Stock of Synergen Inc. rose $3 on Monday, closing at $61.25, after Alex. Brown & Sons. analyst David Webber raised his 1994-96 earnings estimates and repeated a "strong buy" on the stock. Webber also raised his six-to-12 month price target for Synergen stock (NASDAQ:SYGN) to $75 per share. "We feel increasing confidence that Synergen's Antril interleukin-1 receptor antagonist for treatment of sepsis is meeting with success in Phase II clinical trials and that a product license application could
WASHINGTON - As President Bush awarded 14 outstanding technologists the 1991 Medal of Technology on Monday, a team led by some of the nation's top biotechnology executives established a foundation to support the medal. The Foundation for the National Technology Medal will publicize the medal, which was first awarded in 1985, and its recipients and establish educational programs in science and technology, according to George Rathmann, Icos Corp. chairman, who is the foundation's co-founder and
The board of directors of IAF BioChem International Inc. on Monday approved a 2-for-1 stock split intended to make the shares more accessible to investors. IAF BioChem stock (NASDAQ:BCHXF) closed at $28.75, up $1.25, on Monday. The Laval, Quebec, company has 18 million shares of common stock outstanding prior to the split, which is subject to approval by regulatory authorities. The split will take effect Nov. 4 for shareholders of record as of Oct. 30. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All
Lidak Pharmaceuticals has received a Phase I SBIR grant to optimize a mouse model intended for cancer research in which a human tumor is grown in mice with an inborn immune deficiency. The $50,000 grant from the small business innovative research program of the National Institutes of Health will enable the La Jolla, Calif.-based company to further characterize and optimize the mouse model, which the company said will allow more rapid development of anti-cancer drugs. Human cancers of the white
ImmunoGen Inc., has begun a Phase II clinical trial of Oncolysin B to treat multiple myeloma, a fatal form of bone marrow cancer, at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. ImmunoGen of Cambridge, Mass., estimates that 12,300 new cases of multiple myeloma will occur in the United States in 1991. Oncolysin B links the monoclonal antibody Anti-B4 with blocked ricin, a plant toxin. The B4 antigen is expressed on stem cells, the precursors of blood cells, within the malignant myeloma
Ivax Corp. and Noven Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Friday that they have signed a letter of intent for Ivax to acquire Noven in a deal valued at $47 million. Ivax would acquire the 13.4 million outstanding shares of Noven stock (NASDAQ:NOVN) for $3.50 a share, payable in shares of Ivax common stock. Noven stock closed at $3, down 63 cents, on Friday. Based on its Friday closing of $30.63, Ivax (AMEX:IVX) would issue about 1.5 million new shares. Ivax has about 40 million shares outstanding before
Baxter Healthcare Corp. has asked for a summary judgment to dismiss patent litigation brought against it by Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc. and The Scripps Research Institute. Rhone-Poulenc and Scripps allege that Baxter is infringing Scripps' Factor VIII:C patent Re. 32,011. Rhone-Poulenc and Scripps last week filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Delaware for a preliminary injunction to prevent sales of Hemofil-M by Baxter's Hyland Division. Hemofil-M is a non- recombinant, monoclonal-purified
Clinical Technologies Associates said Friday that Tredegar Industries, an investor in the company, will purchase an additional 112,500 shares of CTA common stock, netting CTA $900,000. Tredegar's holdings will total 326,786 shares, or 7 percent of shares outstanding. CTA, a drug delivery company based in Elsmford, N.Y., hopes to raise another $5 million from the sale of 841,250 shares of stock underlying warrants that were issued as part of the company's initial public offering. The warrants
Vaccine developer Univax Biologics Inc. has a pipeline of products reaching the clinic. The Rockville, Md., company derives hyperimmune intravenous immunoglobulins (IGIVs) from human plasma containing specific antibodies induced by its vaccines. Univax recently began Phase I trials in healthy volunteers of a vaccine targeted at a bacterium that colonizes the lungs of children with cystic fibrosis. The mucoid exopolysaccharide pseudomonas vaccine is targeted at a mucus-producing strain of
APPLIED IMMUNE REORGANIZES MANAGEMENT ... Applied Immune Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:AISX) of Menlo Park, Calif., said it has appointed a new executive and reorganized its senior management to speed commercialization of its device-based therapeutic systems for treating immune-related diseases. James G. Smith, formerly corporate vice president of sales at Collagen Corp., has been named to the new position of senior vice president of clinical/regulatory affairs. Dr. Thomas B. Okarma, the company's
Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc. and The Scripps Research Institute have filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent sales of Hemofil-M Factor VIII:C by Baxter International Inc. and its Baxter HealthCare Corp. unit. Rhone-Poulenc and Scripps said they filed the motion on Thursday, pending resolution of a patent infringement lawsuit filed in 1987. The action in U.S. District Court in Delaware seeks to stop Baxter from allegedly infringing Scripps' patent Re. 32,011 for ultrapure Factor VIII
Stock of Centocor Inc. has jumped 40 percent since a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended approval of Centocor's septic shock product on Sept. 4. The stock (NASDAQ:CNTO) closed up $5.75 at $52.50 on Thursday, further spurred by positive comments made by Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Jeffrey Casdin after the market's close on Wednesday to Oppenheimer's national retail and institutional sales forces. Genetics Institute Inc. (NASDAQ:GENI) rose $3.25 to $38 after Cowen & Co. analyst
Research using the immune stimulant being developed by Ribi ImmunoChem Research Inc. has found that it can selectively affect different cells of the immune system, and thereby may prove useful in AIDS and in cancer. The new research was conducted at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and published in the September issue of the journal Infection and Immunity. The study shows that Ribi's monophosphoryl lipid A, a derivative of the powerful bacterial toxin that prompts the
Synthecell Corp. said Thursday that it has received $1 million from Elliott Associates L.P. of New York in the first closing of a fund-raising round the company hopes will total $5 million. Elliott is the lead investor in the round and will be represented on Synthecell's board by Charles K. MacDonald. Rockville, Md.-based Synthecell is developing antisense technology, and manufactures custom synthetic DNA and peptides. "Our strategy is disease-targeted rather than getting behind a particular
Diagnostic Products Corp. will acquire the remaining 60 percent of its distributor in the United Kingdom, Diagnostic Products (U.K.) Ltd. The British company will become a wholly owned subsidiary after the transfer. Diagnostic Products Corp., based in Los Angeles, markets more than 2,200 different diagnostic kits based on monoclonal antibodies and antigens made by recombinant DNA, said Sigi Ziering, company chairman. The British unit uses U.S.-made monoclonals in its manufacturing, which will
Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp. (NASDAQ:ALLP) of San Diego has filed for an offering of 2 million shares of common stock. If the offering is completed, Alliance would have 16.5 million shares outstanding. Oppenheimer & Co., Lehman Brothers and Cowen & Co. are underwriters for the issue. The company plans to use the proceeds to continue development of proprietary pharmaceutical products based on perfluorocarbon and emulsion technologies. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.
Collaborative Research Inc. announced that it is offering an advanced cystic fibrosis testing service. The service will use a test developed by the company that detects concurrently the 10 most common mutations for cystic fibrosis. The process allows for a detection rate of more than 90 percent of cystic fibrosis carriers of Northern European ancestry, according to the Bedford, Mass., company (NASDAQ:CRIC). Competing tests detect a maximum of five mutations, yielding a detection rate of 80
Syntro Corp. has licensed European marketing rights for its cattle vaccine, IBR/Marker, to Hoechst Veterinar GmbH. Under the agreement, the Hoechst AG subsidiary will obtain regulatory approval, and Syntro is to receive licensing fees as well as manufacturing and royalty revenues. The herpes virus that the IBR vaccine fights is still targeted for eradication in Europe, so the marker aspect of the vaccine is more important there than in the United States, where herpes is already widespread
InnoVet Inc. announced Thursday that it has agreed to develop a new formulation of a proprietary Cyanamid Co. drug, using its patented drug delivery system. Cyanamid has the right to commercialize the formulation, with an option or license agreement to be negotiated. InnoVet (NASDAQ:IVET) of Boca Raton, Fla., has worldwide animal care marketing rights to the Microdroplet technology, which can deliver drugs that do not normally dissolve in the bloodstream. The technology encloses a microscopic
Genetics Institute Inc.'s licensee, Sandoz Ltd., on Wednesday received a European patent covering the process for making granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor. The patent, No. 188,479, is the first European GM-CSF patent to issue, said GI spokeswoman Melinda Lindquist. The patent covers the DNA, vectors, host cells and the process for making recombinant human GM-CSF. In response, competitor Immunex Corp. on Wednesday said it expected its European licensee to challenge the scope of
Stock of Synergen Inc. rose $3 on Monday, closing at $61.25, after Alex. Brown & Sons. analyst David Webber raised his 1994-96 earnings estimates and repeated a "strong buy" on the stock. Webber also raised his six-to-12 month price target for Synergen stock (NASDAQ:SYGN) to $75 per share. "We feel increasing confidence that Synergen's Antril interleukin-1 receptor antagonist for treatment of sepsis is meeting with success in Phase II clinical trials and that a product license application could