MethylGene has enrolled its first patient in a single-agent phase II clinical trial for the treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma. This has resulted in payments from the company's partners, Pharmion Corporation and Taiho Pharmaceutical, of $4 million and $1.5 million, respectively.

Sanofi-Aventis and Japan's Taiho Pharmaceutical have entered into an agreement giving the French big pharma firm the rights to develop and market S-1, an oral anticancer agent.