Industry Overview

Contracts, Mergers, and Annoucements

Chr. Hansen (Milwaukee, WI, www.chr-hansen.com) opened a new office in Bogota, Colombia, on April 6 to better serve customers in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Lorus Therapeutics Inc. (Toronto, Canada, www.lorusthera.com) signed a collaboration agreement with Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. (Japan) and Koken Co. Ltd. (Japan). According to terms of the agreement, Lorus will provide Sumitomo proprietary antisense oligonucleotides complementary to Thioredoxin mRNA—specifically the lead drug candidate, "GTI-2601." Under the agreement enables Lorus, Sumitomo, and Koken will jointly own the compounds that result from this collaboration. pSivida Limited's (Perth, Australia, www.psivida.com) manufacturing partner, Atomising Systems Ltd. (Sheffield, UK, www.atomising.co.uk) has completed the construction of a dedicated cleanroom facility to GMP specifications at its Sheffield plant in the United Kingdom. The new facility will enable pSivida to increase BrachySil production in support of both larger clinical trials for advanced liver cancer and new Phase IIa trials in a second cancer indication planned for later this year, and for future commercialization. Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (St. Louis, MO, www.sigma-aldrich.com) has completed its acquisition of the Proligo Group from Degussa AG. Terms of the proposed purchase were not disclosed. Proligo had 2004 sales of approximately $40 million. Nine months of Proligo's 2005 operating results will be added to Sigma-Aldrich's performance in 2005, increasing overall sales growth by approximately 2%. Correction: An announcement in the March 31 ePT listed an incorrect Web site for Dow Pharma. The correct Web site is http://www.dowpharma.com. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Cambridge, MA, www.alnylam.com) and Dowpharma (Midland, MI, www.dowpharma.com) signed an agreement for the manufacture and supply of candidate RNAi therapeutics for Alnylam's lead development programs in age-related macular degeneration and respiratory syncytial virus infection. Dowpharma will manufacture short interfering RNAs, the molecules that induce RNAi, for use in clinical trials. Netherlands-based companies Crucell NV (www.crucell.com) and DSM Biologics (www.dsmbiologics.com) signed a PER.C6 research license agreement with the Japanese pharmaceutical company Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation (www.m-pharma.co.jp). This license agreement allows Mitsubishi to use the PER.C6 cell line for production of certain recombinant therapeutic proteins. Airgas, Inc. (Radnor, PA, www.airgas.com) signed a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire Kanox, Inc. Airgas currently owns 25% of the company's outstanding stock and would purchase the remaining shares from private shareholders. The companies are working toward signing a definitive purchase agreement and anticipate closing the transaction before the middle of 2005, subject to customary closing conditions. SAFE-BioPharma, Inc., (Washington DC, www.safe-biopharma.org) has selected Cybertrust Inc., (Herndon, VA, www.cybertrust.com) to develop and implement the technical infrastructure needed to support interoperability among disparate public key infrastructures within the "Secure Access for Everyone (SAFE)" network. SAFE is a technology standard that helps the biopharmaceutical industry implement legally enforceable and regulatory-compliant digital signatures for business-to-business and business-to-regulator transactions. The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS, Arlington, VA, www.aaps.org) is seeking nominations for the 2005 AAPS Awards, to be presented on stage during the 2005 AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition Opening Session in Nashville, Tennessee, November 6–10. Award nomination details and guidelines are available from AAPS Pharmaceutica at www.aapspharmaceutica.com/inside/awards_fellows. (continued to People)