Although he gave President Clinton high marks for including high technology in his budget proposal, the head of the new biotechnology trade association cautioned that the president must also keep in mind that price controls could seriously damage the biotechnology industry. On Friday, Carl Feldbaum, president of the newly merged biotechnology trade association, praised Clinton for including proposals for increased spending in high-technology research -- including biotechnology -- in the $1.52
Cantab Pharmaceuticals plc announced that a preliminary analysis of a Phase I/II clinical trial on LM-CD45, its drug for preventing acute rejection episodes following organ transplantation, was presented last week at the British Transplant Society meeting in Exeter. In the open-label safety study on 40 patients, donor kidneys were treated prior to transplantation with LM-CD45, which is a pair of monoclonal antibodies that bind to the CD45 antigen on the surface of the kidney's dendritic cells
Advanced Polymer Systems Inc. (APS) announced that it has completed its acquisition of Premier Inc., a marketing and distribution company specializing in over-the-counter drug and toiletry products. APS (NASDAQ:APOS) of Redwood City, Calif., will exchange approximately 450,000 shares of common stock for all the shares of Premier. Premier had 1992 revenues of about $7. 5 million. The company said the merger represents an ongoing vertical integration of APS and should allow the company to
Collaborative Research Inc. announced Thursday that it intends to sell its genetic and cancer testing business, Collaborative Diagnostics. The move is part of the strategic restructuring initiated by the company's new president and chief executive officer, Robert Hennessey. "The financial commitment required for a successful growth strategy in cancer and genetic diagnostic testing falls well beyond available resources," Hennessey explained. In fact, Hennessey brought with him to Collaborative
Hybridon Inc., a privately held antisense technology company, announced Thursday that it has garnered $65 million in private stock placements and strategic collaborations since the beginning of 1993. The most recent capital infusion -- about $20 million -- came from two private placements of convertible preferred stock. In addition, Hoffmann-La Roche has taken a $4 million equity position in the Worcester, Mass., company, per the terms of the strategic alliance reached between the two companies
With the resignations on Thursday of its chief executive officer, president and director, Jon Saxe, and vice president of clinical research, Michael Catalano, Synergen Inc. will scale down into a "more entrepreneurial" company, said Ken Collins, executive vice president. Collins and Mark Young were both promoted from vice president to executive vice president, and with executive vice presidents Greg Abbot and Robert Thompson will work as a presidential team. Larry Soll, one of four University
Ortho Biotech Inc. announced that its recombinant human erythropoietin (epoetin alfa), sold as Procrit, has been approved by FDA for treating anemia caused by chemotherapy in patients with non-myeloid malignancies. In clinical studies, Procrit decreased blood transfusion requirements and their related risks after the first month of therapy and increased hematocrit levels in anemic cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The placebo-controlled double-blind trials involved 131 anemic cancer
You won't find Taxomyces andreanae in even the latest directory of taxonomy. But you will find it in newspaper headlines and TV news programs. You will also find it as the fungal focus of a paper in Thursday's issue of Science, titled "Taxol and Taxane Production by Taxomyces andreanae, an Endophytic Fungus of Pacific Yew." Its lead author, chemistry research assistant professor Andrea Stierle at Montana State University, Bozeman, gave her given name to designate the species of the Taxomyces
Arcturus Pharmaceutical Corp. announced that it has completed a $5 million second round of venture financing. The financing was led by Highland Capital Partners. Three first- round investors -- Dillon Read & Co. Inc., Commonwealth BioVentures Inc. and BancBoston Ventures -- also participated in this latest financing. Arcturus was formed in 1991 to develop and commercialize products for dermatological disorders. In August of that year the Cambridge, Mass., company received $600,000 seed capital
Diatech Inc. announced that it has filed an investigation new drug (IND) application with FDA on its imaging agent for detecting deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. The Londonderry, N.H., company is developing a technetium- 99m labeled peptide -- called P280 -- that is specific for activated platelets. In pilot studies on nine patients in Naples, Italy, P280 was able to detect thrombi in the legs "as quickly as five minutes after administering the product," explained Richard Dean
A Canadian blood substitute company said Wednesday that is preparing to have its common shares publicly traded in Canada, and hopes to net C$33 million (U.S.$26 million). Hemosol Inc. of Toronto is offering almost 3.2 million common shares at C$11 (U.S. $8.69) each for gross proceeds of almost C$35 million (U.S.$27.65 million), said Alun Davies, the company's president and chief executive officer. The offering is being underwritten by Gordon Capital Corp., Midland Walwyn Capital Inc., Wood
