Biotech entrepreneur Garth Cooper has stepped sideways from his role as CEO of New Zealand biotech Protemix, appointing US-based former Eli Lilly executive Larry Ellingson to guide the company through pending Phase III trials of its drug for diabetic heart disease Laszarin. [ + ]

Acrux (ASX: ACR) has reported positive results from the Phase IIb trial of its testosterone MDTS spray in pre-menopausal women with low libido. [ + ]

Pfizer, faced with slowing earnings growth, and safety concerns that have hurt demand for its arthritis products, is conducting a comprehensive review of its operations and is considering job cuts. [ + ]

Chemgenex Pharmaceuticals (ASX: CXS) has acquired a novel anti-cancer drug from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. [ + ]

Peplin Biotech's (ASX:PEP) half-year results have revealed a AUD$13 million cash balance -- enough, the company says, to complete three Phase II clinical trials of its skin cancer treatment PEP005. [ + ]

Australian Cancer Technology has reaped quick rewards and impressed shareholders with a drug it licensed in September last year, which has doubled the survival rate of patient with pancreatic cancer in a Phase I/II study conducted in Germany. [ + ]

Solbec Pharmaceuticals (ASX: SBP) has announced successful completion of its Phase I study of its devil's apple-derived drug Coramsine as a treatment for psoriasis. [ + ]

It's been said that even if calorie restriction doesn't make you live longer it will feel as though you have. A Sydney University researcher argues that it does work and some of the current life-enhancing medications used to treat age-related diseases are imitating the effects of eating fewer calories.

Ventracor (ASX: VCR) has received conditional approval from the US FDA for a feasibility study leading up to a full scale trial of its cardiac assist device as a bridge-to-transplant. [ + ]

A group of genomics researchers are pushing the Federal government to provide AUD$250 million in funding for genomics research over the next five years. [ + ]

Chemgenex (ASX: CXS) has provided updated results from its Phase I /II clinical study of anti-cancer drug Quinamed at the American Association for Cancer Research's Oncogenomics 2005 conference in the US. [ + ]

'Nanotechnobabble' is already making life difficult for bio-nanotechnology researchers, with technophobes warning of the risk of uncontrollable, self-replicating nanobots overrunning the world, the Lorne Conference on Protein Structure and Function at Phillip Island, in Victoria, heard today. [ + ]

WA biotech Visiomed (ASX:VSG) has replaced retiring CEO Saliba Sassine with William Dolphin, formerly of New Zealand's SpectraNet and patient monitoring equipment company, SonaMed. [ + ]

Peptech (ASX:PTD) CEO Mel Bridges used today's annual general meeting to reveal that the company is keen to use its AUD$65 million warchest to fund acquisitions. [ + ]

Queensland veterinary blood plasma company PlasVacc has purchased US plasma company Veterinary Dynamics Inc (VDI). [ + ]