Argus Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Monday that it has postponed its follow-on public offering "due to current market conditions for biomedical company stocks." The Houston company announced Jan. 14 its intention to sell 2.5 million shares of common stock (NASDAQ:ARGS). The underwriters are S.G. Warburg Securities and Kidder, Peabody & Co. Inc. Argus, which is developing therapeutic drugs based on properties of macrophages, has one compound ready for Phase I clinical trials. In January the
Celltech Group plc announced Monday that it has raised $5 million by issuing convertible redeemable cumulative preferred shares to American Cyanamid Co. of Wayne, N.J. These shares will carry a 6.9 percent coupon and will be convertible at any time before 2003 into ordinary shares at 6 pounds (about U.S.$8.58 at the current exchange rate) per share. American Cyanamid also has recently purchased 709,601 shares of the Slough, England, company's common stock from existing shareholders. If it
Chiron Corp. expects to receive a patent today covering its methods of quickly preparing and screening millions of potential drugs. U.S. patent No. 5,194,392 applies to the Emeryville, Calif., company's (NASDAQ:CHIR) mimotope technology. Developed by Chiron Mimotopes Pty. Ltd. of Clayton, Australia, the system entails synthesizing up to 1,000 peptides a day on special pins. The peptides can be used to "map" regions called epitopes in any protein of interest, such as antigen regions that trigger
Canguard Health Technologies Inc. on Monday announced a second agreement with Athena Neurosciences Inc. The South San Francisco, Calif., neuroscience company (NASDAQ:ATHN) made a private payment and an additional payment to secure a right of first refusal on certain future products for the U.S. Athena signed an agreement in January to develop and commercialize two unidentified Canguard products in the U.S. Canguard (VSE:CGD) of Vancouver, British Columbia, also announced its first venture
Cor Therapeutics Inc. announced that it has completed its Phase II clinical trial of Integrelin, an anti-thrombotic compound, for treating unstable angina. Cor of South San Francisco, Calif., began the 200-patient, multisite trial in February 1992. "Now that all patient treatment has been completed, we will gather, review and analyze the data from this double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase II clinical trial over the next several months," said Vaughn Kailian, Cor's president and chief
A refocused Xoma Corp. is back in the clinic. The company announced Monday that it has begun Phase I testing of a second-generation product to treat sepsis. Xoma (NASDAQ:XOMA) of Berkeley, Calif., shifted course last year after FDA refused marketing approval for its E5 treatment for sepsis following a Phase III trial. This monoclonal antibody targeted the endotoxin produced by Gram-negative bacteria that lead to an often-fatal blood infection in some 200,000 Americans annually. The new product
Oncogene Science Inc. announced Monday that it has agreed with Hoechst A.G. of Frankfurt, Germany to jointly develop gene transcription-based drugs to treat certain inflammatory diseases, viral infections and metabolic diseases. Under the terms of the agreement, Hoechst will have the exclusive worldwide rights to manufacture and market pharmaceuticals resulting from the research program. Oncogene Science (NASDAQ:ONCS) of Uniondale, N.Y., will receive royalties on product sales and will retain
Greenwich Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Monday that FDA is reviewing the company's new drug application for its first major drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis. The Fort Washington, Pa., company (NASDAQ:GRPI) has been developing therafectin since 1979. This synthetic carbohydrate derivative, amiprilose hydrochloride, is intended to block autoimmune responses that lead to the joint disease. Carbohydrates bind cell surface receptors and mediate responses involved in immune reactions. Greenwich
American Biogenetic Sciences Inc. (ABS) announced Friday that it has received clearance from the FDA to begin clinical testing of its fibrin-specific monoclonal antibody for imaging blood clots in the lungs and heart. The Notre Dame, Ind., company (NASDAQ:MABXA) submitted its investigational new drug (IND) application to the FDA for this product exactly one year ago, in March 1992. This is a fairly lengthy delay by the FDA. The agency approved the Phase I protocol for Centocor Inc.'s
Biosys hopes to find a distribution partner for an environmentally safe cockroach trap it has developed using beneficial nematodes. The trap received U.S. patent No. 5,172,514 on Dec. 22, 1992, and is now undergoing shelf-life tests. "We want to make sure it works and is competitive," Paul Dick, director of sales and marketing at the Palo Alto, Calif., company (NASDAQ:BIOS), told BioWorld. The microscopic, worm-like organisms contained in the trap are held in a sort of suspended animation
The FDA granted orphan drug designation to Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ:CELG) of Warren. N.J., for the use of thalidomide for treating the clinical manifestations of mycobacterial infections caused by (ital.) Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. avium, M. intracellulare and M. kansasi. Gilla Kaplan, an associate professor at Rockefeller University, has shown that thalidomide may have broad utility for blocking dangerous inflammatory responses. Such responses are responsible for much of the morbidity and
