T Cell Sciences Inc. on Thursday said it signed a previously announced product development and distribution agreement with AB Astra covering products resulting from the biotech company's work with T cell antigen receptors. The agreement could provide up to $32 million in revenues to T Cell (NASDAQ:TCEL) over the next several years. The company's shares rose 38 cents to $13.25. The agreement covers Monogen monoclonal antibodies and Peptigen peptides. They act as immunomodulators to treat
Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. has filed its first investigational new drug application, to test its antisense drug in the treatment of genital warts. If granted, the anti-papillomavirus compound will be the first antisense drug injected into humans. Last year, Genta Inc. (NASDAQ:GNTA) filed an IND for a topical antisense compound. Papillomavirus causes a variety of diseases, the most prevalent being genital warts. Available treatment, primarily surgical, is not curative, but the antisense approach
Zynaxis Inc. said Thursday that it completed its initial public offering of 2.5 million shares of common stock at $9 per share, raising $22.5 million. The price and size of the offering was increased from a proposed $7 to $8 per share and 2 million shares. The stock (NASDAQ:ZYNX) closed unchanged Thursday at $10.13. The company is developing cell linker molecules called Zyn- linkers for the delivery and retention of therapeutics and radiopharmaceuticals at disease sites. The company is focused
WASHINGTON -- The biotechnology industry may applaud the Bush administration's proposed budget for 1993, which contains significant increases in funding for biotechnology and biomedical research, and measures to expand support for the transfer of technology to industry. The industry may be less happy about the administration's plan to again seek user fees to support the Food and Drug Administration. The budget proposals submitted to Congress on Wednesday are the first round in what will be a
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration on Wednesday unveiled details of the president's Biotechnology Research Initiative, which proposes a 7 percent increase in federal funding for biotechnology research in fiscal year 1993 to about $4 billion. The increase, part of the proposed budget the president is sending to Congress, would be $271 million more than fiscal year 1992. "This presidential initiative will maintain the United States' lead in health-related biotechnology research and will
Protein Design Labs Inc. on Wednesday said it has raised $52.5 million in its initial public offering of 3.5 million shares of common stock priced at $15 per share. The Mountain View, Calif., company sold 1 million more shares than anticipated in the preliminary prospectus, and the price was raised from the proposed range of $10 to $12. The company's stock (NASDAQ:PDLI) closed unchanged at $15.13 on Wednesday. PDL is engaged in the computer-based design of proteins, primarily monoclonal
Oncor Inc. has raised $31.5 million in a secondary offering of 3 million shares of common stock at $10.50 per share, the company announced on Wednesday. The stock (NASDAQ:ONCR) rose 75 cents to $11.25 on Wednesday. The company markets for research use probes for the detection of cancer and genetic disease. The company also has Food and Drug Administration-approved probes and reagents for the diagnosis of leukemia and lymphoma. After the offering, the Gaithersburg, Md., company has 10 million
Shares of Immunex Corp. rose $5.13 to $56.63 on Wednesday after the Seattle company (NASDAQ:IMNX) said it would announce today a marketing agreement for certain of its oncology products. "The marketing alliance relates to the exchange of rights for certain oncology products," said spokesman Jason Rubin. He said the agreement does not include Leukine granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor, which the company markets to restore white blood cells in bone marrow transplant patients
Baxter Healthcare Corp. announced Wednesday that it will begin clinical trials this spring using blood stem cells and progenitor cells purified from bone marrow of patients undergoing radiation and chemotherapy. The trial, to be conducted at Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, will evaluate Baxter's bone marrow purification process in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and breast cancer. The process uses a monoclonal antibody, anti-CD34, to identify and purify stem and progenitor cells found in
Shares of Idexx Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) rose 88 cents on Wednesday to $24 after Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Glenn Reicin told his firm's sales force that he rated the Westbrook, Maine, company a "buy." "Idexx is one of the few companies in the $12 billion diagnostics industry that we believe is worthy of investment," Reicin wrote in his forthcoming report. "It has a dominant market share that we believe is sustainable in its core businesses for animal health and food quality assurance
