Ceregene Inc. concentrates on the delivery of nervous system growth factors to treat neurodegenerative disorders using gene delivery. Specifically, the company created CERE-110 for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, which affects millions of people in the United States.

The company today announced the University of California, San Diego, has received a $5.4 million grant from the National Institute of Aging at the National Institutes of Health to support Ceregene’s phase II clinical study of CERE-100.

“We are pleased to be involved in evaluating CERE-110 which we believe may be a promising therapy for Alzheimer’s disease,” Paul Aisen, M.D., principal investigator of the planned phase 2 trial and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study at University of California, San Diego, stated in a press release. “Over five million people in the U.S. are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease — a disease which is devastating to patients and their families —

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Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

Allegiant Travel Co (ALGT) Applied Energetics Inc (AERG) Astoria Financial Corp (AF) Aviza Technology Inc (AVZA) AZZ Inc (AZZ) BigBand Networks Inc (BBND) Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP (BWP) BreitBurn Energy Partners LP (BBEP) Bruker Corp (BRKR) Carter's Inc (CRI) Casey's General Stores Inc (CASY) Cell Genesys Inc (CEGE) Cleco Corp (CNL) Colonial Properties Trust (CLP) CryoLife Inc (CRY) dELiA*s Inc (DLIA) The Empire District Electric Co (EDE) Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (FFH) Federal Signal Corp (FSS) Fossil Inc (FOSL) FX Energy Inc (FXEN) Hollywood Media Corp (HOLL) iCAD INC (ICAD) Iconix Brand Group Inc (ICON) Masimo Corp (MASI) NeurogesX Inc (NGSX) NitroMed Inc (NTMD) Occam Networks Inc (...

Cell Genesys (Nasdaq:CEGE) focuses on the development and commercialization of novel biological therapies for patients with cancer. The company’s lead product platform, GVAX immunotherapy for cancer, holds the potential to treat multiple types of cancer, including prostate cancer, leukemia, pancreatic cancer and lung cancer.

The company today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has placed an expected partial clinical hold on phase 3 program for GVAX. The halt follows the company’s August 27, 2008 announcement in which it said it will end the VITAL-2 phase 3 trial for GVAX.

Cell Genesys terminated the trial after its Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) observed an imbalance in deaths between two treatment arms of the VITAL-2 study, which compared GVAX immunotherapy in combination with Taxotere to Taxotere plus prednisone in patients with advanced prostate cancer.

In today’s announcement, Cell Genesys said the FDA confirmed that patients in the VITAL-1 phase 3 trial

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Cell Genesys, Inc. (Nasdaq: CEGE) focuses on the development and commercialization of biological therapies to treat multiple types of cancer. The company’s lead product platform, GVAX immunotherapy, holds the potential to treat various types of cancer, including prostate cancer, leukemia, pancreatic cancer and lung cancer. Cell Genesys today announced it has terminated VITAL-2, the second of two phase III clinical trials of GVAX.

The trial was set to compare GVAX immunotherapy in combination with Taxotere to Taxotere combined with prednisone in patients with advanced-stage prostate cancer. However, after reviewing an imbalance in deaths between the two treatment arms of study, the company’s Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) recommended the trial end to ensure patient safety.

“Patient safety is always our paramount concern and so we have immediately responded to the recommendation of the IDMC. We are currently notifying all participating clinical trial sites and regulatory agencies that enrollment of new patients

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