BioWorld International articles from May 2008

BioWorld International archives from May 2008

Fountain healthcare closes Ireland's largest VC fund.
May 7, 2008... LONDON -- A group of former Elan Corp. executives has launched Fountain Healthcare Partners and announced the first close of the inaugural fund at 75 million [euro] (US$117 million), the largest life sciences venture capital fund formed to date...

Apogenix gets $43m round to fund apoptosis modulators.
May 7, 2008... Apogenix GmbH raised 27.5 million [euro] (US$42.8 million) in a Series B round to take its pipeline of apoptosis modulators into clinical development in immunology and in cancer. The Heidelberg, Germany-based firm has raised 42.5 Million...

Genetic variant sheds light on blood sugar level controls.
May 7, 2008... LONDON -- Blood glucose levels that are at the high end of normal are due to a genetic variation in an enzyme that plays a role in glucose metabolism, a new study has shown. The finding is important because, on a population level, people...

Sareum Holdings seeks suitors for the cancer, discovery firm.
May 7, 2008... LONDON -- Another of the UK's quoted biotechs, Sareum Holdings plc, has put itself up for sale, citing difficult conditions both in the market for its structure-based drug discovery services, and on the stock markets. To reduce risk, the...

Direvo unveils antibody optimization platform.
May 7, 2008... Direvo Biotech AG unveiled an optimized version of adalimumuab (Humira), which has more than 300 times the binding affinity of the original antibody, as a proof-of-concept demonstration of its new bestMab antibody engineering platform. The...

Europe starts new review of biotech approval rules.
May 7, 2008... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Union will hold its long-deferred review of its biotechnology legislation on May 7. All of the 27 European Commissioners--the entire EU executive--are scheduled to meet at a special breakfast in Brussels to...

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 7, 2008... Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, said the Therapeutic Products Directorate of Health Canada has accepted for review the new drug submission of oral alitretinoin for the treatment of severe refractory chronic hand eczema....

Benitec Ltd.(Other News To Note)
May 7, 2008... Benitec Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, said the City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., has granted it an option to obtain an exclusive worldwide license to a suite of patent rights that underpin its HIV/AIDS lymphoma RNAi therapeutic currently...

Biotecon Diagnostics GmbH, of Potsdam, Germany, and Roche Diagnostics, of Penzberg, Germany, a division of F. Hoffmann La-Roche Ltd., have entered into a licensing agreement concerning Roche's LightCycler system technology.(Other News To Note)
May 7, 2008... Biotecon Diagnostics GmbH, of Potsdam, Germany, and Roche Diagnostics, of Penzberg, Germany, a division of F. Hoffmann La-Roche Ltd., have entered into a licensing agreement concerning Roche's LightCycler system technology. Under the terms of...

Anavex tackles AD focusing on causes, not symptoms.
May 7, 2008... Anavex Life Sciences Corp. is betting that compounds for Alzheimer's disease based on its Sigmaceptor discovery platform will have competitive advantages over products based on the amyloid beta approach, which hypothesizes that plaques in the...

Compugen Ltd.(Other News To Note)
May 7, 2008... Compugen Ltd., of Tel Aviv, Israel, announced the discovery and experimental verification of CGEN-438, a potential blood-based biomarker for lung cancer. CGEN-438 is novel splice variant peptide of delta-like protein 3 precursor (DLL3). The...

Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, signed a nonexclusive STAR research license agreement allowing Toyobo Gene Analysis Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, to evaluate the STAR technology for generating cell lines for the production of recombinant proteins for third-party customers.(Other News To Note)
May 7, 2008... Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, signed a nonexclusive STAR research license agreement allowing Toyobo Gene Analysis Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, to evaluate the STAR technology for generating cell lines for the production of recombinant...

