NEWS: SEPTEMBER 2004

-9/30/2004-

Merck & Co Inc. pulls arthritis drug Vioxx off the market after a study shows the drug doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke. To read article click here.

Merck & Co. Inc. and NitroMed Inc. stop Phase II trials of rofecoxib derivative lead candidate in nitric oxide-enhancing COX-2 inhibitors. To read article click here.

ProteoGenix and Bruker Daltonics form collaboration for protein biomarker discovery and screening. To read article click here.

GenPat77 and granted MedImmune Inc. form alliance on GenPat77's proprietary TIRC7 program form immune research. To read article click here.

Gilead Sciences Inc. and Genelabs Technologies Inc. form hepatitis C research collaboration. To read article click here.

FDA to give Tarceva priority review for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer. To read article click here.

Nuvelo Inc. announces Phase II clinical trial results of alfimeprase for the treatment of acute peripheral arterial occlusion. To read article click here.

Tripos Inc. and Schering AG expand informatics contract. To read article click here.

CytoGenix Inc. files U.S. patent entitled "A Novel Genomic Approach Identifies Bacterial DNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase as the Target of an Antibacterial Oligodeoxynucleotide, RBL1." To read article click here.

-9/29/2004-

Accelrys Inc. and Sigma-Aldrich sign agreement to integrate Sigma-Aldrich's chemical compound catalogs into Accelrys' chemical suppliers database. To read article click here.

Vical Inc. initiates Phase I clinical trials of its trivalent immunotherapeutic vaccine for cytomegalovirus. To read article click here.

Exelixis Inc. acquires X-Ceptor Therapeutics Inc. To read article click here.

-9/28/2004-

Press Release: Frost & Sullivan's new report: Emerging Technologies in Lab-on-a-Chip: Microfluidics and µTAS. To read press release click here.

Press Release: Developer of the Personal Cell Analysis (PCA) system and reagents - Guava Technologies, Inc. and GE Healthcare have expanded the geographic scope of their previously announced exclusive three-year distribution agreement in Japan, to include South Korea, Mexico and certain countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. To read press release click here.

Solexa Limited and Lynx Therapeutics Inc. to merge. To read article click here.

IBM and Accelrys Inc. plan to release full suite of modeling and simulation tools for the Linux operating system. To read article click here.

Amarin Corporation to acquire Laxdale Limited. To read article click here.

Accelrys Inc. completes merger with SciTegic Inc. To read article click here.

Celera Genomics Group and Genentech Inc. form oncology research collaboration. To read article click here.

-9/27/2004-

Press Release: Girindus has received the prestigious Frost & Sullivan "Product Differentiation Award" for outstanding advances in the industrial production of therapeutic oligonucleotides. To read press release click here.

Bexel Pharmaceuticals Inc. completes Phase IIa clinical trials in Europe of drug candidate for the treatment of type-2 diabetes. To read article click here.

Pharmacopeia Drug Discovery Inc. reaches milestone delivering potential drug candidates in its drug discovery collaboration with Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. To read article click here.

MDS Sciex will open new manufacturing facility in Singapore. To read article click here.

FDA approves Purdue Pharma L.P.'s Palladone for moderate to severe pain treatment. To read article click here.

Boehringer Ingelheim to adpot Spotfire's DecisionSite software for its R&D worldwide. To read article click here.

Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s GLIADEL® Wafer receives orphan drug designation. To read article click here.

Nastech Pharmaceutical Company Inc. acquires from Thiakis Limited exclusive worldwide rights to patent applications for intranasal delivery of PYY. To read article click here.

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles publish in the journal Nature potential new way to control drug-resistant bacteria. To read article click here.

CombinatoRx Inc. and Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure form research collaboration. To read article click here.

BioMedicines Inc. changes its name to Intarcia Therapeutics Inc. To read article click here.

Craig Venter plans to merge the Institute for Genomic Research and four non-profit organizations into one organization: The J. Craig Venter Institute. To read article click here.

