In a retreating stock market, biotechnology stocks followed the crowd on Wednesday. Fueled by worries about the outlook for Federal Reserve credit policy, stock prices fell sharply in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials was down 41.73 points to 3,287.76 as declines led advances by 3-1. The NASDAQ composite index fell 10.83 to 553.24. A Federal Reserve status report that cited strengthening in the economy cooled hopes for any immediate further moves by the

Daniel F. Cain was named president and chief executive officer for Paravax Inc. of Fort Collins, Colo. Cain is co-founder of Synbiotics Corp. of San Diego. Paravax develops vaccines for the prevention of parasitic infections in companion animals. Cellegy Pharmaceuticals Inc. named Gerald Simmons president and chief executive officer. He was vice president of new ventures at Schering-Plough. The privately held Novato, Calif., company is focused on the development of dermatologic therapeutics to

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The recently dismissed president of PerSeptive Biosystems Inc. says in a lawsuit that he was kept in the dark about planned management changes until the company's five other directors set those changes in motion at a June 9 board meeting. James E. Coutre filed a wrongful termination suit three days later in Superior Court of Middlesex County in Cambridge, Mass., contending that the changes in management reporting functions effectively ended his role and his contract as the

Quidel Corp. said a recently issued U.S. patent covers the foundation technology for the company's birth control diagnostic products. The patent, No. 5,118,630, determines the infertile period that occurs in women each month. The technology includes the use of immunoassays to detect urinary progesterone metabolites and a cycle calendar to optimally identify the fewest days required for testing. When concentrations of the hormone metabolites reach or exceed threshold levels, a woman is

Agracetus Inc., a subsidiary of W.R. Grace & Co., said Tuesday that it has received a patent covering its technology used to transfer genes to treat human diseases such as AIDS, develop transgenic plants, and other specialized uses. U.S. Patent No. 5,120,657 covers the Middleton, Wis., company's Accell gene insertion instrument, used extensively by Agracetus, the company said. Current research into Accell gene therapy is focused on such illnesses as AIDS, cancer, high cholesterol, Parkinson's

Bainbridge Sciences Inc. and Diagnostic Products Corp. said Tuesday that they have concluded an international marketing agreement for PyloriTRAK, a new test for Helicobacter pylori developed by Bainbridge Sciences. The serum test detects human antibody response to the H. Pylori bacteria, which infects the stomach's lining and has been closely associated with ulcer disease, gastritis and stomach cancer, Bainbridge said. Under terms of the agreement, Diagnostic Products will receive rights

Envirogen Inc. filed for an initial public stock offering in a bid to become what it sees as the first pure-play public company in bioremediation, or the use of nature's own bugs to clean up toxic pollutants. Envirogen of Lawrenceville, N.J., which is developing proprietary methods for cleaning up chemical PCBs and other toxic contaminants from soil and water, plans to sell 1.2 million shares at between $7 and $8 each. The IPO's new shares would give the company 5.8 million shares outstanding

Austrian physicians conducting an additional Phase III clinical study of Immunomedics Inc.'s colorectal cancer imaging agent said ImmuRAID-CEA "had a decisive influence on treatment planning in every third primary colorectal cancer patient" and was superior to a CT-scan in the detection of early recurrences. The Morris Plains, N.J., company (NASDAQ:IMMU) presented the paper to the American Society of Colorectal Surgeons Congress in San Francisco. The study, reported by Peter Lechner of the

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Viagene Inc. said Tuesday that the FDA's Vaccine Advisory Committee has approved Phase I trials to test Viagene's HIV immunotherapeutic. The trial, which is to start around the end of the year, will be the first gene therapeutic-based commercial proposal aimed directly at treating HIV infection, the company said. "There have been other gene therapy trials, but they were not directed at HIV," said Steve Mento, Viagene's vice president of research and development. "They were

Transkaryotic Therapies Inc. said it has licensed commercial rights to the gene for low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor protein discovered at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The license provides the Cambridge, Mass., company with worldwide, non-exclusive rights to the gene for the development of TKT's proprietary gene therapy technology. Financial terms were not disclosed. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.