EUSA Pharma Inc., of Oxford, UK, and Doylestown Pa., said it divested its monoclonal antibody research business to French company International Drug Development.(Other News To Note)
May 7, 2008... EUSA Pharma Inc., of Oxford, UK, and Doylestown Pa., said it divested its monoclonal antibody research business to French company International Drug Development. Concurrently, EUSA divested its recombinant L-asparaginase therapeutic research...

Evogene Ltd.(Other News To Note)
May 7, 2008... Evogene Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, said AquaAgro Fund LP, will invest $2 million in the company in a private placement. AquaAgro will acquire 1,107,700 newly issued ordinary shares at a price of NIS6.5 (US$1.86) per share, and will in addition...

Evotec AG, of Hamburg, Germany, has completed its $151.8 million merger with Renovis Inc., of of South San Francisco, with Renovis becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Evotec.(Other News To Note)
May 7, 2008... Evotec AG, of Hamburg, Germany, has completed its $151.8 million merger with Renovis Inc., of of South San Francisco, with Renovis becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Evotec. The trading of the Evotec American Depository Shares began Monday...

Galapagos, of Mechelen, Belgium, is to provide hit-finding services for multiple targets for Allergan Inc., of Irvine, Calif.(Other News To Note)
May 7, 2008... Galapagos, of Mechelen, Belgium, is to provide hit-finding services for multiple targets for Allergan Inc., of Irvine, Calif. The Switzerland-based BioFocus DPI subsidiary of Galapagos will conduct the screening through assay development and...

Ipsen.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 7, 2008... Ipsen, of Paris, said the European Commission has granted marketing authorization for Adenuric (febuxostat) for the treatment of chronic hyperuricemia in gout. Adenuric 80 mg and 120 mg tablets are indicated for the treatment of chronic...

ProBioGen AG, of Berlin, signed a production deal with Ingelheim, Germany-based Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH under which it will integrate some of BI's technologies to accommodate a seamless process and technology transfer from pilot and median-scale to commercial-scale production capacities.(Other News To Note)
May 7, 2008... ProBioGen AG, of Berlin, signed a production deal with Ingelheim, Germany-based Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH under which it will integrate some of BI's technologies to accommodate a seamless process and technology transfer from pilot and...

Scil Technology GmbH, of Martinsried, Germany, and Medtronic Inc., of Memphis, Tenn., signed a development, licensing and supply agreement for joint development of Scil's biologic dental regenerative materials for use in dental implant bone restoration and treatment of periodontal disease.(Other News To Note)
May 7, 2008... Scil Technology GmbH, of Martinsried, Germany, and Medtronic Inc., of Memphis, Tenn., signed a development, licensing and supply agreement for joint development of Scil's biologic dental regenerative materials for use in dental implant bone...

SkyePharma plc.(Other News To Note)
May 7, 2008... SkyePharma plc, of London, said its Phase III efficacy study of Flutiform for the treatment of asthma in adolescent and adult patients met its primary endpoints. In a top-line analysis of key results, the levels of improvement in FEV (forced...

Summit Corp. plc.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 7, 2008... Summit Corp. plc, of Oxford, UK, reported positive data from its preclinical development program targeting Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DMD), showing that SMT C1100 significantly increased the strength of muscles when compared to no treatment...

Intercell acquiring Iomai for $189m in cash, shares.
May 14, 2008... In a move that will add two Phase II development programs to its pipeline, Intercell AG entered an agreement to acquire Gaithersburg, Md.-based Iomai Corp. in a cash-and-shares deal valued, on a fully diluted basis, at approximately $189...

Long-term UK bio investor prelude trust calling it quits.
May 14, 2008... LONDON -- One of the UK's longest-standing investors in early stage biotech companies, Prelude Trust plc, is throwing in the towel in the face of its falling asset value, inability to raise new funds and dearth of exits. The firm is to...

Compounds with promise offer hope of new cancer therapies.
May 14, 2008... LONDON -- Scientists working in Scotland have discovered an exciting class of compounds that has the potential to lead to novel drugs to treat cancer. The compounds, which are active in mammalian cells in minute amounts, work by inhibiting...

