreeing on a drug discovery program around two cancer targets, with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV....

Green tea has potential in treatment of amyloid diseases.
June 11, 2008... LONDON -- A component of green tea can prevent the harmful folding of proteins that occurs in conditions including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. The preventive action of the compound--a polyphenol known...

Sygnis picks up Amnestix for $6m in cash, shares.
June 11, 2008... Sygnis Pharma AG is paying about 4 million [euro] (US$6.3 million) in cash and shares to acquire Amnestix Inc., an early stage spinout from the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), which is developing small-molecule drugs for...

PCI Biotech grosses $11.7m in Oslo IPO.
June 11, 2008... PCI Biotech Holding ASA grossed NOK60 million (US$11.7 million) in an IPO on the Oslo Axess segment of the Oslo Stock Exchange to fund its development as an independent company. PCI recently demerged from its former parent, PhotoCure ASA,...

GMO debate delivers blow to European Biotech assessment.
June 11, 2008... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Biotech companies' concerns over the deteriorating climate for scientific assessment in Europe were intensified by the outcome of a meeting of European Union environment ministers in Luxembourg on June 5. The EU rules...

MolMed's cell therapy in pivotal European trial; U.S. study next.
June 11, 2008... Three months after going public on the Italian markets with a $76 million offering--so far the biotech industry's most successful initial public offering in the depressed 2008 markets--MolMed SpA, of Milan, Italy, is well under way with the...

Vernalis continues restructuring, selling U.S. operations to Ipsen.
June 11, 2008... LONDON -- Vernalis plc sold its U.S. operations and interest in the Parkinson's disease drug Apokyn to Ipsen SA, completing the restructuring prompted in September 2007 when the FDA declined to extend the label for Frovatriptan, a migraine...

Avexa Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, said it is collaborating with TargetDrug Co. Ltd., of Shanghai, China, on its hepatitis C virus program, which is focusing on inhibitors of HCV replication.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... Avexa Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, said it is collaborating with TargetDrug Co. Ltd., of Shanghai, China, on its hepatitis C virus program, which is focusing on inhibitors of HCV replication. Avexa said that the first of its Phase III studies...

Bavarian Nordic A/S, of Kvistgard, Denmark, said it exercised its option to extend the EBx embryonic stem cell line research license signed with Vivalis, of Nantes, France, in 2007.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... * Bavarian Nordic A/S, of Kvistgard, Denmark, said it exercised its option to extend the EBx embryonic stem cell line research license signed with Vivalis, of Nantes, France, in 2007. During the last 12 months, Bavarian Nordic produced positive...

$400m deal for Protez gives Novartis superbug candidate.
June 11, 2008... Protez Pharmaceuticals is being purchased by Novartis AG in a $400 million deal that could shift development of its broad-spectrum antibiotic into high gear. Company shareholders will net $100 million up front and $300 million upon meeting...

Transgene's TG4010 vaccine meets Phase IIb trial endpoint.
June 11, 2008... PARIS -- Transgene SA reported that the Phase IIb trial conducted to test its therapeutic vaccine TG4010 (MVAMUC1-IL2) as an adjunct to first-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) achieved its primary...

Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc, of Keele, UK, signed an agreement with ViroMed Co. Ltd., of Seoul, Korea, to produce VM206RY, a plasmid DNA treatment for tumors expressing Her2/neu, which occurs in breast, ovarian, pancreatic and stomach cancers.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc, of Keele, UK, signed an agreement with ViroMed Co. Ltd., of Seoul, Korea, to produce VM206RY, a plasmid DNA treatment for tumors expressing Her2/neu, which occurs in breast, ovarian, pancreatic and stomach cancers....

Creabilis Therapeutics SpA.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... Creabilis Therapeutics SpA, of Ivrea, Italy, raised a total of 20 million [euro] (US$31.1 million) in a Series A financing. The round was led by Sofinnova Partners, which was joined by NeoMed Management. The funding will be used to finance...

ExonHit Therapeutics.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... ExonHit Therapeutics, of Paris, said Loic Maurel was named its chief operating officer. Maurel previously was president and CEO of Debiovision Inc.

GammaCan International Inc., of Kiryat Ono, Israel, said its subsidiary has entered into a manufacturing agreement with Bio Products Laboratory, of Elstre, UK, to produce the company's lead drug candidate, VitiGam, from plasma derived from vitiligo donors.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... GammaCan International Inc., of Kiryat Ono, Israel, said its subsidiary has entered into a manufacturing agreement with Bio Products Laboratory, of Elstre, UK, to produce the company's lead drug candidate, VitiGam, from plasma derived from...

