Argus Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a public offering of 2.5 million shares of common stock. Underwriters S.G. Warburg Securities and Kidder, Peabody & Co. Inc. will have an option to purchase up to an additional 375,000 shares to cover overallotments. Argus (NASDAQ:ARGS) of Houston said proceeds will be used to fund preclinical and clinical testing of its product candidates, continued research and
Gynex Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Wednesday that it has granted a license to a company of the Organon Group for Gynex's patented dosage regimen for oral contraceptives. Organon exercised its option to get this license after successfully completing a human clinical trial to determine the efficacy of Gynex's regimen. Gynex (NASDAQ:GYNX) of Vernon Hills, N.J., received a $175,000 signing payment from Organon, part of Akzo Pharma, a division of Akzo of the Netherlands. If Organon successfully
Quidel Corp. announced Wednesday that it has acquired a majority interest in its largest European fertility product distributor, Tecnolab International B.V. of Alkmaar of the Netherlands. The San Diego (NASDAQ:QDEL) company did not disclose details of the acquisition. Tecnolab currently distributes Quidel's fertility products together with other immunoassay and genetic probe diagnostic products to specialized fertility clinics, clinical labs and research labs. Quidel intends to relocate the
Synergen Inc. announced Tuesday at the Hambrecht & Quist 11th Annual Life Sciences Conference that results from the Phase III trial of its interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra), Antril, will be known within the company sometime during the first quarter. The company also announced an equity investment in Selectide Corp. and the completion of a Phase I clinical trial. Jon Saxe, SynergenLs chief executive officer, said the Antril data will be made public Iat an appropriate scientific
ImmunoGen Inc. announced Tuesday that it has formed a new company to hold the rights to products that result from its ongoing research work with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The research explores the use of a protein responsible for the natural process of cell death, or apoptosis, in creating therapeutic drugs. The company made the announcement Tuesday at the Hambrecht & Quist 11th Annual Life Sciences Conference in San Francisco. The new entity, called Apoptosis Technology Inc. (ATI
Alza Corp. and Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corp. announced at H&Q on Tuesday that they have submitted a new drug application (NDA) to FDA for a controlled-release version of Sandoz's anti- hypertensive medication isradipine. The result of a joint development agreement between Alza of Palo Alto, Calif., and Sandoz of East Hanover, N.J., DynaCirc CR uses Alza's proprietary OROS osmotic controlled-release technology for once-a-day treatment of hypertension. Sandoz conducted safety and efficacy trials
James L. Vincent, chairman and chief executive officer of Biogen Inc., announced Tuesday at H&Q that Biogen has received notice of a patent allowance for Hirulog, its cardiovascular drug. Vincent also said that Biogen will begin a Phase III clinical trial for Hirulog in angioplasty. Revenues for the Cambridge, Mass., company in 1992 are expected to exceed $135 million, according to Vincent, with earnings per share to exceed $1.10. BiogenLs stock (NASDAQ:BGEN) closed Tuesday at $43.50, down $1
Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ:CELG) announced Tuesday at the H&Q conference that it has formed a strategic alliance with Betz Laboratories (NYSE:BTL) of Trevose, Pa., to commercialize Celgene's technology for treating toxic industrial waste effluents. Betz, which specializes in the chemical treatment of water, waste water and process systems, will commercialize Celgene's biological treatment systems, which use naturally occurring microbes, for reducing levels of specific pollutants in individual
Oclassen Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Tuesday that it has filed an amended registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering (IPO) of 3 million shares of common stock at between $17 and $19 per share. The company originally filed last April for 2.5 million shares at $12 to $14 a share, but withdrew its offering. The San Rafael, Calif., company will have 11.7 million shares outstanding after the offering. Lehman Brothers, Hambrecht & Quist Inc
PerSeptive Biosystems Inc. said Tuesday at the H&Q conference that it has begun marketing its Real-Time Process Monitor (RPM), the first instrument that performs real-time immunoassays to monitor biopharmaceutical productions processes such as purification and fermentation. With RPM, biopharmaceutical developers and manufacturers can continuously track the concentration and purity of target biomolecules, including proteins, peptides and oligonucleotides, or any other materials to which a
