Two more clinical trial patients treated with an experimental hepatitis B drug are now awaiting liver transplants after their conditions worsened over the weekend. Two patients died last week after receiving liver transplants, and a third received a transplant last Friday and remains in critical but stable condition. To date, a total of five trial participants have required liver transplants after experiencing severe adverse reactions that researchers believe are directly related to the
DDI Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Tuesday it will reintroduce Palosein, an anti-inflammatory superoxide dismutase (SOD) used by veterinarians for the treatment of chronic soft tissue inflammation in horses and inflammation associated with some musculoskeletal conditions in dogs. The company (NASDAQ:DDIX) plans to begin selling Palosein in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 1993. DDI ceased marketing Palosein several years ago when a previous agreement with its sole U.S. distributor expired
Celgene Corp. said Thomas Ordiorne, 52, the company's president and chief operating officer since April, died of an apparent heart attack on July 10. John Ufheil, chairman and chief executive officer, has temporarily assumed his duties until a replacement is appointed. Odiorne succeeded Ufheil as president on April 5 and the position of chief operating officer was newly created. A 25- year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry, Odiorne left the presidency of the Pharmaceutical Development
A hyaluronic acid-based drug delivery system being developed by Hyal Pharmaceutical Corp. is able to enhance the delivery of a chemotherapeutic drug to tumors in animal models, according to results presented Monday at the Sixth International Conference on Regional Cancer Treatment being held in Weisbaden, Germany. Ehud Klein of Israel's Sheba Medical Center reported that in studies on mice with either mammary or bladder cancers, the uptake of the anti-cancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) into the
International Murex Technologies Corp. announced Monday that it has divested its blood typing and grouping reagent business for $3 million, plus preference shares that may be worth up to $4 million. The divested business consisted of Murex Biologicals Ltd. of Dartmouth, Novia Scotia (formerly Dominion Biologicals Ltd.), and Murex Biologicals Inc. of Conroe, Texas. They were sold to Samuel Brushett, a former director and executive vice president of IMTC, and a newly formed private company, NuBio
MicroCarb Inc. founder Howard Krivan, a chief scientific officer who single-handedly bought the Swedish research subsidiary with venture capital backing in 1991, has given notice of his resignation and immediately stepped down as a director. "I think the entire company was surprised," said Vic Esposito, chairman and chief executive officer. Krivan had called in sick on Monday and could not be reached for comment, but the company said he "cited irreconcilable differences with current management
Increasingly, foreign companies and governments are stealing information from U.S. biotechnology companies, Edward Appel, assistant special agent of the San Francisco division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation told BioWorld. "We've found several instances where biotechnology firms have been the victims of rather expensive information loss," he said. "There has been an upsurge in the last few years of intelligence collection targeting U.S. technology, not by countries thought of as
Seeking faster development of its lead cancer therapeutic in Europe, ImmunoGen Inc. has regained European rights to Oncolysin B from its partner, Roussel-Uclaf. The mutual decision was amicable and involved no money, ImmunoGen spokesman Mark Ratner said. The companies entered a partnership in 1989, believing Roussel-Uclaf of Romainville, France, would increase its oncology activities. The French partner began a Phase I/II trial in the fall of 1991 in relapsed patients stricken by B-cell
Eastman Kodak Co. announced Monday that it has received notification of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on its method of performing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnosis. The patent covers a containment device that allows clinical laboratories to conduct PCR-based assays with a much lower chance for contamination, according to Paul Allen, Kodak's manager of media relations. Kodak of Rochester, N.Y., became involved in PCR research in 1986 through a collaboration with
WASHINGTON -- The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed for public comment a rule that would exclude certain research and development companies from being defined as investment companies, as per the Investment Company Act of 1940. Exemption would relieve research and development companies -- notably biotechnology companies -- from a variety of onerous regulations. Under the Investment Company Act, biotechnology companies are prevented from attracting scientific talent by
