BioSurface Technology Inc. (BST) announced late Tuesday that it has put on hold clinical trials of its Acticel wound dressing in donor site wounds because an interim analysis of the results proved equivocal. The Cambridge, Mass., company (NASDAQ:BSRF) said that it will continue its ongoing and planned clinical trials of Acticel in other major wound healing indications, such as deep partial thickness burns and pressure ulcers. The decision follows a planned interim analysis of the donor site
ImmunoGen Inc. said Tuesday it has "evidence of efficacy" from an initial safety study of a potential drug for small-cell lung cancer. The Cambridge, Mass., company (NASDAQ:IMGN), treated 21 patients with relapsed and refractory small-cell lung cancer, a particularly invidious malignancy, using its second product, Oncolysin S. Oncolysin S combines a tumor-targeting monoclonal antibody with the toxin blocked ricin, a proprietary derivative of the powerful plant poison, to destroy cancer cells
Myco Pharmaceuticals Inc., formed in 1992 to develop novel pharmaceuticals from fungi, announced Tuesday that it has raised $6 million in its first round of private financing. The Cambridge, Mass., company recently closed on $4 million of that total, and will add another $2 million by the end of the year. Bessemer Venture Partners and Technology Leaders Management Inc. are the founding investors. "The funds will allow the company to accelerate its pharmaceutical discovery and development
PerSeptive Biosystems Inc. has completed an offering of 2 million shares of common stock at $18 per share. The offering, PerSeptive's first round of follow-on financing since it went public in May of 1992 at $7 a share, grossed $36 million. Lead underwriters were Alex. Brown & Sons and Cowen and Co. The underwriters retain a standard 15 percent overallotment option (300,000 shares) to fulfill any excess demand for the stock. PerSeptive now has 11.1 million shares of common stock outstanding
Vical Inc. announced Tuesday that it completed an initial public offering (IPO) of 2 million shares of common stock at $5 per share. The San Diego gene therapy company grossed $10 million from the offering. The shares will trade under the NASDAQ ticker VICL. Hambrecht & Quist Inc. and Vector Securities International Inc. co-managed the underwriting. The completed offering brought Vical far less than it had anticipated when it filed its registration statement with the Securities and Exchange
Ostex International Inc. said Tuesday that it is supplying bone- loss test reagent to Nichols Institute Reference Laboratory, one of the largest providers of esoteric clinical reference laboratory services and kits in North America. Privately held Ostex of Seattle, formed in 1989 in a collaboration with the University of Washington, offers an immunoassay to detect bone loss. The technology is based upon the discovery that N-telopeptide crosslinks of bone collagen are excreted in urine. This
MedChem Products Inc. announced that it has decided to spin off all of the shares of its wholly owned subsidiary, Anika Research Inc., to MedChem shareholders. The Woburn, Mass., company (NYSE:MCH) expects to complete the transaction within 60 days, at which point Anika will be listed on the NASDAQ system as ANIK. MedChem established Anika as a separate subsidiary in February 1992 to focus on the existing hyaluronic acid (HA) business and to accelerate MedChem's HA-based research and product
AgriDyne Technologies Inc. announced Monday that it will postpone the planned roll-out of its new bioinsecticide Azatin from this month to later in 1993. AgriDyne (NASDAQ:AGRI) of Salt Lake City changed its product introduction date to ensure that there were adequate supplies of azadirachtin, the active ingredient in the bioinsecticide, to meet contractual obligations to its marketing partners and to continue to expand its food crop testing programs. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All
Advanced Tissue Sciences Inc. (ATS) announced Monday that it has signed an agreement potentially worth $39 million with Kirin Brewery Co. to develop a stem cell proliferation factor (SCPF) and grant to Kirin license options to commercialize SCPF and related technologies in Asia, on which ATS would receive royalties. ATS will receive as much as $29 million from Kirin in payments for up-front fees, research funding and milestone payments; if Kirin exercises its options on ATS's bone marrow
Bio-Imaging Technologies Inc. announced Monday that it has signed three new project contracts, with a combined value of $770,000. The contracts are with Organon Teknika/Biotechnology Research Institute (part of Akzo N.V. of the Netherlands); Medco Research Inc. of Los Angeles; and a third, unspecified client. Bio-Imaging of West Trenton, N.J., will assist the companies in applying computerized image analysis techniques to evaluate drug efficacy, as well as provide technical and regulatory
THYMOSIN MANUFACTURING PLANT IN ITALY Alpha 1 Biomedicals and Sclavo SpA of Siena, Italy, announced that Sclavo will build, at its own expense, a Thymosin alpha 1 manufacturing facility in Italy. The facility will produce annually sufficient quantities of the drug to treat 100,000 patients with chronic hepatitis B. Alpha 1 (NASDAQ:ALBM) of Bethesda, Md., and Sclavo will share equally in the profits from product manufactured at the Italian facility, which could be operational by 1994. Sclavo
