IRS awards therapeutic discovery tax credits

Companies began announcing tax credit awards on Monday from the IRS under the Therapeutic Discovery Project Credit Program, with known awards ranging from $244,479 to $1.5 million. Top awards include $1.5 million to Access Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTCBB:ACCP), $1 million to Tengion Inc. (NASDAQ:TNGN) and $977,917 to Xoma Ltd. (NASDAQ:XOMA). The program is designed to provide tax credits or cash grants to companies with fewer than 250 employees to cover up to 50% of eligible R&D expenditures incurred in tax years 2009 or 2010. There were over 5,600 applications for the credit, for which a total of $1 billion was available. The maximum credit per company is $5 million. ...