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Hot Off the Wire – GSK pays $40M to close deal with Maryland firm; Sprint plans to cut debt; Google backs easing of software exports

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A roundup of the latest high-tech news from The Associated Press:

• GSK deal with Nabi Pharmaceuticals loses

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Nabi Pharmaceuticals said Monday it closed an option and license agreement for the smoking vaccine candidate NicVAx with GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK).

The deal is potentially worth more than $500 million, including a $40 million upfront payment to Nabi and future milestone and royalty payments.

Nabi shareholders voted in favor of the deal on Tuesday. The companies announced it in November.

Nabi is developing NicVAx, which is intended to train the immune system to make antibodies that will attach themselves to nicotine. The goal is to keep the nicotine molecules from reaching the brain so people can quit smoking and not start again.

GlaxoSmithKline, which operates its U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, N.C., will also start developing a second-generation version of the vaccine.

• Google backs easing of software export rules

GENEVA — Google's director of policy communications has welcomed the U.S. Treasury Department's decision to relax restrictions on exporting Internet communications services to Iran, Sudan and Cuba.

Bob Boorstin told a human rights meeting in Geneva on Tuesday that the move "is a great accomplishment" that will help activists around the world.

The Treasury said the change to existing trade sanctions was intended to help people "exercise their most basic rights" with the help of instant messaging service and e-mail.

• Sprint to pay down debt, CFO says; shares climb

NEW YORK — Shares of Sprint Nextel Corp. rose Monday after Chief Financial Officer Bob Brust told investors the telecommunications company plans to pay down its debt and continue to strengthen its balance sheet.

"(In) the next 30 months, we have about $5.2 billion of debt coming due. Right now we plan to pay that as due, not refinance," said Brust at the Raymond James Institutional Investors Conference, according to a transcript.

He also told investors that after 10 percent declines in Sprint's revenue for each of the past two years, "this year we hope it is more stable or flattish."

Sprint was the only major U.S. wireless carrier to lose customers last year, which hurt its revenue. The company had 48.1 million customers at the end of the year, putting it in third place behind Verizon Wireless, which had 91.2 subscribers, and AT&T Inc., which had 85.1 million

Brust said Monday its postpaid, or contract, customer losses are "narrowing quite a bit," while prepaid "has gotten much stronger."

This, he added, should help stabilize revenue, and "maybe in the next several quarters, we will actually see some growth in revenue which would be the end of the turnaround."

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