Some travel to Everest. Some visit the bottom of the ocean. And a few lucky explorers have even made it to the moon. But Craig Venter has been having just as much fun in his own laboratory, exploring the genome. His recent discoveries are helping scientists to determine the functions of genes. It was drudgery that drove Venter to advance the science of sequencing, and to establish his Institute for Genomic Research, based in Gaithersburg, Md., he told the audience at the First International
If the FASB has its way, companies will have to charge the fair value of stock options against earnings in the future. This could create an accounting nightmare, and might force some companies to abandon the incentive practice of giving employees -- present and future -- a stake in the success of their business. On Wednesday the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), based in Norwalk, Conn., formally proposed that companies recognize on their books an expense for all stock- based
A potential next-generation anti-AIDS drug is in the making between the National Cancer Institute of National Institutes of Health and the Sanyo-Kokusaku Pulp Co. (SKP) of Tokyo. SKP and NCI retrovirologists are co-inventors of a U.S. patent application titled "Anti-Viral Compounds and Their Uses." These compounds are a series of eight halogen-substitution nucleoside analogs, chemical kin to, but different from, the current anti-AIDS prescription drugs, AZT and ddI (dideoxyinosine). Like their
Applied Immune Sciences Inc. (AIS) announced Tuesday that it has submitted a 510(k) application to the FDA for marketing clearance on its CELLector device for selecting T cells. The CELLector has been used as a T cell depletion device in clinical trials on bone marrow transplantation (BMT) procedures of the allogeneic sort, in which the marrow is taken from either matched-related or matched-unrelated donors. The T cells are removed from the donor's marrow prior to implantation. According to
Amersham International plc's acquisition of United States Biochemical Corp. (USB) became a matter of record April 2, the start of Amersham's new fiscal year. The acquisition, announced March 15, is potentially worth $69 million. USB of Cleveland received $51.75 million of that upon completion of the acquisition. The remainder -- up to $17.25 million -- will be paid over the next three years contingent on agreed-upon sales levels of certain of USB's products. Vector Securities International Inc
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Flouting the "strong recommendations" of a National Institutes of Health review committee, the Army has decided to proceed with a Phase III trial of a single AIDS vaccine, the gp160 vaccine produced by MicroGeneSys Inc. Last fall, in a move that elicited much anger from the biomedical community, MicroGeneSys of Meriden, Conn., and the Walter Reed Army Medical Institute had successfully lobbied for the addition of $20 million to a Defense Department appropriations bill for a
A former NeoRx Corp. founder who is taking a Seattle cancer therapeutic company, VitaMed Inc., public through a reverse takeover said he thinks going north for venture financing will become a trend among biotechnology companies. VitaMed Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. began trading on the Alberta Stock Exchange on Tuesday under the symbol VBL.A. VitaMed retains control of the Canadian public company and will continue operating in the U.S. as a wholly owned subsidiary. VitaMed exchanged shares with
Genta Inc. announced Tuesday that it will not proceed with its proposed follow-on public offering of $2.5 million shares of common stock because of current market conditions. Genta's common stock (NASDAQ:GNTA) traded near $13 a share in January and closed at $11.50 when it filed for the offering on Feb. 12, but dropped almost 40 percent to close Monday at $7 a share, said Howard Sampson, vice president and controller. The stock picked up 50 cents a share on Tuesday, closing at $7.50. The
Enzon Inc. and Oncologix Inc. announced Tuesday that they have agreed to cross-license patents that will allow the development of new cancer therapies. Enzon's patent concerns its single-chain antigen-binding (SCA) proteins, while Oncologix's relates to an erbB-2 monoclonal antibody. Under the terms of the agreement, Enzon of Piscataway, N.J., will receive non-exclusive rights to certain of Oncologix's monoclonal antibodies that recognize and target the erbB-2 tumor marker. Enzon (NASDAQ:ENZN
Although he gave President Clinton high marks for including high technology in his budget proposal, the head of the new biotechnology trade association cautioned that the president must also keep in mind that price controls could seriously damage the biotechnology industry. On Friday, Carl Feldbaum, president of the newly merged biotechnology trade association, praised Clinton for including proposals for increased spending in high-technology research -- including biotechnology -- in the $1.52