-9/24/2004-

Press Release: Porvair Sciences, specialists in microplate technology, have available a comprehensive range of high quality 96- and 384-well microplates that offer optimised solutions for almost any assay measurement. To read press release click here.

DOV Pharmaceutical Inc. initiates Phase III clinica trials of its novel analgesic bicifadine. To read article click here.

Emisphere Technologies and Novartis to develop an experimental oral formulation of recombinant human growth hormone (rHGH). To read article click here.

Repligen Corporation initiates Phase I clinica trials of synthetic human secretin RG1068 for the treatment of obsessive- compulsive disorder. To read article click here.

-9/23/2004-

Press Release: ESA has developed a new method utilising its CoulArray® electrochemical (EC) system as a tool to perform compound oxidative stability measurements in the drug discovery process. To read press release click here.

Advancis Pharmaceutical Corporation to initiate Phase III clinica trials of Amoxicillin PULSYS for Pharyngitis. To read article click here.

Aphton Corporation and XOMA Ltd. form collaboration to use anti-gastrin monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of gastrointestinal and other gastrin-sensitive cancers. To read article click here.

Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation holds U.S. and global patent rights for the use of statin drugs for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. To read article click here.

Seattle Genetics Inc. begins Phase II clinical trials of SGN-30 for the treatment of primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma. To read article click here.

Genaissance Pharmaceuticals Inc. acquires worldwide rights to antidepression small molecule compound vilazodone from Merck KGaA. To read article click here.

-9/22/2004-

MDS Pharma Services hosted symposium on kinases and ion channels. To read article click here.

Akorn Inc. and Strides Arcolab Limited form joint venture: Akorn-Strides, LLC. To read article click here.

Neurologix Inc. appoints Dr. Michael Sorell as CEO. To read article click here.

SEQUENOM Inc. launches its new "Assays-by-SEQUENOM" service. To read article click here.

Galapagos Genomics NV spinns off a new business unit for its viral based discovery and validation service: Galadeno. To read article click here.

-9/21/2004-

Press Release: ESA - a leading supplier of innovative chromatographic separation systems that offer highly sensitive and selective analysis of complex systems - has announced a series of updates to its website. To read press release click here.

Press Release: Available from Porvair Sciences Ltd., specialists in microplate technology, are a range of affordable and high-speed evaporator systems for concentrating samples in 96 or 384-well microplates. To read press release click here.

Telik Inc. publishes in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry the usage of its Target-Related Affinity Profiling (TRAP) drug discovery technology for the identification of novel small molecule lead compounds. To read article click here.

Curis Inc. publishes in the journal Cancer Cell article entitled "Suppression of the Shh Pathway Using a Small Molecule Inhibitor Eliminates Medulloblastoma in Ptc1+/-p53-/- Mice." To read article click here.

Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc. receives $1.2 million SBIR grant from NIH for antibacterial research. To read article click here.

ID Biomedical receives $8 million grant from NIH to develop a nasally delivered plague vaccine. To read article click here.

Ceregene Inc. initiates Phase I clinical trials of CERE-110 for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. To read article click here.

-9/20/2004-

Roche announces that Tarceva showed a 23.5 percent improvement in overall survival for patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer when used in combination with gemcitabine. To read article click here.

Pfizer Inc. moves Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s anti-cancer compound PD332991 to Phase I clinical trials. To read article click here.

Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. initiates Phase III clinical trials of AQUAVAN® Injection. To read article click here.

Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. licences Eli Lilly and Company's LY2275796, a second-generation antisense anti-cancer drug candidate for clinical development. To read article click here.

Medarex Inc. forms antibody collaboration with Pfizer Inc. worth over $400 million. To read article click here.

-9/17/2004-

Eric Tsao, a former executive of biotechnology firm MedImmune Inc., pleads guilty to perjury and security fraud. To read article click here.

Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. to sell rights to three drug delivery patents for chemotherapy drugs to Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $6 million. To read article click here.

-9/16/2004-

GSK initiates Phase III clinical trials using Flamel Technologies S.A.'s Micropump® technology. To read article click here.

Bristol-Myers Squibb terminates collaboration with Flamel Technologies S.A. to use Flamel's Micropump® technology for long-acting human insulin formulation. To read article click here.

NeoPharm Inc. and Pfizer terminate alliance on the development of LEP (liposome encapsulated paclitaxel) and LED (liposome encapsulated doxorubicin). To read article click here.

Roche and Protein Design Labs Inc. sign agreement to codevelop and market Zenapax (daclizumab) for asthma and related respiratory diseases. To read article click here.

Medarex Inc. and diaDexus Inc. expansion research collaboration on fully human antibody therapeutics against novel cancer targets. To read article click here.

-9/15/2004-

Press Release: Genetix has launched a new hybrid bed option designed to compliment its medium-throughput, fully featured QArray2 microarray platform. To read press release click here.

Nuvelo Inc. and the Pharmaceutical Division of Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd. expand research and development collaboration. To read article click here.

GenData Research Corporation and Celera Diagnostics form alliance for autoimmune disease and human genetics research. To read article click here.

-9/14/2004-

Press Release: Radleys Discovery Technologies (RDT) has announced the innovative SpeediFlow™ handheld flow booster - a unique device that allows pressurisation of individual filtration or SPE columns/cartridges to increase flow rates and speed your work-up. To read press release click here.

Press Release: Available from Genevac is new literature describing its Model HT-24 ultra-high throughput centrifugal evaporator. To read press release click here.

Press Release: The Columbus Pro from Tecan Europe is a new microplate washer with excellent wash performance and unique process control options. To read press release click here.

Accelrys Inc. and SciTegic Inc. to merge. To read article click here.

Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc. and LG Life Sciences Ltd. initiate Phase II clinical trials of ANA380 (LB80380) in patients with lamivudine- resistant hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. To read article click here.

-9/13/2004-

InterMune Inc. and Chiron Corporation sign a nonexclusive agreement for research on small molecule therapeutic agents against certain hepatitis C (HCV) targets. To read article click here.

Medarex Inc. and Cell Genesys Inc. initiate Phase I combination clinical trials of MDX-010 in combination with GVAX® prostate cancer vaccine. To read article click here.

-9/10/2004-

FDA gives OK to Spectrum Pharmaceuticals' generic version of antibiotic drug Cipro. To read article click here.

Chiron Corporation and F. Hoffmann-La Roche reached a settlement agreement on HIV related U.S. Patent No. 6,531,276 dispute. To read article click here.

Genentech Inc. and OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. begin Phase IIIB clinical trials of Tarceva™ (erlotinib HCl) for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment. To read article click here.

-9/09/2004-

Press Release: Available from Radleys, Tough-Tags™ are a versatile range of chemically inert polyester labels that strongly adhere to all plastics, glass and other materials. To read press release click here.

Genzyme Corp. completes Phase 4 study of Fabrazyme® (agalsidase beta) or the treatment of Fabry disease. To read article click here.

InKine Pharmaceutical Company Inc. to inititate Phase III clinical trials of INKP-102. To read article click here.

Shire Pharmaceuticals and ID Biomedical Corp. finalize the sale of Shire's vaccines business to ID Biomedical. To read article click here.

PerkinElmer Inc. and Predictive Diagnostics sign comprehensive biomarker platform collaboration for drug discovery. To read article click here.

Trimeris Inc. appoints Steven D. Skolsky as CEO. To read article click here.

Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Aphoenix Inc. form 3-year drug discovery collaboration. To read article click here.

Maxygen Inc. and Rentschler Biotechnologie GmbH signed agreement for the scale-up and manufacture Maxygen's next-generation granulocyte cell stimulating factor (G-CSF) molecule. To read article click here.

