Following U.S. Food and Drug Administration review, the Company is initiating a U.S. Phase 2 clinical trial using intravenous administration of REOLYSIN in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin in patients with non-small cell lung cancer with K-RAS or EGFR-activated tumours. The Principal Investigator is Dr. Miguel Villalona-Calero, Professor Division of Hematology/Oncology and Department of Internal Medicine and Pharmacology at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“This trial gives Oncolytics the opportunity to treat NSCLC patients in a first-line clinical setting,” said Dr. Brad Thompson, President and CEO of Oncolytics. “Assuming we achieve an acceptable response rate, the combination of REOLYSIN with paclitaxel and carboplatin for NSCLC would be a strong candidate for registration studies.”

About Oncolytics Biotech Inc.

Oncolytics is a Calgary-based biotechnology company focused on the development of oncolytic viruses as potential cancer therapeutics. Oncolytics’ clinical program includes a variety of Phase 1/2 and Phase 2 human trials using REOLYSIN its proprietary formulation of the human reovirus, alone and in combination with radiation or chemotherapy. For further information about Oncolytics, please visit www.oncolyticsbiotech.com

Gilead Sciences remains an attractive takeover target for major drugmakers because of its promising pipeline and consistent revenue, primarily from HIV medicines Viread, Truvada and Atripla. However, a takeover of the biotech firm may prove difficult because Gilead’s growth strategy has always focused on “building a very strong independent company,” Chief Operating Officer John Milligan said.

Big drug companies, hungry for the new products developed by innovative biomedical outfits, have escalated their acquisitions. For years they’ve been purchasing small biotech outfits, but now they’re moving up the food chain to the industry’s large fry. Chiron Corp. of Emeryville, founded in 1981, was snapped up by Novartis in 2006. And the oldest and biggest of the Bay area’s three star firms, Genentech Inc. of South San Francisco, may bow to a takeover offer from another Swiss drugmaker, Roche, this year.

Meanwhile, Gilead has been shooting up the biotech ranks through steady growth of its HIV drugs. With a market capitalization of $48 billion, it’s nipping at the heels of biotech giant Amgen Inc., which ranks second in the world to Genentech. Gilead plans to double its floor space through a construction boom at its Foster City headquarters, and more than double its workforce of 3,200 by 2017. The company is charging ahead as though no outside buyer is going to chart its destiny.

But after Roche stunned Genentech with a purchase offer last month, no biotech company of any size has been considered safe from a takeover bid. Gilead could be seen as a tempting morsel, said John McCamant, editor of the Medical Technology Stock Letter in Berkeley.

An Emeryville company attempting to tap an Australian weed for a treatment of a precancerous skin condition has landed a new top management team and a $24 million investment after a failed IPO.

Peplin Inc — based in Australia until last year when South San Francisco venture capital firm MPM Capital invested in it— said the funding came from New Entrprise Associates, MPM and two other existing investors from Australia. The company also brought on biotech veterans Tom Wiggans as CEO and Dr. Eugene Bauer as president and chief medical officer.

The cash comes nearly three months after Peplin withdrew plans for a $75 million initial public offering and as it pushes its only current compound deeper into clinical trials. In that time, CEO Michael Aldridge left the company, and Wiggans and Bauer, who were members of Peplin’s board and had worked together managing dermatology drug maker Connetics Corp., joined the executive ranks.

“We hope this (cash) will take us through Phase III,” Bauer said.