> Crucell says you shouldn't blame its technology for the failure of Merck's once promising HIV vaccine. Merck's announcement last Friday has seriously dented Crucell's shares. Crucell's response: "While the vaccine is produced on Crucell's PER.C6 technology, the discontinuation of the study appears in no way related to the safety or efficacy of the PER.C6 production technology and therefore has no impact on either Crucell's licensing activities or Crucell's partnership with Merck with respect to Crucell's PER.C6 and Advac technologies as announced two weeks ago." Release
> Emisphere says it will take an $18 million payment from Eli Lilly to settle a claim that Lilly went beyond the boundaries of a development pact in using Emisphere's technology. Release
> Elusys has won a $12 million contract from the U.S. government to develop Anthim, the company's late-stage anthrax therapeutic. Release
> A new company, IOTA Pharmaceuticals, has been launched in Cambridge, England. The biotech will focus on fragment-based drug design, offering new tools and technologies for drug discovery and lead optimization. Release
> Roche has no intention of letting Boniva go gently into that generic night. Roche has sued Dr. Reddy's Laboratories over the osteoporosis drug. Report
> Eli Lilly is waving its torch at Sun Pharmaceuticals to keep the Indian drug maker away from ADHD drug Strattera. Report
> Scientists in Singapore have developed a miniature device that can detect bird flu. Report
And Finally... Dr. Zheng Cui of Wake Forest University School of Medicine has been given a green light to begin providing transfusions of immune system cells--called granulocytes--to cancer patients. And Dr. Cui says that his "exceptionally successful" preclinical experiments lead him to believe that this could prove to be a cure for cancer. Report