-9/08/2004-

Bayer Healthcare AG licences life science modeling software from Accelrys. To read article click here.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. launches generic version of Prilosec. To read article click here.

Argonaut Technologies relocates its corporate headquarters. To read article click here.

Par Pharmaceutical Companies Inc. licenses nitroglycerin lingual spray from NovaDel Pharma Inc. To read article click here.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. initiates Phase II clinical trials of HGS-ETR1 for advanced non-small cell lung cancer treatment. To read article click here.

Senomyx Inc. discovers multiple binding sites for sweeteners and sweet taste inhibitors. To read article click here.

Tripos Inc. releases SARNavigator™ Version 1.5. To read article click here.

Cambridge Antibody Technology to initiate Phase I clinical trials of its human anti-IL-13 monoclonal antibody CAT-354 for the treatment of severe asthma. To read article click here.

ZymoGenetics Inc. and Serono enter protein and antibody collaboration. To read article click here.

-9/07/2004-

Press Release: Genevac Ltd, world leader in solvent removal for drug discovery applications, has announced its presence at HET INSTRUMENT 2004 (1-5th November) in Utrecht, the Netherlands. To read press release click here.

Press Release: Genetix has announced a range of optimised reagents and consumables enabling a complete system approach to colony picking. To read press release click here.

Nanogen Inc. and Epoch Biosciences to merge. To read article click here.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated ends Phase Ia clinical trials of VX-950 for the treatment of hepatitis C (HCV). To read article click here.

Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Biogen Idec form kinase research collaboration for the discovery of small molecule anit-cancer compounds. To read article click here.

-9/06/2004-

US holiday. No news today.

-9/03/2004-

Serono inks licensing agreement. To read article click here.

-9/02/2004-

FDA approves Pfizer Inc.'s drug Lyrica for the treatment of pain from diabetes induced nerve damage, but not for the treatment of anxiety disorder. To read article click here.

FDA issues wanring to Aventis Pasteur SA for quality control problems in one of its French manufacturing plants. To read article click here.

Accelrys Inc. and GenSys Software Inc. form collaboration to enable Accelrys' Accord™ Chemistry Control cheminformatics component to depict chemical information in GenSys Software's Electronic Laboratory Notebook. To read article click here.

Zonagen Inc.'s Progenta for the treatment of scar tissue could have use for breast cancer treatment. To read article click here.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. will expand its medicinal chemistry pacility in Malmo, Sweden. To read article click here.

Pain Therapeutics Inc. to initiate Phase III clinical trials of Remoxy™. To read article click here.

MediGene AG to initiate Phase I/II clinical trials of drug candidate NV1020 for the treatment of liver metastases developing from colorectal cancer. To read article click here.

Genedata releases Screener® version 3.0 for high throughput screening and compound profiling. To read article click here.

-9/01/2004-

Press Release: Visitors to International Biotech / Lab Automation Europe 2004 at Olympia 2 (London, UK) in November will have the chance to see the latest developments in solvent removal technology from Genevac Ltd. To read press release click here.

Press Release: Tecan Europe has announced the introduction of two new integrated multi-channel pipetting platforms for liquid handling applications - the Freedom EVO96R and EVO384R. To read press release click here.

Press Release: Available from Guava Technologies, Inc. is a new brochure introducing and discussing how Microcytometry has streamlined and simplified cell-based assays through an integrated approach comprising instruments, software and optimised reagents. To read press release click here.

Forest Laboratories's drug Neramexane fails Phase III clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease. To read article click here.

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. receives patent for the development of novel compound that delivers cancer drugs directly to tumor blood vessels. To read article click here.

Applied Biosystems Group and MDS Inc. expand collaboration in mass spectrometry. To read article click here.

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

MGI PHARMA INC. to acquire Zycos Inc. To read article click here.

SIDMAP launches its metabolic profiling services for drug development and testing processes. To read article click here.