Melbourne drug developer Starpharma (ASX:SPL) has received the 2005 Frost & Sullivan Growth Strategy Leadership Award for the company's development of VivaGel and other polyvalent dendrimer-based products relating to the world nanobiotechnology market. [ + ]

Genesis Biomedical (ASX:GBL) will be undertaking a non-renounceable rights issue to raise about AUD$1 million. [ + ]

SciGen (ASX:SIE) executive vice-chairman and founder Saul Mashaal has been reappointed as CEO, a position he held until September 2001 when executive management of the company was transferred to Australia. [ + ]

The Victorian government has pledged $26.6 million in infrastructure funding to 17 independent medical research institutes in the state. [ + ]

The Geelong Region Biotechnology Cluster Project has received a $50,000 Regional Innovation Clusters Program grant from the Victorian government to support its growth. [ + ]

Veteran biotech investment group Circadian Technologies (ASX:CIR) has posted an AUD$21.77 million profit before tax for the 2004/05 financial year, up from $5.8 million for the previous corresponding year. [ + ]

Melbourne immune therapy developer Norwood Immunology (AIM:NIM) has signed a collaboration agreement with the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to conduct a proof-of-concept preclinical trial to determine whether tolerance to donated organ transplants can be established without the need for prolonged immunosuppressants. [ + ]

Peplin (ASX:PEP) is set to raise AUD$4 million through the issue of 11.4 million ordinary shares at $0.35 per share to institutional and sophisticated investors. [ + ]

Auckland-based Living Cell Therapies (ASX:LCT) today announced "extraordinary" results from its preclinical trial of alginate-encapsulated pig brain cells in a primate model of Huntington's disease. [ + ]

Adelaide-based BresaGen (ASX:BGN) has signed two new contracts under its protEcol Services business unit. [ + ]

Partnering, collaboration and communication were keenly discussed at the 3rd Australian Biotechnology Summit, held in Sydney last week. Australian of the Year and Clinical Cell Culture (C3) co-founder Fiona Wood led the charge, calling for a solution driven biotech industry. [ + ]

Perth-based Solbec Pharmaceuticals (ASX:SBP) has paid a AUD$33,000 fine after being issued with an infringement notice by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for allegedly failing to disclose information to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) relating to a drug trial. [ + ]

A new research centre to battle diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis, called the Endocrine Centre of Excellence, was opened at Austin Health in Melbourne today. [ + ]

Results in Brief: Vertex, Varian, Watson, Chiron, Alcon, Eyetech, Elan, NicOx, MorphoSys, Actelion, AstraZeneca, Shire, GSK, Bristol-Myers Squibb, QLT, Millennium, Celgene, Invitrogen, InterMune, Charles River, Ranbaxy, Takeda, Sankyo, Daiichi, Solvay [ + ]

Melbourne biopharma Cryptome's (ASX:CRP) proprietary drug-screening technology has struck a highly prospective vein just 12 months after beginning its first major dig into the human proteome in search of novel anti-cancer drugs. [ + ]