Cyanotech Corp. and Aquasearch Inc. announced Monday that they have formed a joint venture to produce astaxanthin, a red feed pigment used by the aquaculture industry to make salmon flesh "pink," from microalgae. The new company, OceanColor Inc., will be located at Cyanotech's (NASDAQ:CYAN) 23-acre facility in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. All astaxanthin is presently manufactured synthetically. Its use has come under increasing scrutiny by regulatory agencies in many of the major salmon-growing
Calgene Chemical has agreed to market industrial rapeseed oil from Canada's largest oilseed processor. The Skokie, Ill., subsidiary of Calgene Inc. (NASDAQ:CGNE) of Davis, Calif., struck the agreement with CanAmera Foods. Half of CanAmera is owned by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and Manitoba Pool Elevators, and the other half by Central Soya Co. Inc., which had a previous oilseed processing agreement with Calgene, said Andrew Baum, oils division president. Both partners hope the agreement will
Immunomedics Inc. has published results of a new and improved agent to bind tumor cells in the current issue of the journal Cancer. This second-generation monoclonal antibody (MAb), MN-14, successfully targeted 89 percent of disease sites in 22 colorectal cancer patients in the Phase I/II trial, as confirmed by CAT scans. The Morris Plains, N.J., company (NASDAQ:IMMU) is developing MAbs linked to radioisotopes for detection and treatment of cancer. The first-generation ImmuRAID-CEA has been
North American Biologicals Inc. (NABI) announced Monday that it has been awarded a three-year, $35 million contract to supply plasma to the pharmaceutical division of Miles Inc. of New Haven, Conn. The contract can be extended for three to five additional years. NABI of Miami will supply Miles with a minimum of $35 million in source plasma and certain hyperimmune plasmas from 1993 to 1995. The contract will then continue through 1996 at 1995 supply levels, with provisions for extending the
Imutec Corp. announced Monday its plans for a series of Phase III clinical trials on its drug Virulizin. The Toronto company intends to run randomized, controlled Phase III trials on Virulizin for treating advanced pancreatic cancer at the Montreal General Hospital; for treating advanced malignant melanoma at the National Cancer Institute in Mexico City; and for treating advanced cervico-uterine cancer, also in Mexico. Imutec (NASDAQ:IMUTF) expects to file investigational new drug (IND
BioSpecifics Technologies Corp. has been granted U.S. patent No. 5,173,295 for a collagenase enzyme "nerve glue" to reduce the damaging effects of injury or surgery, as well as promote faster healing with less permanent damage to affected nerves. The Lynbrook, N.Y., company's (NASDAQ:BSTC) principle product, FDA-approved Collagenase ABC (Santyl) used in topical applications for skin ulcers and severe burns, has received a clinical trial exemption in England. The company will begin clinical
AgriStar Inc., an international agricultural biotechnology company, announced Friday that it has acquired all rights under a U.S. patent application and corresponding continuation- in-part application for an edible vaccine. The edible vaccine project involves inserting antigen genes into vegetables or fruit, which may confer immunological responses against a particular disease after being eaten by people or animals. The technology was described in the December 1992 issue of the Proceedings of
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Good news for Bill Clinton. Our perpetually stuffed-up president may no longer have to avoid his daughter's cat if ImmuLogic Pharmaceutical Corp.'s latest project is successful. News of the chief executive's potential succor came last Thursday from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), as about 60 scientists gathered to discuss the future of asthma and allergic disease research. Phase II trials for a new kind of anti-allergen, ImmuLogic's CatVax
A growth hormone antagonist enterprise has grown into a new limited partnership, Sensus-I L.P. This alliance between a state-sponsored consortium of Ohio universities and a drug development company, announced Friday, is intended to support academic research and potentially offer new treatments for conditions ranging from giantism to diabetes and cancer. Sensus will be based in Austin, Texas. The commercial partner is Innovations in Drug Development, or id2, a recent New Jersey partnership. Id2
BioSurface Technology Inc. (BST) announced late Tuesday that it has put on hold clinical trials of its Acticel wound dressing in donor site wounds because an interim analysis of the results proved equivocal. The Cambridge, Mass., company (NASDAQ:BSRF) said that it will continue its ongoing and planned clinical trials of Acticel in other major wound healing indications, such as deep partial thickness burns and pressure ulcers. The decision follows a planned interim analysis of the donor site