MedClone Inc. announced last week that it will begin commercial development of its ELISA format confirmatory test for diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It plans to submit a 510K for marketing clearance with FDA by the end of the year. Privately held MedClone of Los Angeles, has the exclusive worldwide license on this assay from the University of California, which has applied for various patents worldwide on the technology. The assay itself was developed by UCLA's Richard Weisbart, chief of
Gensia Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Friday that it has purchased real estate in San Diego as the site for its corporate headquarters and centralized research and development facilities. Gensia paid $10.8 million for the property, which already contains two buildings, but is already in discussions with third parties to finance the purchase itself, as well as future improvements to the facilities. Gensia's stock (NASDAQ:GNSA) closed Friday at $22.75 a share, up $1.75. (c) 1997 American Health
Published Feb. 17, 24 (EPO), Feb. 15 (WO), Feb. 24 (GB) [ Amoco Corp. DNA shear, WO 93/03150 Chicago denaturation Shearing nucleic acids into fragments for sandwich hybridization, and denaturing fragments into single-stranded polynucleotides. Amoco Corp. DNA Shigella WO 93/03187 Chicago probes Detection of Shigella and/or enteroinvasive E. coli bacteria by nucleic acid probes, chromosomal sequences, specific fragments. Anderson, W. French et al. Retroviral WO 93/03143 Bethesda, Md. vectors
Fibromed Inc. is a new company taking a side entrance to the crowded field of inflammation and tissue injury. "Fibrosis is a major, lethal, under-addressed medical problem," Edward Bernstine, the Boston company's chief executive officer and chairman, told BioWorld. With $500,000 in seed financing, completed in November 1992, Fibromed has licensed research from Boston University (BU) featuring a potent inhibitor of the collagen cross-linking enzyme that creates fibrosis. This scarring causes
Sphinx Pharmaceuticals Corp. of Durham, N.C., named H. Jeff Leighton executive vice president, research and development, and Sarah Hatty midical director, Europe. Leighton was president and chief executive officer of Genesis Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held biotechnology company being acquired by Sphinx. Hatty was a global clinical coordinator for oncology at the Lilly Research Centre Ltd. in England. Focal Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., named Eyal Ron director of materials and pharmaceutical
Alpha 1 Biomedicals Inc. said Thursday that it raised almost $11 million through the exercise of about 1.1 million class B warrants before the March 9 redemption deadline. The Bethesda, Md., company (NASDAQ:ALBM) said the revenue will be used for adding staff members; initiating additional clinical trials with Thymosin alpha 1 for treatment of hepatitis and AIDS; launching more clinical trials by its 50 percent- owned joint partner, Viral Technologies Inc., for the use of HGP-30 as an AIDS
Alza Corp.'s stock had risen $4.63 a share to $35.13 since Tuesday in anticipation of a positive announcement from the Palo Alto, Calif., drug delivery company at an analysts' meeting Thursday. The news turned out to be that Alza has formed a new company, Therapeutic Discovery Corp. (TDC). Alza stockholders will get a special dividend of units in the new endeavor, with each unit consisting of one share of TDC common stock and one warrant to purchase one-eighth of one share of Alza class A
Researchers have identified a new growth factor from mouse pancreatic beta cell tumors that is a potent mitogen, and could play a role in pancreatic cancers and contribute to the vascular complications associated with diabetes. Scientists from Harvard Medical School in Boston, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Japan's Takeda Chemical Industries report in today's issue of Science that this new factor, betacellulin, is a member of the epidermal growth factor family and can
ImmuLogic Pharmaceutical Corp. announced Thursday that it has received $6 million in license and milestone payments from its partner, Marion Merrell Dow Inc. (MMD). The two companies agreed in February 1992 to jointly develop and commercialize ImmuLogic's Allervax family of allergy therapeutics. ImmuLogic (NASDAQ:IMUL) has now received $13 million of the potential $42 million coming to it as it achieves certain predetermined (and undisclosed) goals. The announcement follows closely on the
Argus Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Monday that it has postponed its follow-on public offering "due to current market conditions for biomedical company stocks." The Houston company announced Jan. 14 its intention to sell 2.5 million shares of common stock (NASDAQ:ARGS). The underwriters are S.G. Warburg Securities and Kidder, Peabody & Co. Inc. Argus, which is developing therapeutic drugs based on properties of macrophages, has one compound ready for Phase I clinical trials. In January the