Pharmexa shares plummet on Phase III trial failure.(Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Halted)
May 14, 2008... Pharmexa A/S lost around a quarter of its market capitalization Tuesday on news that the company stopped recruitment in a Phase III clinical trial of its therapeutic vaccine for pancreatic cancer, GV1001, following an interim analysis that...

Gene therapy finding a role, conference attendees told.(Eastern Region Biotech Initiative BioPartnering Exchange)
May 14, 2008... CAMBRIDGE, UK -- After the early days of overhyping, followed by problems that similarly were overexaggerated, there is now an acceptance that gene therapy will deliver safe and effective therapies. "We are now getting a more balanced view,...

Affitech AS, of Oslo, Norway, said preclinical studies demonstrated that PGN635, a fully human antibody developed through a collaboration with Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, of Tustin, Calif., exhibits antitumor efficacy by targeting phosphatidylserine (PS).(Other News To Note)
May 14, 2008... Affitech AS, of Oslo, Norway, said preclinical studies demonstrated that PGN635, a fully human antibody developed through a collaboration with Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, of Tustin, Calif., exhibits antitumor efficacy by targeting...

Commission GMO debate achieves no resolution.
May 14, 2008... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The long-awaited review of European Union biotechnology legislation turned out to be something of a damp squib. The European Commission spent more than an hour discussing its regulations on genetically modified organisms....

Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd.(Other News To Note)
May 14, 2008... Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd., of Staines, UK, said the European Medicines Agency has granted marketing authorization of Mycamine for use in Europe to treat serious fungal infections--invasive candidiasis, oesophageal candidiasis and prophylaxis...

Cytopia Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, entered a cancer drug discovery and development collaboration with Cancer Therapeutics CRC Pty Ltd., of Bundoora, Victoria, Australia, leveraging Cytopia's early stage drug discovery pipeline of kinase inhibitors.(Other News To Note)
May 14, 2008... Cytopia Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, entered a cancer drug discovery and development collaboration with Cancer Therapeutics CRC Pty Ltd., of Bundoora, Victoria, Australia, leveraging Cytopia's early stage drug discovery pipeline of kinase...

NicOx antihypertensive taken into Phase I trial by Merck.
May 14, 2008... PARIS -- Merck & Co., Inc. initiated the first in a series of planned clinical trials of a new nitric oxide-donating anti-hypertensive agent developed by NicOx SA, under the terms of the collaboration agreement the two companies signed in March...

e-Therapeutics plc.(Other News To Note)
May 14, 2008... e-Therapeutics plc, of Newcastle, UK, launched a consultancy service offering its in silico technology to analyze drug compounds for efficacy and toxicity. The company claimed its system can predict the holistic effects of compounds within the...

EUSA Pharma Inc., of Oxford, UK, completed its acquisition of Princeton, N.J.-based Cytogen Corp., following the approval of Cytogen's shareholders at a special meeting.(Other News To Note)
May 14, 2008... EUSA Pharma Inc., of Oxford, UK, completed its acquisition of Princeton, N.J.-based Cytogen Corp., following the approval of Cytogen's shareholders at a special meeting. Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Cytogen shareholders will...

Isogenica Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, has acquired the principal assets of the Karyon CTT Ltd., of Helsinki, Finland, as well as a 2 million [pounds sterling] (US$3.95 million) cash investment.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 14, 2008... Isogenica Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, has acquired the principal assets of the Karyon CTT Ltd., of Helsinki, Finland, as well as a 2 million [pounds sterling] (US$3.95 million) cash investment. Under the terms of the acquisition agreement,...

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, and SomaLogic Inc., of Boulder, Colo., entered into a collaboration for Otsuka to use SomaLogic's proprietary aptamer technology to discover and develop novel diagnostic products and to design research tools.(Other News To Note)
May 14, 2008... Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, and SomaLogic Inc., of Boulder, Colo., entered into a collaboration for Otsuka to use SomaLogic's proprietary aptamer technology to discover and develop novel diagnostic products and to design research...

