avian flu virus news from FierceBiotech

> Ambrilia Biopharma reported positive 24-week Phase III top-line results for prolonged-release formulation of Octreotide. Read more...

> Zogenix has raised $18 million in a private placement of preferred stock. Release Read more...

Using reverse genetics, a group of researchers at St. Jude's in Memphis has inactivated the avian flu virus and used it to successfully vaccinate ferrets. Researchers said that the vaccine also worked against two other strains, raising the prospect that the therapy could be used against mutated versions of avian flu. Reverse genetics also offers a new way to produce large amounts of vaccine in relatively short periods of time. No one knows when or if a pandemic may erupt, but avian flu …

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Shares of Peregrine Pharmaceuticals were buoyed this morning by news that an early-stage trial of anti-viral compounds showed signs of efficacy in preventing the avian flu virus from replicating. The company used bavituximab to stop the H5N1 virus from making copies of itself in chicken eggs. Peregrine plans to begin clinical trials next month.

- read the AP report for more

PLUS: …

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> Inspire Pharmaceuticals has paid Boehringer Ingelheim $2.5 million up front to license an antihistamine to treat nasal allergies. Boehringer retains marketing rights outside of the U.S. and Canada. Report

> The University of Liverpool is contributing funds toward the creation of a new research center to focus on zoonosis, diseases like bird flu that start in animals and migrate to humans. …

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> Fresh from wrapping a deal to sell its R&D arm to GlaxoSmithKline, Croatia's Pliva has inked a deal to buy the Spanish division of Novartis' generics division for 21.5 million euros. Report

> The avian flu virus has now penetrated Germany and Austria with a suspected case in Denmark. Report

> Abbott has …

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Rarely a day goes by that I don't see a raft of new reports related to the avian flu virus and new drug development. Today the U.S. is increasing its stockpile of experimental vaccines. As the bird flu virus steadily spreads, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and elsewhere have been working away in the lab looking for some effective means to protect the world's population. …

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British researchers say that the Turkish strain of avian flu virus that has killed at least two children has begun to mutate toward a more infectious structure that can be more easily passed among humans. "Research has indicated that the Hong Kong 2003 viruses preferred to bind to human cell receptors more than to avian (bird) receptors, and it is expected that the Turkish virus will also have this characteristic," said Sir John Skehel, director of the MRC's National Institute for Medical …

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With the death toll from avian flu mounting in Turkey, international health officials now believe the deadly bird virus has been brewing in the country for months rather than weeks. New cases are being reported in Ankara as well as other rural areas of the country. So far, the virus has been linked to the deaths of two children and implicated in a third death in a remote area of the country. Reports of possible bird flu cases in Ankara are fueling concerns that the virus may be much …

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Chinese health officials said they have found a mutation from the form of H5N1 that has appeared in Vietnam. However, it has not created a virus that can spread from human to human. Health officials around the world are concerned that at some point the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus will mutate into an infectious disease and threaten the lives of millions of people.

- read this report from AFX for more