NEWS: FEBRUARY 2004

-2/27/2004-

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. goes IPO. To read article click here.

Novartis AG cancels collaboration with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. for the further development of experimental rheumatoid arthritis drug IL-1 Trap. To read article click here.

-2/26/2004-

Press Release: New data published in the journal Transfusion (Roback JD, Barclay S, Hillyer CD. Transfusion 2004;44:187-196) shows that the Guava PCA and PCA-96 cell analysis systems can perform blood typing and compatibility testing with great accuracy and sensitivity in the research setting. To read press release click here.

Press Release: Strategic Analysis of the World Combinatorial Chemistry Markets. To read press release click here.

Pharmacopeia Inc. changes its Nasdaq trading symbol to "ACCL." To read article click here. Pharmacopeia Inc. provides services for drug discovery R&D. For a review of Pharmacopeia's services here at CombiChem Lab click here.

Genzyme Corp. to acquire Ilex Oncology Inc. for $1 billion in stock. To read article click here.

FDA approves Genentech Inc.'s Avastin for colon cancer treatment. To read article click here.

Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. acquires Wyeth's rights to Indiplon for the treatment of insomnia. To read article click here.

Decode Genetics and Merck & Co. Inc. sign seven-year partnership. To read article click here.

Seattle Genetics Inc.'s SGN-30 receives orphan drug status for T-cell lymphomas. To read article click here.

Lynx Therapeutics Inc. and SAIC-Frederick Inc. form collaboration to build a reference transcriptome database. To read article click here.

-2/25/2004-

Press Release: Tecan (Europe) has announced the introduction of Safire2, a fully modular monochromator-based microplate detection system that offers a range of high-speed fluorescence techniques. To read press release click here. Tecan provides the ChemSystem workstation and the TECAN MiniPrep systems for combinatorial chemistry and drug discovery. To read a review of TECAN's systems here at CombiChem Lab click here.

Amgen opens state-of-the-art biotechnology research campus. To read article click here.

Exegenics Inc.'s CEO resigns. To read article click here.

CuraGen Corp.'s oral mucositis drug CG53135 receives orphan drug status. To read article click here.

-2/24/2004-

Press Release: Guava Technologies Inc. and Amersham Biosciences, the life sciences business of Amersham, have signed an exclusive three-year distribution agreement covering the territory of Japan for Guava Personal Cell Analysis (PCA) systems, reagents and software modules. To read press release click here.

Biopure Corp.'s CEO resigns. To read article click here.

Abbott Laboratories sings manufacturing agreement with Seattle Genetics Inc. To read article click here.

-2/23/2004-

Researchers at Exelixis Inc. publish in the journal Nature Genetics the most complete functional genetic toolkit for studying a multicellular organism. To read article click here.

Serono and InDex Pharmaceuticals AB sign agreement to commercialize InDex' Kappaproct® for ulcerative colitis treatment. To read article click here.

Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. initates Phase II clinical trial for neuroimmunophilin ligand GPI 1485. To read article click here.

-2/20/2004-

Press Release: Genevac has extended the sampling functionality of its top selling centrifugal evaporator - the EZ-2 - enabling it to provide a productivity enhancing solution for even more solvent removal applications in chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech laboratories. To read press release click here. Genevac Ltd. provides high-throughput centrifugal evaporation systems for combinatorial chemistry, high-throughput screening (HTS) and drug discovery. To read a review of Genevac's systems here at CombiChem Lab click here.

Press Release: Genetix Ltd. has announced a new 48-page catalogue detailing its comprehensive range of innovative reagents and consumables for applications in genomics, proteomics, liquid handling and cell biology. To read press release click here.

Press Release: Available from Porvair Sciences, specialists in application specific microplate technology, the p3 represents a major advance in protein precipitation technology. To read press release click here.

Press Release: Metabolon Inc., a pioneer in the area of metabolomics research, has announced that it has decided to adopt the CoulArrayTM technology from ESA as an important component in the company's efforts to identify and monitor small molecule cellular biomarkers of disease and disease treatment. To read press release click here.

Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH renews agreement to access Gene Logic Inc.'s information services. To read article click here.

-2/19/2004-

Exelixis Inc. files investigational new drug (IND) application for tyrosine kinase inhibitor XL647. To read article click here.

King Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s CEO to retire. To read article click here.

Pfizer Inc. to discontinue further development of anti-infective DK-507k. To read article click here.

-2/18/2004-

Discovery Partners International Inc. and Pfizer Inc. sign multi-year research collaboration. To read article click here. PII has 2 subsidiaries, ChemRx and IRORI, to provide support to drug discovery. ChemRx offers a diverse set of services for combinatorial chemistry and drug discovery. For a review of ChemRx's services here at CombiChem Lab click here. IRORI offers its radio-frequency tagged product line for combinatorial chemistry. For a review on IRORI's Accutag system here at CombiChem Lab click here.

