Research Areas

SAN DIEGO—Vical Inc. announced that it entered into nonexclusive academic licensing agreements that codify use of its DNA delivery technology at four research institutions: Stanford University, Harvard University, Yale University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The license covers unsponsored academic research and enables scientists to use Vical’s techniques free-of-charge for internal educational and noncommercial research purposes.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.—Biotech giants Amgen and Genentech announced the signing of licensing agreements that granted each company access to multiple patents related to the manufacture and use of antibodies and related technologies. This includes a license for multiple products under Genentech’s Cabilly patent family (including U.S. Patent No. 6,331,415) relating to the methods and vectors required to produce antibodies.

BOSTON–A new collaboration between CombinatoRx Inc. and Fovea Pharmaceuticals SA will provide Fovea with combination drug candidates for ophthalmic disorders from CombinatoRx’s portfolio. The program will explore using approved drugs in tandem to generate novel mechanisms of action that create new treatments for ophthalmic diseases.

PALO ALTO, Calif.—Agilent isn’t content to simply coast on its gas-chromatography/mass spectrometry accomplishments. Now it is out to conquer the liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) market, and is starting off on that path with the release of an entire new portfolio of LC/MS systems.

ATLANTA—Serologicals Corp. recently announced that Chemicon International, its wholly-owned Temecula, Calif.-based subsidiary, had entered into a research and development agreement with Pittsburgh-based Cellumen to commercialize a cytotoxicity profiling panel and services designed with Chemicon’s cellular assay reagents and Cellumen’s system cell biology approach

DENVER—Ceragenix has reported that a synthetic small molecule in a class of compounds called ceragenins (CSAs)—a class it licensed exclusively from Brigham Young University (BYU) in large part for its antibacterial properties—is showing evidence that it could be useful in fighting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In fact, in vitro laboratory tests conducted at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., indicate that this particular CSA may have potent virucidal activity against multiple strains of HIV.

BOTHELL, Wash.—Lumera Corp., a nanotechnology company that designs proprietary molecular structures and polymer compounds for bioscience and technological applications, has executed a letter of intent with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), under which the university will purchase Lumera’s recently released ProteomicProcessor Biosensor instrument.

ST. LOUIS—Orion Genomics is aggressively working to decipher the “second code” of DNA to advance the state of cancer diagnostics and treatment, and has enlisted the help of researchers at the University of Glasgow to that end. The work currently focuses on discovering novel epigenetic biomarkers for the development of tests that screen for cancer at an early stage and that could provide personalized information about how tumors are most effectively treated.

SAN DIEGO—Immusol has entered into a license agreement with Baylor College of Medicine for the exclusive, worldwide rights to a novel oncolytic viral therapy using herpes simplex viruses (HSVs), which the company believes will be superior to adenovirus-based oncolytic viral therapies being worked on by other companies. The financial terms of the license agreement were not disclosed.

NEW YORK—Callisto Pharmaceuticals, a developer of new drug treatments for cancer, biodefence and other health threats, is licensing a new class of compounds called degrasyns from the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center for development as cancer drugs. The novel anticancer activity of these analogs is connected to their ability to selectively degrade key proteins involved in tumor cell proliferation and survival, including C-MYC, BCR-ABL and JAK2, which are all important targets for a wide range of tumors.