Australia will have a much greater capacity to understand its fly biodiversity with a generous endowment from an American benefactor.

The AUD$4.1 million Integrative Neuroscience Facility of the National Neuroscience Facility was opened today at the NNF headquarters in Melbourne. [ + ]

BioPharmica (ASX: BPH) made its debut on the ASX on Friday afternoon, closing slightly lower than its opening price of AUD$0.25 at $0.21. [ + ]

Sydney-based company Somnomed is preparing to list on the ASX later this month, with an IPO expected to raise AUD$12 million through the sale of 40 million shares at $0.30 per share. [ + ]

There must be something in the water in Sydney’s North Ryde that encourages biotech. [ + ]

Melbourne dementia drug-hunter Prana Biotechnology Ltd (ASX:PBT, NASDAQ:PRAN) has resolved a long-running patent dispute with Greek pharma PN Gerolymatos (PNG) over the composition and uses of Prana’s former lead anti-Alzheimer’s drug, clioquinol, or PBT-1. [ + ]

IP industry doubts have emerged as to whether the Australian Labor Party's proposed changes to Free Trade Agreement legislation -- to prevent drugmakers from using spurious patents to block generics -- would be valid. [ + ]

Perth nano-biotech company pSivida has been keeping its patent lawyers in the UK from their repose, with the company announcing that its UK subsidiary, Psimedica, has been issued with yet another US patent for its proprietary biomaterial BioSilicon. [ + ]

Progen's (ASX: PGL) CEO Lewis Lee confirmed today that its partnering strategy, as announced at last year's AGM, was proceeding on track, but that no agreements are pending. [ + ]

Shares in Sydney drug re-engineering company Eiffel Technologies (ASX: EIF) slumped today when the company announced a capital raising of AUD$3.0 million, placing 36.4 million fully paid ordinary shares at 8.25 cents per share. [ + ]

Future drug development efforts are likely to depend heavily on access to patient and clinical data, according to IBM's Dr Bruce Ross, who gave a keynote speech at the recent Health Informatics Conference 2004 held in Brisbane. [ + ]

Clinical Cell Culture (C3; ASX: CCE) has completed an AUD$9.8 million placement to Australian institutional and sophisticated investors to help fund the company's expansion into European and US markets. [ + ]

CSIRO has reported sharp rise in intellectual property revenues 2003-04 financial year, to $22 million -- a 60 per cent increase on its 2003-03 figure of $13.75 million. [ + ]

New Sydney biotechnology company Applimex Systems, Macquarie University’s latest spin-off, is commercialising microbes that, in the modern tabloid lexicon, qualify as 'superbugs'. [ + ]

Alchemia (ASX: ACL) has completed the scale-up of its manufacturing process for synthetic heparin on schedule. [ + ]