Accelrys buys the medical software company previously backed by General Electric and other venture investors

The crisis investment in loss-making gene therapy company Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics is a band-aid measure which does not eliminate its negative equity position, but provides it with additional room for manoeuvre.

Venture capital firms Canaan Partners, TPG Biotech, Care Capital and Mesa Verde Venture Partners also invested in the B round having provided $30m for Elevation's A round in January 2010.

The pharmaceutical corporation leads a $10m funding round for Daktari Diagnostics, which develops HIV testing equipment for use in developing countries.

Shire's Human Genetic Therapies unit will work with Atlas' staff in a similar way to the partnership struck between the VC firm and crops company Monsanto for life sciences companies in April.

The two companies "mutually agreed to terminate" the merger deal they reached in June that would have seen Allozyne shareholders have 65% of the combined entity.

John Knopf, chief executive of Acceleron, said: "We're especially pleased with Celgene's commitment to Acceleron as we jointly develop several promising products for the treatment of anaemia."

Alopexx Oncology will develop DI-Leu16-IL2, which Provenance had licensed from Germany-based Merck in March 2009.

Investors included New York-listed drugs company Abbott Laboratories' corporate venturing subsidiary, Abbott Biotech Ventures.