Athena Neurosciences Inc. said Wednesday that it has been granted orphan drug designation for its Type B botulinum toxin for treatment of cervical dystonia. The chronic disorder is characterized by involuntary contractions of muscles, most often in the neck and/or shoulders. Injections of the toxin blocks the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, alleviating the spasms. The South San Francisco, Calif., company (NASDAQ:ATHN) plans to file to begin human trials of the toxin, called AN
Triplex Pharmaceutical Corp. said Tuesday that it has entered into its first corporate partnership, a five-year agreement with Hoechst A.G. worth up to $30 million to develop novel anti- viral drugs based on Triplex's triple helix technology. Triple helix compounds are designed to prevent the body from manufacturing disease-causing proteins by sabotaging protein assembly at the gene level. By binding to targeted portions of the DNA double helix, compounds form a triple helix that prevents the
Elan Corp. plc on Tuesday became the third company to receive Food and Drug Administration marketing approval for a transdermal nicotine patch. The company's stock (AMEX:ELN) jumped $3.88 to $53.63 on the news. The 24-hour ProStep patch will be sold by American Cyanamid subsidiary Lederle Laboratories for about $4 per day. Designed to help smokers quit in about four to eight weeks, the patch delivers 22 milligrams of nicotine a day. Lederle will offer users a support program to help them quit
TSI Corp. has completed a public offering of 2.3 million shares of common stock at $12.50 per share, raising $25 million, the company said Tuesday. Two million shares were offered by the company and 300,000 shares by three groups of selling shareholders. The latter included early venture investors T. Rowe Price Threshold Fund L.P., Matuschka Venture Partners and Memorial Drive Trust; Biogen Inc., which converted TSI class D warrants obtained when Biogen licensed certain transgenic technology to
Nova Pharmaceutical Corp. said Tuesday that it has netted $28.4 million from a secondary offering of 4 million shares of common stock at $8.50 per share. The company sold 3.6 million shares. The remaining 400,000 shares were sold by SKB Properties, an affiliate of SmithKline Beecham plc, and Marion Merrell Dow Inc. The stock (NASDAQ:NOVX) closed at $8.63, down 38 cents, on Tuesday. The Baltimore company, a developer of drug delivery systems and drugs to treat inflammation and central nervous
Matrix Pharmaceutical Inc. raised $52.5 million in an initial public offering of 3.5 million shares of common stock at $15 per share, the company said Tuesday. As with several other IPOs this year, the size and price of the Menlo Park, Calif., company's offering was increased. The preliminary prospectus had proposed a 2.5 million share offering at $11 to $13 per share. The stock is trading on NASDAQ under the symbol "MATX." MPI's protein matrix technology is intended to concentrate drug
WASHINGTON -- The White House planned today to release details of its biotechnology initiative, part of the more than $76 billion President Bush pledged for support of emerging technologies in his State of the Union Address last night. The president said his plan to ensure the long-term economic future of the nation required "common sense investments that will help us compete, long term, in the marketplace." Said Bush: "We must encourage research and development. My plan is to make the R&D tax
Collagen Corp. reported Tuesday that a one-time gain helped it break even in the quarter ended Dec. 31, but that earnings continue to be stymied by problems surrounding its injectable collagen products. Product sales for Collagen's second fiscal quarter were $16.5 million, up from the comparable 1991 figure of $14.3 million. Much of the increase was due to record quarterly sales of $4.9 million at its Target Therapeutics Inc. subsidiary, which overshadowed sharp drops in sales of collagen
Researchers at British Bio-technology Group plc reported that an antibody to the growth factor TGF-beta, added to wounds, can prevent scars from forming. The Oxford company’s antibody was able to stop the formation of scar tissue in rats, without any delay in healing or any reduction in the tensile strength of the healing wound, according to a report last week in The Lancet. The study, conducted at the University of Manchester, showed that wounds treated with the antibody contained less
Shares of Xoma Corp. rose 88 cents on Tuesday to $24 after Robertson, Stephens analyst Mark Simon told the firm's traders that the company's E5 monoclonal antibody to treat septic shock is likely to receive Food and Drug Administration approval soon after Centocor Inc.'s Centoxin. An FDA advisory committee last September recommended approval of Centoxin, but the FDA at that time said it wasn't ready to accept a recommendation on E5. Xoma's product doesn't have to go back before an advisory
T Cell Sciences Inc. on Thursday said it signed a previously announced product development and distribution agreement with AB Astra covering products resulting from the biotech company's work with T cell antigen receptors. The agreement could provide up to $32 million in revenues to T Cell (NASDAQ:TCEL) over the next several years. The company's shares rose 38 cents to $13.25. The agreement covers Monogen monoclonal antibodies and Peptigen peptides. They act as immunomodulators to treat