Graffinity Pharmaceuticals GmbH, of Heidelberg, Germany, entered into a drug discovery collaboration with Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... Graffinity Pharmaceuticals GmbH, of Heidelberg, Germany, entered into a drug discovery collaboration with Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco. Graffinity will provide Rigel with access to its proprietary, fragment-based discovery...

Green Hospital Supply Inc., of Osaka, Japan, and Cytori Therapeutics, of San Diego, have expanded the StemSource Cell Bank commercialization partnership to include Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... Green Hospital Supply Inc., of Osaka, Japan, and Cytori Therapeutics, of San Diego, have expanded the StemSource Cell Bank commercialization partnership to include Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. As with the commercialization agreement for Japan,...

Jiangsu Aosaikang Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Nanjing, China, and Access Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Dallas, have signed of a definitive licensing agreement under which ASK will manufacture, develop and commercialize Access' ProLindac, a DACH platinum prodrug currently in Phase II development as a treatment for solid tumors.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... Jiangsu Aosaikang Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Nanjing, China, and Access Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Dallas, have signed of a definitive licensing agreement under which ASK will manufacture, develop and commercialize Access' ProLindac, a DACH...

Meda AB.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... Meda AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, said the FDA has requested more information on its new drug application concerning azelastine hydrochloride nasal spray in a new formulation. Meda said it will meet with the FDA to clarify what steps need to be...

Proteomika SL, of Zamudio, Spain, said an option agreement with Auguron Biosciences Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., will give Proteomika exclusive access to use Auguron's Nucleic Acid Programmable Protein Array (NAPPA) technology in two autoimmune disease areas.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... Proteomika SL, of Zamudio, Spain, said an option agreement with Auguron Biosciences Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., will give Proteomika exclusive access to use Auguron's Nucleic Acid Programmable Protein Array (NAPPA) technology in two autoimmune...

Rosetta Genomics Ltd.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... Rosetta Genomics Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, said it has entered into a research collaboration with the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Kleberg Center for Molecular Markers to develop a microRNA-based diagnostic test to...

Sartorius Stedim Biotech, of Goettingen, Germany, entered an agreement with WuXi AppTec Inc., a wholly owned operating subsidiary of WuXi PharmaTech, of St. Paul, Minn., to cooperate on viral clearance studies.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... Sartorius Stedim Biotech, of Goettingen, Germany, entered an agreement with WuXi AppTec Inc., a wholly owned operating subsidiary of WuXi PharmaTech, of St. Paul, Minn., to cooperate on viral clearance studies. Under the agreement, WuXi AppTec...

Shimadzu Corp., of Kyoto, Japan, said its Mass Spectrometry Research Laboratory in Kyoto and Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, of Columbia, Md., have entered a collaboration with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to develop new analytical platforms for the detection and analysis of cancer-related proteins and peptides.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... Shimadzu Corp., of Kyoto, Japan, said its Mass Spectrometry Research Laboratory in Kyoto and Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, of Columbia, Md., have entered a collaboration with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to develop new...

SpePharm Holding BV.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
June 11, 2008... * SpePharm Holding BV, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, said Loramyc has been granted approvals in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Finland and Sweden, as well as in Spain under the trade name Sitamic. Loramyc 50...

UCB SA.(Other News To Note)
June 11, 2008... UCB SA, of Brussels, Belgium, said it will submit a variation to the European Medicines Evaluation Agency to implement a full cold-chain storage and distribution system for Neupro (rotigotine transdermal patch) in Europe. In an agreement with...

AmVac, icon genetics team on plant-based influenza vaccine.
June 18, 2008... Swiss vaccine developer AmVac AG is teaming up with Bayer AG subsidiary Icon Genetics GmbH to develop a plant-based production system for making an adjuvanted influenza vaccine. Zug, Switzerland-based AmVac and Halle, Germany-based Icon...

GenFit, genOway getting public support for diabetes program.
June 18, 2008... PARIS -- France's state agency for promoting innovation and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, OSEO, has agreed to provide funding to two biotech companies involved in the IT-Diab (Therapeutic Innovation--Diabetes) program, as well...

Ion Channel could pose new target for antimalarial drugs.
June 18, 2008... LONDON -- Malaria parasites lacking a potassium channel are unable to reproduce sexually in the mosquito, thereby disrupting the insect's ability to pass on the disease, a study by researchers working in Denmark and the U.S. has found. ...

Report: lack of adequate capital puts Biotech innovation at risk.
June 18, 2008... LONDON -- The risk aversion ushered in by the current turmoil in financial markets is having a disproportionate impact on the biotech industry, making funding much more difficult to secure and the terms often uneconomic. Coupled with...

