Shares in Biocompatibles International (LON:BII) edged up 1.3% to 267p this morning on news that the medical technology company was paying £3.0m to acquire certain patents protecting its Bead Products, which were previously licensed from Biocure Inc. The move is important to Biocompatibles because it removes a 5% royalty charge to Biocure on products that accounted for sales worth £12.7m in 2009. The patents in question – DC Bead, LC Bead and Bead Block – are used by health professionals to treat patients with the likes of hypervascularised tumours. Biocompatibles said the deal would improve margins in its Oncology Products division and would be earnings enhancing from the current year.

Avacta Group Plc (LON:AVCT), the biophysics company which provides technologies and services to the pharmaceutical and diagnostics markets, has raised £1.38m in a share placing priced at 1p per share. The company said the fundraising would be used to drive the company from its current position towards its near term goal of being a profitable business providing products and services to support the life sciences sector. Avacta’s Analytical division recently began shipping its first product, Optim, which is designed to reduce risk and cost in the biopharmaceutical drug development process. Sales are understood to have been slower than hoped, but the pipeline of validated enquiries is encouraging. Elsewhere, the company is expecting to launch its first diagnostic product, Midas, into the veterinary healthcare market in the near term. Midas will be capable of delivering a wide menu of rapid diagnostic blood tests offering both quantitative and qualitative analysis to the veterinary and, in due course, human healthcare markets. Shares in the company fell by 12.7% to 1.02p during the morning.

Elsewhere, shares in Alliance Pharma (LON:APH) rose by 2.3% to 33.5p after the speciality pharmaceutical company reported that trading had continued to be strong during the first half of the year. Sales to June touched £23.4m, up £10.2m on the same period last year. Excluding revenue from products acquired over the past year, sales increased over the first half of 2009 by approximately 40%. Alliance noted that sales of its Deltacortril / enteric coated prednisolone had continued to be strong and total sales of the products acquired from Cambridge Laboratories in February 2010 have been in line with expectations.

Finally, Angel Biotechnology Hldgs …

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