PDC Biotech GmbH, of Vienna, Austria, and Theratechnologies, of Montreal, entered into an exclusive license agreement for Theratechnologies' family of antagonists of the prostaglandin F2 alpha receptor for use in preterm labor and primary dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation).(Other News To Note)
May 14, 2008... PDC Biotech GmbH, of Vienna, Austria, and Theratechnologies, of Montreal, entered into an exclusive license agreement for Theratechnologies' family of antagonists of the prostaglandin F2 alpha receptor for use in preterm labor and primary...

Prana Biotechnology Ltd.(Other News To Note)
May 14, 2008... Prana Biotechnology Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, has identified novel therapeutic drug candidates from its Parkinson's disease program. Prana's drug candidates are being tested on two widely used mouse models for Parkinson's disease, which...

Evolva's U.S. subsidiary gets $23m Army contract.
May 21, 2008... Genetic Chemistry Inc., a Bay Area subsidiary of Evolva SA, secured a contract worth up to $22.8 million from the U.S. Army Research Office to discover and develop novel compounds that act against the Gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia...

Allergy Therapeutics succeeds in 'Bermuda Triangle' field.
May 21, 2008... LONDON -- Allergy Therapeutics plc has cast some much needed light in the testing field of allergy vaccines, reporting statistically significant results in the Phase III trial of Pollinex Quattro, a short course of injections against grass...

Mutagenesis approach lands big catch of leukemia genes.
May 21, 2008... LONDON -- A huge trawl for genes that play a role in triggering cancer has netted more than 250 that are involved in the development of leukemia. The study also made it possible to identify genes that collaborate to cause cancer, and...

Antisoma boosts pipeline with $52m Xanthus buy: also lands $41m funding.
May 21, 2008... LONDON -- Antisoma plc will take over privately held oncology specialist Xanthus Pharmaceuticals Inc. in an all-paper deal valued at $52.2 million, and simultaneously has raised 21 million [pounds sterling] (US$41 million) in a placement to...

Biovitrum slims down R&D, shifts to specialist indications.
May 21, 2008... Biovitrum AB has completed a restructuring of its R&D organization, following a major review process that was initiated late last year as part of a strategy shift within the company to focus on specialist indications. The review involved...

European parliament ponders its biobanking resources.(Report)(Brief article)
May 21, 2008... BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Continued progress in medical and health research depends critically on the availability of large sets of good quality samples linked to accurate, up-to-date clinical, biological and molecular information, noted Paul Rubig,...

Trophos launches Phase II trial of TRO19622 in liver disease.
May 21, 2008... PARIS -- Trophos, which is specialized in the discovery and development of drugs for neurological disorders, launched a Phase IIa trial of its lead compound, TRO19622, in the indication of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. The Marseille,...

Affimed Therapeutics AG.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 21, 2008... Affimed Therapeutics AG, of Heidelberg, Germany, said collaboration with Stefan Weiss, with the Institute of Biochemistry of the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, has validated a target for cancer metastases amenable to the development of...

Ark Therapeutics Group plc.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 21, 2008... Ark Therapeutics Group plc, of London, updated its preclinical program EG013 and EG014. EG013 is a VEGF-based treatment under development for fetal growth restriction, an often terminal condition where insufficient blood supply via the placenta...

Arpida Ltd.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 21, 2008... Arpida Ltd., of Reinach, Switzerland, said the FDA has accepted its new drug application for intravenous iclaprim for complicated skin and skin structure infections. Arpida completed the submission in March, and the FDA has set a Prescription...

Benitec Ltd.(Other News To Note)
May 21, 2008... Benitec Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, raised $5.1 million through a fully underwritten nonrenounceable rights issue. Shareholders will be offered one share at 10 cents and a free option for every 5.7 shares held at a later date. The funds to...