Somatix Therapy Corp. said Tuesday that it strengthened its potential patent position in gene therapy by licensing methods for using a patientLs genetically modified tumor cells to stimulate an immune response against cancer. Somatix (NASDAQ:SOMA) of Alameda, Calif., received the exclusive worldwide license from Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, which have filed for a U.S. patent on the methods. The approach to cancer

David Foster has been named vice president of finance and chief financial officer at Collagen Corp. He will continue to manage the Palo Alto, Calif., company's (NASDAQ:CGEN) MIS group and perform accounting and investor relations functions. Collagen develops, manufactures and markets biomedical devices for the treatment of defective, diseased, traumatized or aging human tissues. Marc C. Ostro, co-founder of The Liposome Company, was appointed to the board at VimRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. of

MENLO PARK, Calif. -- A second group of AIDS patients in Miami on Monday started a cell therapy that produced startling results against AIDS-related complications in a small Phase I study. The ex vivo cell therapy, developed by Applied Immune Sciences Inc., will be used with 10 patients. The company is also pursuing cell therapy applications for treating bone marrow transplantation and cancer. The second study is technically still a Phase I trial, according to Jerry Ford, AIS's manager of

BioChem Pharma Inc. announced Monday that it has entered into a collaborative research agreement with AB Astra of Sweden. The $5 million agreement includes an up-front payment, and research, funding and milestone payments made to the Laval, Quebec company. The deal is for a three-year period, but any royalties that come from products will be split. The research is to involve a lead compound, BCH-150, which is in the preclinical stage of development. This compound and others are synthetic

Biomira Inc. said Monday it has received regulatory approval for clinical trials of its Tru-Scint cancer in vivo diagnostic products in Germany. Oncologists and nuclear medicine specialists will conduct patient testing at 12 cancer centers and hospitals throughout Germany to determine the safety and efficacy of the products, the Edmonton, Alberta, company (ASE:BRA) said. The products to be tested are Tru-Scint AD for detecting breast and ovary adenocarcinomas, Tru-Scint SQ for squamous cell

BEAVERTON, Ore. -- Epitope Inc. on Monday blamed false rumors for a steep slide in its stock price last Friday, when it shed $2.63 a share to close at $16. Some investors see a darker culprit in a large overhang of short selling involving Epitope stock. Short selling involves a temporary loan of stock that is sold on the hopes that the stock price will drift lower so that the replacement stock can be purchased later at a lower price. "They're stuck in the stock," Robert Lempert, an investor

A newly formed Irish-based biotechnology firm, Trinity Biotech plc, filed last week with the U.S. Securities an Exchange Commission a registration for an initial public stock offering, according to Reuters news service. Trinity's planned IPO is for the sale of 300,000 units, which each would consist of four American depository shares representing four common shares plus two class A and one class B stock purchase warrants. The company was formed last January to acquire, develop and market rapid

Vestar Inc. said Monday that animal studies of the company's DaunoXome, its patented liposomal formulation of the established cancer drug daunorubicin, showed a nearly tenfold increase in the amount of drug accumulated in tumors, resulting in 10 times greater potency compared with the unencapsulated form of the drug. The preclinical results, published in the June 15 issue of Cancer Research, substantiate the emerging clinical data from Phase I/II trials of the drug against solid tumors and

MicroProbe Corp. said it has been issued two U.S. patents, No. 5,124,444 for the use of lactams in methods that promote nucleic acid extraction, and No. 5,105,730 claiming the use of lactams in the hybridization of nucleic acids in diagnostic applications of DNA probes. Lactams are a class of laboratory reagents that remain chemically stable at room temperature and are ideal for promoting the extraction and hybridization of nucleic acids, either in the form of DNA or RNA, the Garden Grove, Calif