Despite widely held perceptions that biotech stocks have drifted down as a group this year, much of the fallout has been focused on top-tier stocks, with many smaller-cap companies sustaining gains made last year. The top-tier biotech stocks remain an average of 16 percent below their Dec. 31 close, despite getting an upward bounce on Wednesday. Of the nine stocks in the group -- Amgen Inc., Biogen Inc., Centocor Inc., Chiron Corp., Genentech Inc., Genetics Institute Inc., Genzyme Corp
WASHINGTON -- Genzyme Corp. said Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, used inaccurate information in recent Senate hearings to portray as excessive the company's orphan drug sales. At the Jan. 21 hearing of the Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, monopolies and business rights, Metzenbaum said Genzyme and other companies charged "unbelievable" prices for their orphan drugs. He said Genzyme had Ceredase revenues of $120 million on an R&D investment of $54 million. According to a Jan. 23 letter to
Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. said Wednesday that it has obtained from Pharmaceutical Quality Associates an exclusive worldwide license to diphencyprone, a drug to treat a suspected autoimmune disorder known as alopecia areata. Terms weren't disclosed. Alopecia areata, which affects about 2.6 million Americans, results in partial hair loss. Current treatment involves injection of steroids directly into the scalp and skin. Diphencyprone has been tested on more than 750 patients in pilot studies
Miller Diversified Corp., a commercial cattle feeder and agricultural finance services company, said it has acquired Genetic Engineering Inc. Genetic Engineering of Denver specializes in bovine genetics, technology aimed at improving the quality of cattle reproduction. Under the deal, it will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the La Salle, Colo., company in a swap of common stock and warrants. The price will be determined by the value of the stock when the deal is approved by regulatory
Environmental Remediation Inc. said it has acquired The International Biochemicals Group, previously a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. Terms were not disclosed. ERI, located in Baton Rouge, La., specializes in biotreatment technology for the hazardous and non-hazardous waste industries. IBG, with units in Dublin, Ireland, and London, and a sales organization in Naperville, Ill., develops microbiological products for use in environmental protection and pollution control
The European Community Council of Ministers on Tuesday extended the ban on the use of bovine somatotropin (BST) in the 12-nation European Community through December 1993. The ministers based their decision on an EC Commission report that details potential economic effects of BST on the production and consumption of milk products. The hormone increases milk production in cows. The politics of BST, stymied in the United States primarily by concern about its impact on small dairy farmers, is at
The setbacks for U.S. Bioscience Inc. and MGI Pharma Inc. should neither surprise investors nor be taken as a harbinger for biotech therapeutics, even though most of the highly visible drug flops are yet to come. Instead, analysts predict that biotech drugs will prove to be more approvable than conventional chemical pharmaceuticals. An FDA advisory committee's rejection of U.S. Bioscience's Ethyol chemoprotective on Jan. 31, followed on Monday by MGI's announcement that it was suspending Phase
Seragen Inc. said Tuesday that it has filed for an initial public offering of 3 million shares of common stock with a proposed price of $17 and $20 per share. Seragen, which has no corporate partners, is developing drugs based on fusion toxins. Fusion toxins consist of fragments of toxin linked to ligands that target specific cell surface receptors. The company's interleukin-2 fusion toxin is in Phase II trials for cutaneous T cell lymphoma and for severe rheumatoid arthritis. The company has
Collagen Corp. on Tuesday announced that a District Court has dismissed a product liability case brought against the company by a woman who claimed the company's injectable collagen implants caused her to develop an autoimmune disease. The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted the company's request for a summary judgment against the plaintiff's claims that collagen implants caused her to develop polymyositis/dermatomyositis. The case was the 14th product liability suit
Calgene Inc. has filed for a secondary offering of 2 million shares of common stock, the Davis, Calif., company said. Calgene hopes to begin marketing in 1993 the first genetically engineered food, a tomato with enhanced shelf life. The tomato is being reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration. The ag biotech company is also developing canola oil products and herbicide-tolerant cotton. Last April, Calgene raised $21 million through an offering of 3.5 million shares at $6 per share. Calgene