Creabilis names UK industry vet CEO; prepares for phase II.
June 18, 2008... Immediately after raising 20 million [euro] (US$31 million) in Series A funding, Creabilis Therapeutics SpA, a clinical-stage firm focused on dermatology, named UK industry veteran Tony Wilson as CEO. Wilson joined the company from another...

Acacia advances to clinic with lead oncology drug, APD 405.
June 18, 2008... LONDON -- Acacia Pharma Ltd. is poised to start a Phase I trial of its first product a little more than six months after the company was founded to develop a portfolio of supportive care drugs for cancer patients. That is an area of...

Pierre Fabre seeks EMEA nod for milnacipran in fibromyalgia.
June 18, 2008... PARIS -- Pierre Fabre Medicament SA filed a marketing approval application with the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) for milnacipran, a dual-reuptake inhibitor for the treatment of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). The application follows the...

SiRNAsense picks Polyplus's in vivo delivery platform.
June 18, 2008... PARIS -- The Norwegian firm siRNAsense A/S has chosen to use Polyplus-transfection's in vivo-jetPEI delivery system for the systemic delivery of its drug candidate, siRNA-targeting tissue factor, for the treatment of melanoma metastasis. ...

Active Biotech.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... Active Biotech, of Lund, Sweden, completed a new share increase, boosting its total shares from 3.9 million to 51.2 million. Nordstjernan AB and MGA Holding AB subscribed for their preferential parts of the new issue. In addition, Nordstjernan...

Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
June 18, 2008... Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, said it obtained a license from the San Raffaele Telethon Institute For Gene Therapy, or TIGET, of Italy, to use its micro-RNA technology to prevent immune responses against gene...

Axelar AB.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... Axelar AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, said it received financing from the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies and Karolinska Development AB to perform a Phase I/II trial with the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) receptor inhibitor...

Cellectricon AB, of Gothenburg, Sweden, said it signed a collaborative agreement with AstraZeneca plc, of London, to provide it with two of Cellectricon's high-throughput platform Dynaflow HT or ion channel screening.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... Cellectricon AB, of Gothenburg, Sweden, said it signed a collaborative agreement with AstraZeneca plc, of London, to provide it with two of Cellectricon's highthroughput platform Dynaflow HT or ion channel screening. The firm said that the...

Compugen Ltd.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... Compugen Ltd., of Tel Aviv, Israel, said it has discovered more than 10 novel targets of antibody therapy for various types of solid and hematopoietic cancer. The company said the newly identified targets initially were predicted and selected...

Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, and DSM Biologics, of Heerlen, the Netherlands, said their PER.C6 human cell line and XD technology achieved a record yield of more than 27 g per liter of IgG antibodies.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, and DSM Biologics, of Heerlen, the Netherlands, said their PER.C6 human cell line and XD technology achieved a record yield of more than 27 g per liter of IgG antibodies. Scientists showed that they can...

HalcyGen Pharmaceuticals Ltd.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... HalcyGen Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, said a collaborative research agreement with the University of Otago to investigate the antitumor activities of the company's lead product SUBA-Itraconazole confirmed that it is a potent...

Lipoxen plc.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... Lipoxen plc, of London, said it received a grant to work on enhancing the human antibody response to HIV vaccine candidates from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. The objective of the project is to create a formulation of HIV envelope...

Miltenyi Biotec, of Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, has acquired Medic Tools AG, of Zug, Switzerland.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... Miltenyi Biotec, of Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, has acquired Medic Tools AG, of Zug, Switzerland. The companies previously collaborated on creating the gentleMACS Dissociator, which facilitates the generation of single-cell suspensions from...

ModiQuest Research BV, of Nijmegan, the Netherlands, and Pepscan BV, of Lelystad, the Netherlands, started a research collaboration to identify human- and animal-derived "me-too," monoclonal antibodies and monoclonal antibodies against intractable disease targets.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... ModiQuest Research BV, of Nijmegan, the Netherlands, and Pepscan BV, of Lelystad, the Netherlands, started a research collaboration to identify human- and animal-derived "me-too," monoclonal antibodies and monoclonal antibodies against...

Noxxon Pharma AG.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... Noxxon Pharma AG, of Berlin, signed a licensing and drug discovery agreement with Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, regarding the discovery and development of Spiegelmers for migraine. Under the terms of the agreement, Noxxon grants Lilly an...

Nuevolution AS, of Copenhagen, Denmark, entered into a strategic alliance with Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of the Woodlands, Texas, to discover small-molecule lead compounds for highly validated drug targets.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... Nuevolution AS, of Copenhagen, Denmark, entered into a strategic alliance with Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of the Woodlands, Texas, to discover small-molecule lead compounds for highly validated drug targets. Under the terms of the alliance,...

