January 5, 2006 – Two vaccine candidates, one from GlaxoSmithKline and the other from Merck, have proved to be effective against rotovirus, a disease that causes 500,000 deaths in third world countries; Nuvelo signed a collaboration with Bayer to develop a drug that dissolves blood clots; Cara Therapeutics licensed its pain drug candidate to Alza, a division of Johnson & Johnson; Diversa will downsize its operations, focusing on the most promising products, and laying off 85 employees; Aveo Pharma acquired a cancer drug candidate from Mitsubishi Pharma; and Cambrex Corporation will stop seeking acquisitions in specialty therapeutics and instead sell off divisions. The Centient Biotech 200™ was down a modest 9 points at 4023.07, a drop of .23%. More details...