Arcus Therapeutics LLC, of Watertown, Mass., a joint venture between Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Oxigene Inc., was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,312,694 covering aspects of its vascular targeting agent.

Biomira Inc., of Edmonton, Alberta, was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,312,718 titled, “Vaccine for B-cell Malignancies.” The patent describes a new liposomal vaccine, which includes a purified or synthetic B-cell malignancy antigen and cytokines.

Cryo-Cell International Inc., of Clearwater, Fla., was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,319,500 involving a method of treating sites of infection caused by organisms by targeting to the site’s organism-specific antibodies containing toxic agents.

EXegenics Inc., of Dallas, was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,287,835, which provides it with proprietary rights to certain genes that are essential to an improved production process for paclitaxel, the active ingredient in Taxol.

Large Scale Biology Corp., of Vacaville, Calif., was awarded nine patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for technology platforms in proteomics, functional genomics and biomanufacturing. The new additions bring the company’s total number of U.S.-issued patents in these categories to 34. U.S. Patent No. 6,254,834 is the first in a series of patents relating to a new technology for distinguishing infectious agents, for identifying known viral pathogens and for discovering and characterizing unknown viral pathogens. The company also was awarded U.S. Patents Nos. 6,301,377 and 6,298,874 that protect critical aspects of its automated 2-D gel electrophoresis system. U.S. Patent No. 6,303,848 covers the ability of the company’s Geneware transient expression system to protect a crop from an herbicide that is intended to kill weeds. U.S. Patents Nos. 6,284,875 and 6,303,779 are additions to the part of the intellectual property portfolio that protects its biomanufacturing process to extract biomolecules.

Maxygen Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,319,713, which covers recombination-based methods using single-stand templates to produce novel genes and proteins.

Neuralstem Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,284,539, protecting its method for inducing neural stem cells to a dopaminergic fate via the introduction of the Nurr1 gene and its homologues into the cells.

Neurochem Inc., of Saint-Laurent, Canada, said its research collaborators at Queen’s University were awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,306,909 relating to the company’s epilepsy program, aimed at introducing a new class of drugs.

Prima Biomed Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, was awarded a U.S. patent for its subsidiary, Anthron Ltd. The patent has claims to a template drug and a series of related compounds that have shown anti-inflammatory activity.

ViaLogy Corp., of Pasadena, Calif., was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,245,511 titled, “Method and Apparatus for Exponentially Convergent Therapy Effectiveness Monitoring Using DNA Microarray-Based Viral Load Measurements.”

Zycos Inc., of Lexington, Mass., was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,309,569 related to the company’s methods of encapsulating DNA in microparticles.