DepoTech Corp. said it has completed a $7.3 million round of venture financing, led by Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co., and Brentwood Associates. Other major investors included DSV Ventures, the Walden Group, Sorrento Ventures, and the company's initial investor, Sanderling. La Jolla, Calif.-based DepoTech, a privately held developer of systems for sustained-release drug delivery, said the proceeds will be used to expand research and development aimed at improved delivery of oncology drugs
The FDA intends to accelerate the review process this year for both drugs to treat fatal and debilitating diseases and for less- critical drugs. Several measures are under way at FDA. The user fee legislation, passed late last year, will provide the funds to hire about 600 additional drug reviewers to alleviate the agency's chronic short-handedness. But how quickly this will be implemented is still up in the air, said FDA spokeswoman Monica Revelle. Although the agency has been studying how
Cygnus Therapeutic Systems announced Tuesday that an electrically enhanced drug delivery system in early-stage development has been shown to have applications in the delivery of peptide-based therapeutics, the treatment of solid mass tumors and in non-invasive glucose monitoring. The transport technology, called electroporation, uses pulsed electrical fields to enhance the permeability of human tissue in a highly controlled and reversible manner, the Redwood City, Calif., company (NASDAQ:CYGN
Cephalon Inc. announced at the H&Q conference that it has begun Phase II clinical trials of Myotrophin in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease) patients. The West Chester, Pa., company (NASDAQ:CEPH) said it plans to enroll about 200 patients into a double-blind, placebo- controlled trial in clinics across the U.S. and Canada. "The Phase I data in normal subjects demonstrated an excellent safety profile for Myotrophin," said Frank Baldino Jr., president and chief
Telios Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Monday that it has signed a research agreement with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. to develop, test and market integrin-specific compounds for preventing and treating osteoporosis. Speaking at Hambrecht & Quist's 11th Annual Life Sciences Conference in San Francisco, Telios (NASDAQ:TLIO) also announced the results of its recently completed multicenter clinical trials on TelioDerm, an adhesion peptide that acts as a provisional matrix to accelerate
Sugen Inc. of Redwood City, Calif., announced Monday that it has formed an alliance with Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) of Thousand Oaks, Calif., to pursue receptor-based drug discovery and commercialization in the narrow field of megakaryocytopoiesis and the broad area of neurobiology. Amgen will fund four years of collaborative research, and has bought a 10 percent stake in Sugen. The collaborators will exploit Sugen's portfolio of receptor tyrosine kinases and receptor tyrosine phosphatases
If a certain baboon lives up to expectations, planning for human trials of a whole new concept in vaccines will reach Constantin Bona's drawing board in a matter of months. Bona, a microbiologist and immunologist at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, has already shown that his genetically engineered antigen-activating strategy works in mice. In that demonstrator-model experiment, Bona and his associate, Habib Zaghouani, transfected a mouse immunoglobulin (Ig) gene with an influenza virus subunit
Chiron IntraOptics Inc. said Monday that it has signed agreements to develop and market a drug implant system for intraocular delivery of therapeutic products, and an excimer laser for refractive surgery. Chiron IntraOptics, a business unit of Chiron Corp. (NASDAQ:CHIR) of Emeryville, Calif., said it licensed exclusive worldwide rights for ophthalmic applications of drug delivery technology from Control Delivery Systems Inc. (CDS). Chiron IntraOptics has also purchased 30 percent of the equity
Embrex Inc. announced today that it has entered into a leasing and licensing agreement with poultry producer Golden Poultry Co. Inc. for its Inovoject automated egg injection system. Golden, a majority-owned subsidiary of the world's third- largest broiler producer, Gold Kist Inc., will fully convert one of its poultry hatcheries to incorporate two of Embrex's patented in ovo injection systems. Gold Kist has the option of converting additional hatcheries over the terms of the agreement, which
LifeCell Corp. announced that 97.6 percent of its outstanding warrants were redeemed by shareholders, generating approximately $3.4 million in new capital for the Houston company. The company (NASDAQ:LIFC) redeemed the remaining warrants on Dec. 31. "We plan to use the proceeds ... to fund the sales and marketing activities related to the commercial introduction later this year of our processed dermal skin replacement tissue AlloDerm ... and also to accelerate our product development programs
Argus Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a public offering of 2.5 million shares of common stock. Underwriters S.G. Warburg Securities and Kidder, Peabody & Co. Inc. will have an option to purchase up to an additional 375,000 shares to cover overallotments. Argus (NASDAQ:ARGS) of Houston said proceeds will be used to fund preclinical and clinical testing of its product candidates, continued research and