Biogen Idec and Elan Corp. to file for US approval of Antegren for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. To read article click here.

Compugen Ltd. and Abbott Laboratories extend research collaboration. To read article click here.

-2/17/2004-

Press Release: Manufactured from only the highest-grade polypropylene the new Genetix range of Deep Well Storage Plates are the ideal choice for compound storage, high-throughput screening and cell culture applications. To read press release click here.

Press Release: Exhibiting at the recent LabAutomation 2004 meeting in San Jose, CA (USA), Porvair Sciences - a leading supplier of applications focused microplate technology, presented its latest innovative products for laboratory automation. To read press release click here.

Press Release: Available from ESA is a new technical paper discussing how coulometric electrochemical (EC) array detection is providing major bioanalytical advances in the fields of metabolomics and metabolic profiling. To read press release click here.

Aventis SA rejects $58.88 billion hostile bid from Sanofi-Synthelabo. To read article click here.

Aventis and Intercell form bacterial vaccine collaboration. To read article click here.

Biopure Corporation charged with securities fraud. To read article click here.

-2/16/2004-

No news today. US holiday.

-2/13/2004-

Aventis to appeal AMF's approval for Sanofi-Synthelabo takeover bid. To read article click here.

Genelabs Technologies CEO to retire. To read article click here.

Roche completes the acquisition of IGEN International Inc. To read article click here.

-2/12/2004-

Press Release: INTEGRA Biosciences, a specialist supplier of innovative products for microbiology and cell culture laboratories, has announced strong end of year sales of over Euro 5 million. To read press release click here.

FDA approves ImClone Systems Inc.'s Erbitux™ (Cetuximab) for advanced colorectal cancer trearment. To read article click here.

ImClone Systems Inc. names Daniel Lynch CEO. To read article click here.

Vivus Inc. acquires U.S. rights to experimental female sex drug. To read article click here.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals Int. to acquire Amarin Pharmaceuticals Inc. To read article click here.

Tularik Inc. initiates Phase I clinical trials of T71 for obesity treatment. To read article click here.

Lexicon Genetics Inc. receives U.S. Patent 6,689,610 entitled "Cells and non-human organisms containing predetermined genomic modifications and positive-negative selection methods and vectors for making same." To read article click here.

Researchers at Maxim Pharmaceuticals publish in the journal Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry manuscript entitled "Discovery, Characterization and SAR of Gambogic Acid as A Potent Apoptosis Inducer by a HTS Assay." To read article click here.

Corgentech Inc. goes IPO. To read article click here.

-2/11/2004-

Press Release: Available from Radleys Discovery Technologies (RDT) the Carousel 6 Place reaction station is a simple, convenient way for chemists to increase the productivity of their chemistry for larger scale synthesis, including process development and the synthesis of intermediates and building blocks. To read press release click here. Radleys has a line of workstations and also offers the Lollipop Phase Separator for the removal of aqueous layers for parallel synthesis, combinatorial chemistry and drug discovery. To read a review of Radleys' systems and the Lollipop Phase Separator here at CombiChem Lab click here and here, respectively.

The Strategic Research Institute (SRI) will host the "2nd Annual siRNA in Drug Discovery & Development" conference on April 19-21, 2004, in San Diego, CA. To read article click here. SRI promotes and hosts a broad range of scientific oriented conferences. For more information on SRI here at CombiChem Lab click here.

Fisher Scientific International Inc. to acquire RNAi-based company Dharmacon Inc. To read article click here.

Acusphere Inc. receives U.S. Patent 6,689,390 entitled "Matrices Formed of Polymer and Hydrophobic Compounds for Use in Drug Delivery." To read article click here.

Affymetrix Inc. and the Translational Genomics Research Institute form collaboration based on Affymetrix's GeneChip® DNA analysis technology. To read article click here.

Applied Molecular Evolution Inc. gives the OK to the proposed $400 million acquisition by Eli Lilly & Co. To read article click here.

FDA grants fast-track status to Neurochem Inc.'s Fibrillex™ for the treatment of secondary amyloid A amyloidosis. To read article click here.

Evotec OAI AG and Toray Industries Inc. from drug discovery collaboration. To read article click here.

Wyeth in-licenses Cambridge Antibody Technology's proprietary antibody phage display libraries. To read article click here.

Alteon Inc. to initiate Phase II clinical trials of its drug canditate ALT-711 for systolic hypertension and heart failure. To read article click here.

Ceregene Inc. receives U.S. Patent 6,683,058 entitled "Methods for therapy of neurodegenerative disease of the brain." To read article click here.

Predix Pharmaceuticals Inc. initiates Phase I clinical trials of PRX-00023, the first drug candidate discovered using in silico GPCR models. To read article click here.

-2/10/2004-

Accelrys Inc. releases Insight II® and Catalyst® for Linux. To read article click here. Accelrys Inc. provides software packages for molecular modeling, drug discovery, life science, material science, combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening. For a review of Accelrys Inc.'s software here at CombiChem Lab click here.