OncoMethylome Sciences, of Liege, Belgium, signed a licensing and testing agreement with Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, in which OncoMethylome will provide MGMT gene promoter methylation testing services for Merck's clinical trial program of cilengitide.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... OncoMethylome Sciences, of Liege, Belgium, signed a licensing and testing agreement with Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, in which OncoMethylome will provide MGMT gene promoter methylation testing services for Merck's clinical trial program...

Peplin Inc., of Brisbane, Australia, said it has acquired Neosil Inc., of Emeryville, Calif., for $6.7 million in an all-stock transaction.(Other News to Note)(Brief article)
June 18, 2008... Peplin Inc., of Brisbane, Australia, said it has acquired Neosil Inc., of Emeryville, Calif., for $6.7 million in an all-stock transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, Peplin will offer approximately 819,000 shares of its common stock in...

Proteome Sciences plc.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... Proteome Sciences plc, of Cobham, UK, said the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a notice of allowance for its application in isobaric mass labeling for its tandem mass tags. That allowance follows grants of the corresponding cases in...

pSivida Ltd.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... pSivida Ltd., of Perth, Australia, said the Federal Court of Australia has approved a plan for the company's reincorporation in the U.S. The company's shares will cease trading on the Australian Stock Exchange at the close of trading today....

Rosetta Genomics Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, signed a binding term sheet to acquire Parkway Clinical Laboratories Inc., a privately held CLIA-certified lab in Bensalem, Pa., for $2.9 million, consisting of $1.9 million, in cash and $1 million of Rosetta's ordinary shares.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... Rosetta Genomics Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, signed a binding term sheet to acquire Parkway Clinical Laboratories Inc., a privately held CLIA-certified lab in Bensalem, Pa., for $2.9 million, consisting of $1.9 million, in cash and $1 million of...

SkyePharma plc, of London, said partner GlaxoSmithKline plc, also of London, received FDA approval for once-daily, non-ergot, oral dopamine agonist Requip XL (ropinirole extended-release tablets) in Parkinson's disease.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... SkyePharma plc, of London, said partner GlaxoSmithKline plc, also of London, received FDA approval for once-daily, non-ergot, oral dopamine agonist Requip XL (ropinirole extended-release tablets) in Parkinson's disease. Skye will receive low to...

Trophos SA.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... Trophos SA, of Marseille, France, appointed Damian Marron CEO to replace Antoine Beret. Marron previously spent six years at NicOx SA, of Sophia-Antipolis, France, ending up as executive vice president of corporate development. Beret, who...

Wacker Biotech GmbH, of Munich, Germany, signed a licensing agreement with XOMA Ltd., of Berkeley, Calif., giving Wacker nonexclusive worldwide rights to use XOMA's bacterial cell expression technology for research and development purposes.(Other News To Note)
June 18, 2008... Wacker Biotech GmbH, of Munich, Germany, signed a licensing agreement with XOMA Ltd., of Berkeley, Calif., giving Wacker nonexclusive worldwide rights to use XOMA's bacterial cell expression technology for research and development purposes....

Max planck society spins out early stage discovery vehicle.
June 25, 2008... Max Planck Innovation GmbH, the technology transfer arm of Germany's Max Planck Society, has spun out a new subsidiary, the Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), to take forward innovative, early stage projects that are as yet unready for...

Hybrid embryos called tool to grasp specialized cells.(BIO 2008)(Conference notes)
June 25, 2008... SAN DIEGO -- Hybrid human/animal embryos generated by scientists at Newcastle University in the UK are proving to be important tools in the hot new field of induced pluripotent stem cells. Lyle Armstrong, senior lecturer, who is leading the...

Inflammation inhibitor indicates new focus for arthritis targets.
June 25, 2008... LONDON -- A new understanding of the distinctive roles of molecules that can both detect bacterial infections and control the development of rheumatoid arthritis could open new therapeutic avenues for arthritis. The molecules are receptors...

U.S. Genome Project leader leaves an 'amazing harvest'.(BIO 2008)
June 25, 2008... SAN DIEGO -- As he prepares to bow out, Francis Collins, leader of the U.S. contribution to the Human Genome Project, gave his assessment of its impact to date and outlined some of the advances it is now spawning, to delegates at the...

ThromboGenics, BioInvent in $775m Roche oncology deal.
June 25, 2008... ThromboGenics NV and BioInvent International AB will share an up-front payment of 50 million [euro] (US$77.5 million), plus up to 450 million [euro] more in milestones, by partnering their jointly developed first-in-class antiangiogenesis...

EU leaders back high-tech response to food crisis.(European Union Roundup)
June 25, 2008... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European Union leaders agree that technology should be harnessed to help solve the emerging food crisis. Despite recent indecision over how to regulate GM crops, they concluded a summit meeting in Brussels on June 20 with a...