Icos Corp. is beginning a research collaboration with Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) on novel localization proteins for certain enzymes believed responsible for triggering disease. Icos will have exclusive rights to the technology, which it declined to discuss in more detail. The university, in return, may receive future royalties on certain products, and the principle investigators will receive laboratory support. "The agreement allows Icos to extend its efforts in the areas of
Bio-Technology General Corp. (BTG) announced that it has initiated its clinical study on the intratracheal delivery of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in premature neonates. The New York company received the go-ahead from FDA on Monday to assess the therapeutic utility of recombinant human SOD in preventing bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in premature infants. Excess oxygen free-radicals in the neonate lung have been implicated as a cause of acute injury leading to permanent tissue damage, which
The stock of another high-profile biotechnology company plummetted on Thursday after Amgen Inc. told analysts Wednesday afternoon that earnings for its first quarter would be 10 percent to 15 percent below Wall Street expectations. Amgen's stock (NASDAQ:AMGN) dropped $9.25, closing at $37. About 22 million of the company's 147 million shares outstanding traded hands -- more than the 21 million shares traded Monday on news of disappointing results for Synergen Inc.'s anti-infective, Antril
Hyal Pharmaceutical Corp. (NASDAQ/NMS:HYALP) of Mississauga, Ontario, has received approval under a Canadian investigational new drug application to begin a Phase III clinical trial on its topical analgesia, AT2101, for relief of pain associated with acute osteoarthritis of the knee. The Phase III trial at the University Hospital in London, Ontario, will compare the pain relief capability of this hyaluronic acid-based gel containing a non-steroidal anti- inflammatory drug with a placebo. The
Shareholders willing, Britain's Imperial Chemical Industries plc (ICI) will "demerge" this spring into two separate companies. The split would sever ICI's burgeoning bioscience activities from the more traditional paints, explosives and commodity chemicals for which the company was founded in 1926. In making the announcement on Thursday, Denys Henderson, company chairman, said, "The board of directors has unanimously recommended that ICI should now proceed to put to its shareholders formal
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has ordered a hearing for March 11 to find out why The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has been reluctant to hand over documents he requested regarding TSRI's contract with Swiss pharmaceutical giant Sandoz. Sandoz last year agreed to give TSRI, which is funded primarily by the National Institutes of Health, $300 million over 10 years in return for the first right of refusal to commercialize developments that arise during the agreement. NIH Director
Miles Inc. announced late Thursday that FDA has given its pharmaceutical division marketing clearance for its recombinant Factor VIII product Kogenate (anti-hemophilic factor recombinant) to treat hemophilia A, a chronic bleeding disorder. Genentech Inc. (NYSE:GNE) of South San Francisco, Calif., originally cloned the Factor VIII gene and licensed it to Miles in 1984 as part of a collaborative agreement. "Miles acquired the rights to use the gene and develop a manufacturing process to produce
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Public outrage last year over the humongous pay, perks, bonuses and stock options showered on top company executives in corporate America stirred the Security and Exchange Commission last October to issue tougher "Revised Executive Compensation Proxy Rules" for 1993. At a two-hour breakfast roundtable here on Wednesday for some 190 regional biotechnology executives and financiers, Larry S. Schumer, human resource advisory manager of Coopers & Lybrand's Boston office, took
Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. of New York has acquired a 75 percent interest in privately held Genetic MediSyn Corp., an antisense company. Genetic MediSyn of Columbia, Md., was formed in July 1991 as a wholly owned subsidiary of 6-year-old, privately held Synthecell Corp., also of Columbia. Medicis, which pursues skin condition treatments, exchanged 1.27 million shares of its class A common stock in the acquisition. Medicis has 50 million shares outstanding, a spokeswoman told BioWorld, and
Syntro Corp. announced Wednesday the formation of Syntro Zeon L.C., a 50-50 joint venture between Syntro Venture Corp. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Syntro Corp.) and Nippon Zeon of America Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Zeon Co. Ltd. of Tokyo). The joint venture was established as a Kansas-limited liability company, with headquarters in Lenexa, a suburb of Kansas City. Syntro Zeon will commercialize a family of poultry vaccines expected to emerge from a collaborative product