Cancer Research UK, of London, signed a deal with AstraZeneca plc, also of London, to take one of the pharma company's cancer products into clinical development.(Other News To Note)
May 21, 2008... Cancer Research UK, of London, signed a deal with AstraZeneca plc, also of London, to take one of the pharma company's cancer products into clinical development. AZD0424, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor is the first drug to enter the charity's...

Cerenis Therapeutics SA.(Other News To Note)
May 21, 2008... Cerenis Therapeutics SA, of Toulouse, France, reported that a Phase I trial of CER-002, a specific PPAR (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor) delta agonist it is developing for cardiovascular diseases, showed that it was well tolerated...

China Biologic Products Inc.(Other News To Note)
May 21, 2008... China Biologic Products Inc., of Taian City, China, appointed Chao Ming Zhao, former chief financial officer, as the new CEO, replacing Stanley Wong, who will remain as a consultant. Y. Tristan Kuo, vice president of finance, has been named...

Debiopharm Group.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 21, 2008... Debiopharm Group, of Lausanne, Switzerland, has signed a license agreement with an unnamed long-term European pharmaceutical partner for the marketing of Salvacyl/Moapar three-month formulation. The gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist...

Flamel Technologies SA.(Other News To Note)
May 21, 2008... Flamel Technologies SA, of Lyon, France, disclosed that it entered into an agreement for the development of Trigger-Lock enabled therapies with an unnamed pain management company. It made the disclosure when reporting its first-quarter...

Fountain Healthcare Partners.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 21, 2008... Fountain Healthcare Partners, of Dublin, Ireland, a venture capital fund valued at more than $116 million, has been launched to help start-up companies in four fields: biotechnology, specialty pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and medical devices....

Galapagos.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 21, 2008... Galapagos, of Mechelen, Belgium, has entered into a drug discovery research agreement with University College London, under which Galapagos' BioFocus DPI service division will perform medicinal chemistry services for a UCL research project....

Mymetics Corp., of Nyon, Switzerland, acquired a preventive malaria vaccine from Pevion Biotech AG, of Bern, Switzerland.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 21, 2008... Mymetics Corp., of Nyon, Switzerland, acquired a preventive malaria vaccine from Pevion Biotech AG, of Bern, Switzerland. The Pevion vaccine successfully completed Phases I and II trials in Switzerland and in the UK with two of the four...

Norgine BV, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Raleigh, N.C., have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in New Jersey against Novel Laboratories Inc., of Somerset, N.J., charging infringement of Norgine's patent protecting MOVIPREP (PEG 3350, sodium sulfate, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium ascorbate and ascorbic acid for oral solution).(Other News To Note)
May 21, 2008... Norgine BV, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Raleigh, N.C., have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in New Jersey against Novel Laboratories Inc., of Somerset, N.J., charging infringement of Norgine's...

Novozymes Biopharma UK Ltd., of Nottingham, UK, has granted nonexclusive licenses for albufuse, its proprietary albumin fusion technology, and its yeast-based expression platform to Dyax Corp., of Cambridge, Mass.(Other News To Note)
May 21, 2008... Novozymes Biopharma UK Ltd., of Nottingham, UK, has granted nonexclusive licenses for albufuse, its proprietary albumin fusion technology, and its yeast-based expression platform to Dyax Corp., of Cambridge, Mass. Under the agreement, Dyax has...

OncoMethylome Sciences, of Liege, Belgium, has launched in the U.S. an assay for prostate cancer through Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings.(Other News To Note)
May 21, 2008... OncoMethylome Sciences, of Liege, Belgium, has launched in the U.S. an assay for prostate cancer through Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings. The test, which includes the detection of the methylation of the GST-Pi gene in tissue, is the first...