ChemBridge Research Laboratories LLC and Merck KGaA complete successfully first research collaboration. To read article click here. ChemBridge offers compound libaries and services in combinatorial chemistry and drug discovery. For a review of ChemBridge's chemicals here at CombiChem Lab click here.

Invitrogen Corp. completes the acquisition of BioReliance Corp. To read article click here.

Lorus Therapeutics Inc. to initiate Phase I clinical trials of its antisense drug GTI-2040. To read article click here.

Aventis licenses Ingenuity's Ingenuity Pathways Analysis as well as Ingenuity Pathways Knowledge Base. To read article click here.

-2/09/2004-

Panacos Pharmaceuticals Inc. to initiate Phase I clinical trials of its HIV maturation inhibitor lead compound PA-457. To read article click here.

Connetics Corporation to acquire U.S. rights to Roche's Soriatane® (acitretin) for severe psoriasis treatment. To read article click here.

Artemis Pharmaceuticals GmbH and Aventis Pharma R&D form research collaboration on mouse genetics. To read article click here.

-2/06/2004-

Press Release: Available from Genevac is a 32-page catalogue providing a background to centrifugal evaporation technology and their range of systems for drug discovery, medicinal chemistry and life science research applications. To read press release click here. Genevac Ltd. provides high-throughput centrifugal evaporation systems for combinatorial chemistry, high-throughput screening (HTS) and drug discovery. To read a review of Genevac's systems here at CombiChem Lab click here.

Press Release: SciTegic holds 3rd annual Pipeline Pilot™ user group meeting. To read press release click here.

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc. completes the acquisition of ACCESS Oncology Inc. To read article click here.

-2/05/2004-

Pharmacopeia Inc. to close some New Jersey facilities. To read article click here. Pharmacopeia Inc. provides services for drug discovery R&D. For a review of Pharmacopeia's services here at CombiChem Lab click here.

FDA grants orphan drug status to BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s purine nucleoside phosphorylase inhibitor BCX-1777. To read article click here.

Renovis Inc. goes IPO. To read article click here.

Celltech and Biogen Idec form autoimmune disease research collaboration. To read article click here.

ComChem Technologies changes name to Semafore Pharmaceuticals Inc. To read article click here.

-2/04/2004-

Press Release: Boehringer Ingelheim enters into multi-target drug discovery collaboration with Morphochem. To read press release click here.

Discovery Partners International Inc. (DPII) and Celltech from drug discovery collaboration. To read article click here. DPII has 2 subsidiaries, ChemRx and IRORI, to provide support to drug discovery. ChemRx offers a diverse set of services for combinatorial chemistry and drug discovery. For a review of ChemRx's services here at CombiChem Lab click here. IRORI offers its radio-frequency tagged product line for combinatorial chemistry. For a review on IRORI's Accutag system here at CombiChem Lab click here.

Pharmacopeia Inc. and Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. form small molecule research collaboration. To read article click here. Pharmacopeia Inc. provides services for drug discovery R&D. For a review of Pharmacopeia's services here at CombiChem Lab click here.

Aventis SA to fight AMF market regulator decision to accept Sanofi-Synthelabo SA's hostile takeover bid. To read article click here.

Eyetech Pharmaceuticals Inc. goes IPO. To read article click here.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Novartis amend their kinakes targeted drug discovery collaboration. To read article click here.

-2/03/2004-

Press Release: Available from Tecan (Europe) the HS 4800 hybridisation station is a fully automated microarray processing system that offers high reproducibility, flexibility and outstanding performance. To read press release click here. Tecan provides the ChemSystem workstation and the TECAN MiniPrep systems for combinatorial chemistry and drug discovery. To read a review of TECAN's systems here at CombiChem Lab click here.

Repligen Corporation receives U.S. patent 6,685,941 entitled "Methods of Treating Autoimmune Disease via CTLA4-Ig." To read article click here.

Pharmacopeia Inc. and ALTANA Pharma AG form research collaboration. To read article click here. Pharmacopeia Inc. provides services for drug discovery R&D. For a review of Pharmacopeia's services here at CombiChem Lab click here.

Integrated BioPharma Inc. and Purdue University form research collabortion around the metabolism of selenium in plants to prevent cancer prevention. To read article click here.

-2/02/2004-

Press Release: ASINEX and Proteom Announce Successful BioScreening Project. To read press release click here. ASINEX offers a large collection of highly pure and diverse small organic compounds for CombiChem and HTS as well as its services for chemistry and drug discovery. For a review of ASINEX's compound collections and services here at CombiChem Lab click here.

Incyte Corporation to close research facilities and headquarters in Palo Alto, California, laying off 257 employees. To read article click here.

Biosite Incorporated and Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. form drug discovery research collaboration. To read article click here.

Genencor International initiates Phase I clinical trials to treat hepatitis B. To read article click here.