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
Privately held Incyte Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., announced that it has extended its research collaboration with the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. The collaboration will use Incyte's large-scale cDNA and protein sequencing capabilities to characterize novel eosinophil, basophil and mast cell proteins involved in inflammation and allergy, with particular focus on cytokines, receptors and regulatory proteins. Incyte will provide research funds for an initial
Cytel Corp. underwriters have exercised their overallotment option to purchase 320,000 additional shares of common stock (NASDAQ:CYTL) at $7.50 per share, less the underwriting discount. The San Diego company completed its offering Feb. 9, raising $21 million through the sale of 2.8 million shares -- 300,000 more shares than proposed in the Jan. 14 filing. Cytel has 15.8 million shares outstanding and 17.9 million shares on a fully diluted basis. Co-managers of the underwriting group are
Cantab Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ:CNTBY) and Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) have completed a preliminary safety trial for a drug to prevent acute organ rejection after kidney transplants. "The results show that the product was well-tolerated by transplant recipients," said Alan Munro, the company's chief scientific officer. The Phase I/II safety study was conducted on 40 transplant recipients at four major transplant centers in the United Kingdom. Full results will be presented at the annual
OraVax Inc. announced today that it raised $8.75 million in its latest round of venture financing. The offering was oversubscribed, generating 175 percent of the capital originally sought by the Cambridge, Mass., developer of oral vaccines. The investors included Ampersand Ventures, Medical Science Partners L.P and Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co., all based in Massachusetts; Abingworth Management and Betainvest of Europe; and the Sprout Group, Hancock Venture Partners, Weiss, Peck & Greer and
Published Feb. 3, 10 (EPO), Feb, 4 (WO), Feb. 3 (GB) McLean Hospital Corp. Brain calcium Belmont, Mass. proteins DNA encoding, and antibodies binding, calpastatin G neural calcium-activated proteinase inhibitors; use of these capastatin proteins. Michigan State Univ. Plant-made WO 93/02187 E. Lansing, Mich. plastics Transgenic plants, expressing genes from microorganisms, produce poly-beta-D-hydroxybutyric acid (PHB), precursor of industrial plastics. MRC (Med. Res. Council) Amplifying WO 93
PRP Inc. announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded it a broad-based patent, No. 5,185,160, covering a virus-free, freeze-dried platelet derivitive and its use in transfusion to control bleeding. The Watertown, Mass., company said that the patent also covers the methods for producing the platelet derivitive from fresh or outdated platelets. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.
ProCyte Corp. underwriters have exercised their overallotment option to purchase an additional 275,000 shares of common stock (NASDAQ:PRCY). William Blair & Co. and Dain Bosworth Inc. co-managed the offering. The Kirkland, Wash., company's offering of 2 million shares at $9 each was completed Feb. 9. ProCyte has 9.83 shares outstanding on a fully diluted basis. The company focuses on therapies based on proprietary peptide-copper compounds for tissue repair and healing. ProCyte's stock closed
Sepracor Inc. announced last week that it has been awarded a U.S. patent on toothpaste and mouthwash formulations of single-isomer non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) for treating periodontal disease. The patent, No. 5,190,981, covers the NSAIDS S-ketoprofen and S-flurbiprofen. In preclinical studies, both compounds have proven effective in reducing inflammation and bone loss, the manifestations of periodontal disease, which affects almost 80 percent of all adults. The two drugs
AntiCancer Inc., a privately held biotechnology company, said it has received from the National Cancer Institute two Phase I small business innovation research grants -- its 11th and 12th --totaling $100,00 to further develop its tumor-specific therapeutics. SBIR grants are awarded by government agencies to companies whose prospects show high scientific merit and commercial potential. The San Diego company is developing drugs that distinguish specific properties of tumors. Its main product
Endotronics Inc. announced that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed offering of 1.17 million units, each consisting of six shares of common stock and six warrants to purchase one share of stock each. The overallotment for the secondary offering is 175,000 units, the Minneapolis company said. Whale Securities Co., L.P. is the offering's underwriter. The company intends to use the proceeds for continued research and development
Molecular Biosystems Inc. (NYSE:MB) announced Tuesday that its wholly owned subsidiary, Syngene Inc., has granted to Abbott Laboratories the exclusive option to acquire worldwide rights to Syngene's non-radioactive DNA probe technology for the in vitro diagnosis of infectious diseases and cancer. Syngene's operations were discontinued as of the end of September 1992, the San Diego, company said. Molecular Biosystems is developing contrast agents for medical imaging, including ultrasound, MRI
Besides his role as Zeneca's executive director for research, technology and manufacturing, Peter Doyle continues as chairman of the seven-company multinational Advisory Group on Biotechnology at the European Economic Commission. This group comprises these bio-giants : Farmitalia Carlo Erba of Italy; Hoechst AG of Germany; ICI of England; Monsanto-Europe of Belgium; Rhone-Poulenc Sant of France; Sandoz Pharma Ltd. of Switzerland; Unilever Research of the Netherlands. Late last year, Doyle
Nancy Garcia Associate Editor A privately held Salt Lake City pharmaceutical company concentrating on the role of calcium in cells has agreed to sponsor the research of two Harvard Medical School physicians. "Calcium's role is so ubiquitous in regulating cell function it's been called the universal signal," said Hunter Jackson, chairman and chief executive officer of NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc. NPS will collaborate with Edward M. Brown and Steven C. Hebert, associate professors of medicine at
Quidel Corp. announced Thursday that it has received a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on an immunoassay test system composed of enzyme and color- enhancing solutions. The patent covers the use of alkaline phosphatase derived from E. coli (ECAP), which is more heat stable than the most widely used alkaline phosphatase, which is derived from calf intestine (CIAP). Previously, ECAP was not sensitive enough for rapid diagnostic test kits. The San Diego company
Seragen Inc. said Thursday that it has completed a secondary offering of 1.75 million shares of common stock (NASDAQ:SRGN) at $8.75 per share. Seragen filed to sell 2.5 million shares on Jan. 12, when the stock was trading at $14.50 a share. If all the shares were sold at that price, the company would have raised $36.25 million. Instead, it grossed about $15.3 million. The managing underwriters, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Kidder, Peabody & Co. Inc., have an option to purchase up to 262,500
Interested parties have until April 2 to give the Environmental Protection Agency their opinions concerning field trials this summer of corn plants that pack their own built-in insecticide against the pestilential European corn borer. A notice in the Federal Register on Wednesday invited public comment on the trials, to be conducted on experimental acreage in Iowa, Nebraska and Maryland by Crop Genetics International Corp. (CGI) of Hanover, Md. Joseph Kelly, CGI's (NASDAQ:CROP) chairman, told
Researchers have identified the putative gene for the familial form of Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Collaborating research teams led by Robert Brown of Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital and Teepu Siddique of Northwestern University in Chicago report in today's issue of Nature that the gene responsible for many cases of familial ALS (FALS) codes for copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD). It is located on the long arm of human chromosome 21. ALS is a
Athena Neurosciences Inc. announced Wednesday that it has completed a secondary offering of 2 million shares at $6.75 per share, grossing a total of $13.5 million. An overallotment option of 300,000 shares is available to managing underwriters for the deal, PaineWebber Inc. and Alex. Brown & Sons Inc. The South San Francisco, Calif., company filed for an offering of 3 million shares on Jan. 15, but reduced the number of shares offered by 1 million due to poor market conditions, the company's
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