SYDNEY, Aug. 17 -- AsiaNet SANDOZ ACQUISITION... BASEL: Novartis AG announced today that its Sandoz genericsbusiness unit has completed the acquisition of Sabex HoldingsLtd., a leading Canadian generics pharmaceutical manufacturerin a US$565 million cash transaction that officially closed onAugust 13. http://www.novartis.com OMNITECH HOLDINGS... SYDNEY: Omnitech Holdings Limited has announced 2004 interimresults for the six months ended 30 June 2004. GENTRIS CORP... RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C: Gentris Corporation, a serviceprovider of pharmacogenomic testing, today announced thesigning of a preferred vendor and master services agreementwith Quintiles Transnational Japan K.K., a service provider tothe pharmaceutical industry in Japan. http://www.gentris.com SVMDA SESSION... ALMATY: The Senior Officials Committee of the Conference onInteraction and Trust Measures in Asia (SVMDA) is to be insession from August 16 till August 19 to make arrangements forthe SVMDA member-states' foreign ministers meeting scheduledfor October. http://www.prime-tass.ru FANNIE MAE... WASHINGTON, D.C.: Fannie Mae will redeem the principalamount of FOUR securities issues amounting to a total ofUS$166.556 million on various dates at a redemption price equalto 100 per cent of the principal amount redeemed plus accruedinterest. http://www.fanniemae.com PRA INTERNATIONAL... MCLEAN, Va: PRA International (PRA), a clinical researchorganization (CROs), today announced the launch of its newPediatric Clinical Development and Research Center in Lenexa,Kansas. http://www.prainternational.com AMTEL CORP... SAN JOSE & SAN DIEGO, Calif: Building on Atmel Corporation'srecently announced Z-Link product, the company is pleased toannounce it has reached an agreement with wireless softwareleader, Figure 8 Wireless, Inc., to integrate Figure 8's ZigBeeprotocol software with Atmel's 802.15.4 compliant Z-Link chipset. www.f8w.com www.zigbee.org MR GAY.COM... SAN FRANCISCO: Gay.com, a flagship website of PlanetOutInc., an online media company offering consumer services, newsand entertainment to more than 3.3 million active membersaround the world, today announced the five regional winners whowill compete for a $25,000 grand prize in the international Mr.Gay.com 2004 contest. http://www.planetout.com STEELE FOUNDATION... HONG KONG: The Steele Foundation, a full-service riskmanagement provider in the private security industry, announcedtoday that it has reinforced its presence in Asia with thelaunch of Steele Asia Pacific Ltd., increasing its globalnetwork to over twenty strategic business centers on fivecontinents. http://www.steelefoundation.com WISEKEY OFFERING... PARIS: WISeKey Offers Federated Identity Solutions on theWindows Server 2003 Platform WISeKey develops applications fororganizations that require a layer of security higher than istypically available in the market -- in sectors such asgovernment, finance and defense. http://www.wisekey.com (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited, translated news releases for worldwide clients. Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.)--InfoQuest (PP)--