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BAY AREA DRUG FIRM INKS LICENSING AGREEMENT

ALAMEDA - Bay Area-based Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Shionogi & Co., Ltd. of Osaka, Japan have reached a joint licensing agreement for doripenem, a broad- spectrum antibiotic currently being studied in worldwide clinical trials. Peninsula has obtained exclusive rights including sublicense rights to develop and market the antibiotic doripenem in North America, while Shionogi will manufacture the product for worldwide distribution. The product is an antibacterial that has been proven effective against a host of penicillin-resistant  aerobic, anaerobic, gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The worldwide hospital antibacterial market exceeds $8 billion annually and the worldwide market for doripenem-type drugs is close to $1.0 billion and growing. According to industry analysts, by 2006, the market is expected to grow by 50% due to the ever increasing need for safe, powerful, broad-spectrum antibiotics to treat increasingly difficult and serious hospital infections.

SAXONY INVESTS MILLIONS IN NEW BIOTECH "COMMUNITY"

LEIPZIG - One of the best kept secrets in the international biotech community is not a technology or a company, but rather, a geographic region that is fast becoming the gateway for biotech development throughout Europe, the US, and Canada. The regional biotech hub is called Biosaxony and is the result of a $230 million investment over 5 years by the government of Saxony to create an incubator for R&D companies that, in partnership with academia, are expected to pioneer the very latest advances in biotechnology.  The main focus of the multi-million dollar initiative lies in the subsidized establishment of regional biotechnology centers in Leipzig and Dresden. "Bio City Leipzig", which opened in mid-May, concentrates heavily on research in the field of tissue engineering and biomedicine, and at the same time acts as an incubator for start-up companies. Three quarters of the 215,280 square feet of laboratory and production space in the new facility will be leased out to start-ups and established biotech companies. The remainder will be utilized by the University of Leipzig. Several US-based bio-engineering companies are reportedly considering basing their EU R&D operations at the new center.
 
AUSTRALIAN SOFTWARE COMPANY OPENS SO CAL OFFICE

SAN CLEMENTE - Australia-based Legrand Software Inc. has opened an office in San Clemente to oversee the launching of the firm's customer relationship (CRM) software in the US and North American market. The software will be marketed to small- to medium-sized businesses and is expected to challenge US competitors in the CRM market "on the strength of its acclaimed easy-to-use functionality and affordability," said a company spokesman. Legrand's  CRM enables users to easily view and manage all aspects of a business relationship, including complete company, contact, marketing, sales, calendar, and customer service information.  Pricing for Legrand CRM Standard edition begins at $125.00 per user. A Professional Edition and Microsoft SQL-based Corporate Editions are also available. Local sales and support will be available from a network of certified consultants and solution providers.

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