After more than a year of evaluating ways to access U.S. shareholders, Aussie biotech Biota Holdings Ltd. settled on a merger with Nabi Biopharmaceuticals Inc.Nabi became a Nasdaq-listed cash shell following last year's Phase III failure of smoking cessation vaccine NicVAX. Despite encouraging Phase IIb data, the vaccine failed to improve abstinence from cigarettes in two Phase III trials. Nabi's stock plunged, and the Rockville, Md.-based biotech hired Piper Jaffray to explore strategic alternatives. (See BioWorld Today, July 19, 2011.)