Wheeling and dealing from the open of business to close, MedImmune Inc. yesterday agreed to a pair of arrangements in an effort to expand its discovery programs.

Keeping terms close to home, the Gaithersburg, Md.-based firm entered a three-year collaborative agreement with Biosite Inc., which will use its Omniclonal phage display technology with MedImmune drug targets in an effort to generate high-affinity antibodies.

Per binding terms of the agreement, San Diego-based Biosite corporate communications spokesperson Chermaen Dobrowolski declined to disclose specifics on the drug targets or the antibodies. MedImmune, whose research is focused in the areas of infectious disease, autoimmune disease and cancer, did not return phone calls, although in a release said it expects to use the antibodies for discovery programs.

Biosite gains the right to evaluate the potential diagnostic utility of various targets. For Biosite, the deal follows a pattern familiar to the firm - in the past few years, it has entered a number of deals in which it gains access to targets.

"Our primary objective is to get access to more diagnostic markers," Dobrowolski told BioWorld Today.

MedImmune agreed to provide Biosite with targets for a period of up to three years. In addition to certain diagnostic rights, Biosite would receive development fees upon delivery of target-specific antibodies to MedImmune, target maintenance fees, fees upon the achievement of certain clinical development milestones and royalties.

Without discussing specific numbers, Dobrowolski likened the size of the deal to one entered earlier this year with Amgen Inc., of Thousand Oaks, Calif. In that deal, Amgen agreed to provide targets and pay development and maintenance fees for antibodies delivered. (See BioWorld Today, March 12, 2002.)

Partners involved in similar arrangements include Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis; Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Scios Inc.; Eos Biotechnology Inc., of South San Francisco; and Princeton, N.J.-based Medarex Inc.

Later in the day, MedImmune reported licensing exclusive worldwide rights to human metapneumovirus (hMPV) from ViroNovative BV, a private Dutch biotechnology company affiliated with Erasmus University in Rotterdam. MedImmune plans to apply its knowledge in pediatric respiratory infectious diseases to develop antibodies and vaccines against hMPV.

Slightly more forthcoming with financial terms in the latter deal, MedImmune will pay ViroNovative $10 million up front, fund research and development and would pay milestones and royalties on resultant products.

MedImmune, which has 11 products in clinical testing, markets three drugs: Synagis (palivizumab), to prevent serious lower respiratory tract disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus in pediatric patients at high risk for the disease; Ethyol (amifostine), a selective cytoprotective agent to reduce toxicities associated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy; and CytoGam, an intravenous immune globulin indicated for prophylaxis against cytomegalovirus disease associated with kidney, lung, liver, pancreas or heart transplants.

Biosite's stock (NASDAQ:BSTE) closed at $20.23, up 23 cents. MedImmune's stock (NASDAQ:MEDI) closed at $29.18, down 61 cents.