Vestar Inc. announced Wednesday that it has filed a new drug application (NDA) with the FDA for DaunoXome, its liposomal formulation of the anti-cancer drug daunorubicin, for treating AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). This is the first NDA filed in the U.S. on a liposomal drug, the San Dimas, Calif., company (NASDAQ:VSTR) said. It may also be one of the few NDAs filed in the U.S. on the basis of Phase II clinical trial data. "We believe the data will be acceptable to FDA and see no reason to
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- For the second time this week, a congressional committee has slammed the pharmaceutical industry for the high cost of drugs. But George Rathmann, president and chief executive officer of Icos Corp. of Seattle, representing the biotechnology trade associations, said biotechnology companies should be treated differently from the pharmaceutical industry. "Unlike established pharmaceutical companies," Rathmann stated in prepared testimony, "most ... do not currently have
AT Biochem, a division of Applied Technology Genetics Corp. (ATGC), agreed to supply Roche Molecular Systems Inc. of Branchburg, N.J., with custom components for Roche's DNA- based human identity and parental testing kits, the Malvern, Pa., company announced. Roche Molecular Systems' marketing partner, Perkin-Elmer of Norwalk, Conn., will sell the material under the GeneAmp trademark for polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based products. ATGC has optimized the GeneAmp gels and loading buffers
Alpha 1 Biomedicals Inc. (NASDAQ:ALBM) has revised certain terms of its Class B warrants. The changes are a reduction in the exercise price to $10 per share, a reduction to $19 of the exercise price, and a reduction to $25 of the redemption trigger price of the Class C warrants that are issuable upon the exercise of the Class B warrants and an extension to March 9, 1993, of the redemption date for the Class B warrants. For each Class B warrant exercised, holders will receive one share of common
A strong argument exists for using fetal cells as tissue grafts to treat neurodegenerative diseases, notably Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. And there is also a strong argument against such an approach. Canadian neuroscientist Samuel Weiss suggests a way around this controversy: "Grow your own fetal cells." Weiss, who teaches anatomy, pharmacology and therapeutics at the University of Calgary, has patents pending in the U.S. and Europe on "Novel Growth Factor-Responsive Progenitor
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company that uses structure-based drug design, has been granted its fifth U.S. composition-of-matter patent for compounds that inhibit modification of nucleotides. The compounds target purine nucleoside phosphorylase, which attaches phosphates to RNA. This enzyme's involvement in regulation of T cell function has been demonstrated in preclinical studies and is being tested in clinical trials. BioCryst received its four earlier
Belmac Corp. (ASE:BLM) announced last week that it has completed Phase I trials in the U.S. on its transdermal anti- hemorrhoidal patch, Alphanon. Alphanon is a formulation of camphor that acts as an anti- inflammatory and vasorelaxant. The patch has been co- developed by Belmac of Tampa, Fla., and Alza Corp. of Palo Alto, Calif. Recognizing that Phase II and III trials "will require substantial sums and several years of testing," the company is considering several options as to how to conduct
NeoRx Corp. announced Tuesday that its "pretargeting" method for radioactive monoclonal antibody-based cancer therapy works in mice. The Seattle company (NASDAQ:NERX) reported these findings to its shareholders at last week's annual gathering. Not only did the pretargeting approach cause complete tumor regressions, but it also apparently cured chemotherapy-resistant human lung cancer tumors in mice. Monoclonal antibodies tagged with tissue-damaging radioactivity or toxin molecules are
Spectral Diagnostics Inc. signed an exclusive option agreement with The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine of Baltimore for exclusive licensing of cDNA clones coding for human cardiac Troponin I. The agreement was made in preparation for the Toronto company's second generation of cardiac prognosis tests. During the option period, Spectral Diagnostics (NASDAQ:DIAGF) will evaluate the suitability of the clones for use in manufacturing of scale-up quanities of recombinant Troponin I
Biotechnology stocks took a breather on Tuesday after the feeding frenzy following Synergen Inc.'s (NASDAQ:SYGN) announcement of disappointing preliminary Phase III results for its lead compound, Antril. The indexes and some of the hardest-hit stocks even staged modest comebacks. The AMEX Biotechnology Stock Index gained 1.16 points to 114.57 and the Chicago Board Options Exchange Biotechnology Index picked up 2.01 points, closing at 104.38. Synergen gained $1.25 a share, to $14.75; Amgen Inc
Icos Corp. is beginning a research collaboration with Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) on novel localization proteins for certain enzymes believed responsible for triggering disease. Icos will have exclusive rights to the technology, which it declined to discuss in more detail. The university, in return, may receive future royalties on certain products, and the principle investigators will receive laboratory support. "The agreement allows Icos to extend its efforts in the areas of