Cortech Inc. has filed a revised analysis plan with the FDA for its Phase II study of Bradycor in patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and suspected sepsis, based on a risk model derived from the APACHE III data base. Developed over 15 years of analysis of more than 100,000 patients, APACHE is an accepted scoring system for critically ill patients. The APACHE III Sepsis Risk Model will allow Cortech to measure the effect of Bradycor on patients according to their
Nailing the AIDS virus with an effective vaccine or anti-viral is the goal of researchers on every continent. What makes their mission a little like nailing Jell-O to the wall is the slippery nature of HIV, an elusive quick-change artist. A molecular silver bullet aimed at one or another viral subunit target may hit a bull's eye today, but will be history tomorrow, when the virus changes its genomic spots. That is why much of the ongoing research seeks segments of HIV's genetic makeup that
Genzyme Transgenics Corp. closed its initial public offering on Friday, grossing $12 million on sales of 1.5 million shares at $8 each. The common stock (a total of 5.5 million shares are outstanding) also started trading Friday on the NASDAQ system as GZTC. The offering is being managed by PaineWebber Inc. and Kidder, Peabody & Co. Inc.; the underwriters have an option to purchase up to 225,000 additional shares to cover overallotments. Genzyme Transgenics filed its IPO on May 14 and was
Neozyme Corp. is moving beyond a single agent in burn patients to also develop skin ulcer treatments, potentially using more than one enzymatic agent to remove diseased tissue. The Cambridge, Mass., company (NASDAQ:NEOZ) will pay Genzyme a $2 million technology license fee and increase 1993 spending by $500,000 for this expanded program. Neozyme, formed to accelerate research and development of some of Genzyme's health care products, has been in a Phase I/II trial in patients who have moderate
Published June 23 & 30 (EPO); June 24 (WO) American Cyanamid Co. Tetracycline Stamford, Conn. resistance Regulated expression of tetracycline resistance determinant in E. coli; assays to identify tetracycline efflux pump inhibitors. American Cyanamid Co. E. coli expressing EPO 548 557 Stamford, Conn. alien genes DNA sequences, based on modifying repressor binding site of tetA gene of transposon Tn10, to direct protein expression. Baylor Coll. of Med. Senescent-cell DNA WO 93/12251 Houston
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, has joined the ranks of biotechnology supporters. In a letter released last week, Kerry asked President Clinton to treat the biotechnology industry separately from the pharmaceutical industry on the issue of price controls as he formulates national health care reform because of biotechnology's dependence on risk capital. "Unfortunately, the debate (over health care reform) has exacerbated the financial vulnerability of one of our most promising industries
Therion Biologics Corp. has started a Phase I/II trial with the first therapeutic cancer vaccine in U.S. clinical trials that bears the gene for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). The live virus vaccine is based on a poxvirus engineered to contain the gene for the human CEA protein, which is on the surface of many types of cancer cells. Called TBC-CEA, the protein is being developed in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI). "The rationale for this approach, which uses vaccinia
Alpha-Beta Technology Inc. completed a private placement of $20 million on Thursday by placing 1 million newly issued shares of common stock at $20 per share to several institutional investors. The purchase agreements for the shares were signed June 3. Vector Securities International Inc. arranged the transaction. Alpha-Beta (NASDAQ:ABTI) of Worcester, Mass., will use the net proceeds from the offering primarily to advance clinical trials of Betafectin, its proprietary genetically engineered
Dura Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Thursday that it has signed a letter of intent to sell the assets of its devices division to Pari Respiratory Equipment Inc. of Richmond, Va. With the sale of the devices, which include compressors and nebulizers, Dura of San Diego now intends to concentrate its resources on prescription pharmaceuticals for treating asthma, allergies and related respiratory conditions. In fact, Dura (NASDAQ:DURA) will funnel the proceeds of this sale into its core business
Lifecore Biomedical Inc. announced Thursday that U.S. District Court Judge David Doty has dismissed the class-action shareholder litigation pending against the company and its president and chief executive officer, James Bracke. A number of shareholder lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in October 1992 related to the decline of the price of Lifecore's common stock (NASDAQ:LCBM) and to alleged fraud by the defendants in misrepresenting the business
Two more clinical trial patients treated with an experimental hepatitis B drug are now awaiting liver transplants after their conditions worsened over the weekend. Two patients died last week after receiving liver transplants, and a third received a transplant last Friday and remains in critical but stable condition. To date, a total of five trial participants have required liver transplants after experiencing severe adverse reactions that researchers believe are directly related to the