Pharmaxis Ltd.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 21, 2008... Pharmaxis Ltd., of Sydney, Australia, has received approval to market Aridol in Germany. The inflammation test is a dry powder administered to patients' lungs via a small handheld inhaler. Doctors can use the results of the test to identify...

Qiagen NV, of Venlo, the Netherlands, and Geneart AG, of Regensburg, Germany, are collaborating to develop, produce and commercialize a product line for the enhanced production of all 35,000 human proteins.(Other News To Note)
May 21, 2008... Qiagen NV, of Venlo, the Netherlands, and Geneart AG, of Regensburg, Germany, are collaborating to develop, produce and commercialize a product line for the enhanced production of all 35,000 human proteins. QIAgenes, a comprehensive set of...

Rosetta Genomics Ltd.(Other News To Note)
May 21, 2008... Rosetta Genomics Ltd., of Rehovot, Israel, reported it developed a potent and highly accurate microRNA-based algorithm for identifying tissue origin of tumors through microRNA-based diagnostics. MicroRNA expression profiles were measured in 205...

Santaris Pharma A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, said the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation awarded a program grant of DKK45 million (US$9 million) for the development of a high-throughput drug discovery platform for RNA medicines.(Other News To Note)
May 21, 2008... Santaris Pharma A/S, of Copenhagen, Denmark, said the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation awarded a program grant of DKK45 million (US$9 million) for the development of a high-throughput drug discovery platform for RNA medicines....

S*BIO Pte Ltd.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 21, 2008... S*BIO Pte Ltd., of Singapore, said the FDA has granted orphan drug designation to SB1518, its orally active JAK2 inhibitor for the treatment of myeloproliferative disorder. SB1518 has the potential to interfere with a key mechanism driving the...

Sosei Group Corp.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 21, 2008... Sosei Group Corp., of Tokyo, said it completed a strategic review and decided to cut costs and streamline its operations by closing its Chesterford, UK-based operation and relocate its business to London. That will reduce UK headcount by 40...

EU biosimilar debate moves to use in clinical practice.
May 28, 2008... LONDON -- With the first generic biologics reaching the market in Europe, the focus has shifted from arguments about how to approve them, to how the products should be used in clinical practice. Rather than biogenerics, the European...

Daiichi Sankyo paying $235m for U3's oncology pipeline.
May 28, 2008... Challenging the widely held notion that the traditional venture capital model is broken, U3 Pharma AG showed how it can work by inking a takeover deal valued at 150 million [euro] (US$235 million) with Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. "At least...

New target raises hopes for future cancer vaccines.
May 28, 2008... LONDON -- The discovery of a specific marker for a type of dendritic cell could herald the eventual development of new vaccines to protect against infections as diverse as HIV and malaria, and to treat cancers. A marker of this kind has...

Amsterdam molecular signs CRADA for gene therapy.
May 28, 2008... Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (AMT) Holding NV gained access to a large-scale gene therapy production platform by entering a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at...

BioAlliance buys rights to NovaDel's Ondansetron.
May 28, 2008... PARIS -- BioAlliance Pharma SA acquired the European commercial rights to Ondansetron oral spray (OS) from NovaDel Pharma Inc., which is co-developing the formulation of ondansetron in conjunction with Strativa Pharmaceuticals. Under the...

Archimedes Development Ltd., of Nottingham, UK, and Ploughshare Innovations, of Porton Down, UK, announced the licensing by Archimedes of a portfolio of patents relating to the use of chitosan for drug delivery.(Other News To Note)
May 28, 2008... Archimedes Development Ltd., of Nottingham, UK, and Ploughshare Innovations, of Porton Down, UK, announced the licensing by Archimedes of a portfolio of patents relating to the use of chitosan for drug delivery. Commercial terms were not...

Benitec Ltd.(Other News To Note)
May 28, 2008... Benitec Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, said its directors decided to suspend the planned nonrenounceable rights issue announced earlier this month, for which the firm planned to raise $5.1 million. The company said the underwriter wants to...