MGI Pharma Inc. lost more than half its market value on Monday, closing down $11.63 at $10.75, following the announcement that the company has suspended clinical trials of MGI 136, a chemoprotective agent. The Minneapolis company (NASDAQ:MOGN) said it was immediately halting Phase III trials of MGI 136 because patients receiving the therapy were dropping out at a higher rate than those receiving a placebo, and were losing more weight, according to spokeswoman Lori Weiman. The trial was testing
Biomira Inc. and Sterling Winthrop Inc. on Monday announced a multiyear agreement to develop cancer products incorporating Biomira's monoclonal antibodies. Biomira shares (NASDAQ:BIOMF) rose $1 to $24.88. Under the agreement, Sterling of New York has an exclusive option to license worldwide, excluding Canada, five of Biomira's existing murine antibodies that recognize carbohydrates on the surface of cancer cells. The MAbs are products of Biomira's Active Specific Immunotherapy therapeutic
Alpha 1 Biomedicals Inc. said Monday that it has received a $1 million order for Thymosin alpha 1 from its Italian licensee, Sclavo S.p.A. The order is the Washington, D.C., company's first product sale. Thymosin is a synthetic version of a natural thymic hormone that plays a role in modulating the immune system. Sclavo filed last July for Italian marketing approval of Thymosin to treat several immunodeficiency diseases. It expects a decision by midyear, according to Alpha 1 (NASDAQ:ALBM
ProCyte Corp. for the first time has presented data on the mode of action of the company's Iamin peptide-copper compound in wound healing. According to data presented last week at the Society for Investigational Dermatology Conference in Carmel, Calif., the peptide portion of the compound delivers the copper ion to fibroblast cells and the copper ion activates the fibroblast to produce collagen. Fibroblasts are the cells that make collagen, one of the proteins required for wound healing. "We
Interneuron Pharmaceuticals Inc. has entered into a collaboration with Ohio University to isolate, grow and genetically engineer yolk sac stem cells. The technology, which is in very basic research, has potential applications in treating certain cancers and immune system diseases, including use in bone marrow transplants. But human uses are very far off, said Dr. Morris Laster of The Castle Group, which brought Interneuron and the university together. The mammalian embryonic yolk sac stem
DynaGen Inc. on Monday said it has filed to begin Phase II clinical trials of its NicErase System for smoking cessation. NicErase is a non-nicotine substance that acts on the nicotine receptors in the brain. It uses the company's biopolymer-based controlled release drug delivery system. "This is a weekly subcutaneous injection which takes care of the compliance and abuse issue that exists with the patch and the gum," said Jack Barlow, senior vice president for corporate planning. According to
An improved version of Oncor's B/T Gene Rearrangement Test System, used in the diagnosis and monitoring of leukemia and lymphoma, has received Food and Drug Administration marketing approval, the company announced Monday. The company's technology extracts DNA from the white blood cells of a blood sample. DNA probes then allow the clinician to use genetic markers to identify a population of cancerous cells and distinguish whether leukemias and lymphomas are of B or T cell origin. "This uses non
Medicorp Inc. has acquired exclusive North and South American rights to a technology for in vivo genetic engineering developed at the Institut Jacques Monod. The technology solves a key barrier to the integration of genetic material from different species or genera, according to the Montreal company. One barrier to integration of new genetic material in living cells is the "mismatch repair system" possessed by every cell to protect it from invasion by foreign DNA. When base pairs between two
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday that it has received orphan drug designation from the Food and Drug Administration for ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. The Tarrytown, N.Y., company (NASDAQ:REGN) plans to begin clinical trial of CNTF, its lead product, by midyear. In animal studies, CNTF has been shown to promote the survival of motor neuron cells that degenerate and die in people with ALS, the company said
G-CSF Preferable in Some Cases Physicians have reported a reaction to bone marrow stimulators that led them to conclude that G-CSF is a better choice than GM-CSF in some cases for treating complications of chemotherapy. Doctors at Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia were treating a woman who had undergone extensive chemotherapy for lymphoma. The patient developed fever and loss of white blood cells. Treatment with GM-CSF appeared to cause destruction of her red blood cells. After
Despite widely held perceptions that biotech stocks have drifted down as a group this year, much of the fallout has been focused on top-tier stocks, with many smaller-cap companies sustaining gains made last year. The top-tier biotech stocks remain an average of 16 percent below their Dec. 31 close, despite getting an upward bounce on Wednesday. Of the nine stocks in the group -- Amgen Inc., Biogen Inc., Centocor Inc., Chiron Corp., Genentech Inc., Genetics Institute Inc., Genzyme Corp