Brisbane biotech Benitec (ASX:BLT) shares were up 8 per cent to $0.65 today after it announced it had granted a worldwide, non-exclusive licence to Panomics, of Redwood City in California. The licence allows Panomics to make and sell products that exploit Benitec's patented DNA-directed RNAi gene-silencing technology. [ + ]

Newly-listed Proteome Systems (ASX: PXL) has entered into a collaboration with researchers at the Westmead Children's Hospital and Westmead Millennium Institute to develop diagnostics for the early diagnosis and monitoring of ovarian cancer. [ + ]

Perth's Regenera (ASX: RGA) has received ethics approval for the second of five Phase III clinical trial to be conducted in Singapore using intravitreal injections of its product Visagen to treat macular oedema. [ + ]

Cryptome Pharmaceuticals (ASX: CRP) has announced that CEO Jeffrey Travis has resigned for personal reasons. [ + ]

Rockeby's (ASX:RBY) laboratory-based SysCan tests for Candida antibody levels is likely to be useful for diagnosing the infection in children, a trial in Singapore has found. [ + ]

The FDA has approved a new injectable gel, made by Genzyme and marketed by Inamed, that can be used to temporarily fill the deepest facial wrinkles. [ + ]

Melbourne brain-drug developer Prana Biotechnology (ASX:PBT, NASDAQ:PRAN) will move its is lead Alzheimer's disease drug PBT-1 (clioquinol) into a Phase II/III clinical trial in the first half of next year, with the aim of carving up to three years from the time required to deliver the drug to the clinic. [ + ]

Six weeks after filing 5600 pages of Investigational New Drug application for a Phase II trial of its ThrombioView blood-clot imaging technology, Agenix [ASX: AGX, NASDAQ OTC: AGXLY] has been given the go-ahead by the US Food and Drug Administration. [ + ]

Optiscan (ASX:OIL) has received European CE Mark approval for its flexible endo-microscope, jointly developed with Pentax. But the company and its Japanese marketing partner Pentax are awaiting a go-ahead from the US Food and Drug Administration before the marketing process gets underway. [ + ]

A research paper in the prestigious US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science this week has underscored the commercial potential of the platform vaccine technology being commercialised by Eqitx (ASX:EQX) subsidiary VacTX, the company has claimed. [ + ]

San Francisco-based biotechnology investment bank Burrill & Co has named its 'best of biotech' for 2004. [ + ]

Bionomics (ASX:BNO) has appointed former Reserve Bank economist Dr Peter Jonson as chairman, and extended the contract of chief executive officer and managing director Dr Deborah Rathjen until June 2008. [ + ]

CSIRO Plant Industry researcher, Peter Reid, has received a major CSIRO award for his work on developing hardier, more productive varieties of cotton suited specifically to Australian conditions.

Perth-based biotech project management company Gateway Capital is about to step into the ring with venture capital players and investment banks, announcing today it will aim to fast-track biotech research from research institute to ASX. [ + ]

Agenix (ASX:AGX) subsidiary AGEN Biomedical has secured a manufacturing and technology transfer alliance with US company Inverness Medical Innovations for its animal health diagnostic products. [ + ]