Metabolic Pharmaceuticals was caught off guard yesterday when news of a favourable research report from US analysts Cohen Independent Research Group sent the company's shares up 65 per cent to close at AUD$1.65 after heavy trading. [ + ]

ACT US, the US subsidiary of oncology specialist Australian Cancer Technology ("AustCancer") (ASX: ACU) has signed a distribution deal for its revisys range of nutritional supplements. [ + ]

Peptech (ASX: PTD) has posted a net profit of AUD$29.5 million for the six months ending on 31 March 2004, mostly due to a hefty one-off settlement payment with Abbott and the first in a series of annual payments made under the settlement agreement. [ + ]

US regulators have given the green light for doctors to prescribe Minnesota-based 3M's Aldara for precancerous skin lesions called actinic keratosis. 3M is also awaiting approval for Aldara's use against a common form of non-melanoma skin cancer, superficial basal cell carcinoma. [ + ]

The Institute of Drug Technology (ASX: IDT) has scored a multi-million dollar contract with Pfizer to develop and manufacture a new drug candidate. [ + ]

Brisbane-based Benitec (ASX: BLT) has granted a non-exclusive research licence to Merck & Co, giving permission for Merck to use its DNA-directed RNAi (ddRNAi) technology in research activities. [ + ]

Adelaide epilepsy specialist Bionomics (ASX:BNO) has announced that its patent covering a link between the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ion channel subunit and epilepsy has been accepted in New Zealand. [ + ]

Scottish cancer specialist Cyclacel has announced plans to float on Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange. [ + ]

Australia's efforts to reverse dryland salinity have received a boost with the development of a granular inoculant that helps wattles establish up to five times faster than normal.

Scientists at the Australian National University (ANU) have identified the immune response that determines why some mice are infected with mousepox and others are not, a discovery that could lead to better protection for humans in a bio-terror attack. [ + ]

Norwood Immunology (AIM:NIM) commenced trading yesterday on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), with shares closing at 40.5 pence (AUD$1.046), a premium to their issue price of 38 pence. [ + ]

In this financial year's upcoming crop of annual reports, ASX-listed companies will have to include a section disclosing their adherence to the 10 essential corporate governance principles developed in 2002 by the exchange's corporate governance council as a framework for best practice. [ + ]

The Australian Synchrotron project has scored another AUD$5 million funding for the initial suite of beamlines from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), which joins the University of Melbourne, Monash University, CSIRO and MiniFAB as a foundation partner. [ + ]

Sydney artificial heart company Ventracor (ASX:VCR) scooped up AUD$1.2 million in funding today, when the second round of Australian Research Council (ARC) linkage grants were announced. [ + ]

Dr Lisa McIntyre, the head of LEK Consulting's Asia-Pacific life sciences practice, has joined the board of Sydney-based pooled development fund BioTech Capital (ASX:BTC). [ + ]