Compugen Ltd.(Other News To Note)
May 28, 2008... Compugen Ltd., of Tel Aviv, Israel, presented experimental results for three Compugen-discovered Relaxin-related molecules that could have therapeutic activity in various indications, including labor complications, infertility, inflammation,...

Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, has entered into a nonexclusive STAR research license agreement with Bioceros BV, of Utrecht, the Netherlands.(Other News To Note)
May 28, 2008... Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, has entered into a nonexclusive STAR research license agreement with Bioceros BV, of Utrecht, the Netherlands. The agreement covers the production of monoclonal antibodies. Financial details of the...

Myriad gets $100m up front in European deal for Flurizan.
May 28, 2008... As its Flurizan product nears what could be a multi-billion dollar market in Alzheimer's disease, Myriad Genetics Inc. launched its global strategy by signing a commercialization deal in Europe with J. Lundbeck AS for $100 million up front with...

GlycoVaxyn AG.(Other News To Note)
May 28, 2008... GlycoVaxyn AG, of Zurich-Schlieren, Switzerland, named Philippe Dro as CEO and a member of the supervisory board. Dro previously was with several biotech and medtech companies.

ImmuPharma plc.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 28, 2008... ImmuPharma plc, of London, released new preclinical data on IPP-204106, an anticancer nucleolin antagonist (Nucant) peptide, confirming its ability to stop the growth of a large panel of human cancer cell lines both in vitro and in vivo. The...

Mutabilis.(Other News To Note)
May 28, 2008... Mutabilis, of Romainville, France, appointed Stefan Fischer as CEO in place of Sonia Escaich, a co-founder of the company who is staying on as chief scientific officer. Fischer was previously CEO of the British companies Capsant and Lorantis,...

Phytopharm plc.(Other News To Note)
May 28, 2008... Phytopharm plc, of Godmanchester, UK, said the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products awarded orphan drug status to Myogane, an orally active neurotrophic factor inducer as a treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The...

ProStrakan Group plc, of Lalshiels, Scotland, granted an exclusive license to partner JapanBridge K.K., of Tokyo, to develop and commercialize Sancuso (granisetron transdermal delivery system) in Japan, China and several other nations throughout Southeast Asia.(Other News To Note)
May 28, 2008... ProStrakan Group plc, of Lalshiels, Scotland, granted an exclusive license to partner JapanBridge K.K., of Tokyo, to develop and commercialize Sancuso (granisetron transdermal delivery system) in Japan, China and several other nations...

Replikun Biotech, of Brisbane, Australia, completed an exclusive license agreement with UniQuest Pty. Ltd., of Queensland, Australia, to commercialize a new West Nile virus vaccine technology.(Other News To Note)
May 28, 2008... Replikun Biotech, of Brisbane, Australia, completed an exclusive license agreement with UniQuest Pty. Ltd., of Queensland, Australia, to commercialize a new West Nile virus vaccine technology. The licensed technology comprises a developmental...

Speedel Holding Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, said it believes royalties from partner Novartis AG, also of Basel, Switzerland, on sales of Tekturna HCT are lower than expected, and the two companies are in discussions to resolve that disagreement.(Other News To Note)
May 28, 2008... Speedel Holding Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland, said it believes royalties from partner Novartis AG, also of Basel, Switzerland, on sales of Tekturna HCT are lower than expected, and the two companies are in discussions to resolve that...

Synairgen plc.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 28, 2008... Synairgen plc, of Southampton, UK, presented data generated from its human in vitro models, demonstrating that its epithelial-selective peptide, SNG-3 improved barrier function in asthmatic cells and furthermore protected against reductions in...

ThromboGenics NV.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)
May 28, 2008... ThromboGenics NV, of Leuven, Belgium, presented the six-month follow-up results from its Phase IIa MIVI IIT trial at the Euretina Congress in Vienna, Austria. The trial, which delivered positive clinical results in a number of the treated...