Symphony Pharmaceuticals Inc., a private biopharmaceutical company formed in 1991 to discover and develop drugs to regulate ion currents in the brain, announced that it has completed a $3 million private placement. The financing, led by Fostin Capital, also included S.R. One Ltd., Euclid Partners III L.P., Gateway Venture Partners III L.P. and Grotech. Symphony's research focuses on discovering new drugs to treat neurological disorders and neurodegenerative diseases such as central nervous
Genetic Therapy Inc. said Wednesday it has been granted permission to begin two human gene therapy trials. The Gaithersburg, Md., company (NASDAQ:GTII) received permission from the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) of the National Institutes of Health to administer the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator gene to patients in a modified adenovirus and to introduce the thymidine kinase gene into brain tumor patients. This enzyme makes tumor cells susceptible to the anti-viral drug
Inspired by the concept of using genes as drugs and fueled by a research collaboration with Genentech Inc., a new biotechnology company, GenVec, entered the world on Wednesday, with up to $25.5 million in backing. In vivo gene therapy pioneer Ronald Crystal, an 18-year veteran of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes of Health, is a founder and will be chief scientific adviser of the company, which will be located in Maryland. Hal Broderson, acting chief executive officer, announced
Calgene Fresh announced Tuesday that it has completed FDA submissions for public comment on its Flavr Savr tomato. The subsidiary of Calgene Inc. (NASDAQ:CGNE) of Davis, Calif., said the final submissions came in response to FDA questions raised during review of information the company provided with its Aug. 12, 1991, request for an advisory opinion. Calgene Fresh on Jan. 5 asked the FDA to consider use of the kanamyacin-resistant marker as a food additive. "They wanted to take the high road
ChemTrak Inc.'s stock jumped $5.25 -- 75 percent -- on Tuesday to $12.25 after FDA approved the company's AccuMeter Cholesterol Test for home use. The kit will be marketed as CholesTrac by Whitehall Laboratories, a division of American Home Products Corp., under a licensing agreement with ChemTrak. CholesTrac is the first cholesterol test available for home use by consumers without a prescription. The kit allows the user to find the level of cholesterol in the blood in about 15 minutes
Enzo Biochem Inc. announced on Tuesday that it was issued a U.S. patent, No. 5,190,931, involving genetic antisense technology. Enzo said it plans to use its technology to develop its own proprietary products, largely in the field of human therapeutics and plants, and to sublicense others as well as engage in joint ventures. Enzo received a notice of allowance for the patent last August. In February, Calgene Inc. (NASDAQ:CGNE) of Davis, Calif., developer of Flavr Savr tomatoes, sued Enzo (ASE
Researchers from the nucleotide pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Inc. have demonstrated for the first time the three-dimensional structure of a molecule created through directed evolution. Their report was published in Tuesday's issue of Biochemistry. Collaborators at Wesleyan University determined the novel DNA molecule is shaped like a chair or throne. Chemistry professor Philip Bolton identified the shape of the 15-subunit strand with state-of-the-art nuclear magnetic resonance and
In an effort to counteract negative criticism aimed at pharmaceutical companies by the Clinton administration and Congress, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PMA) on Tuesday blitzed the media with a full-page ad defending drug prices and reiterating the companies' commitments to keep those prices from escalating. Titled "To The American People From the People Who Work in Pharmaceutical Companies," the advertisement ran in 40 newspapers nationwide and cost roughly $500,000 overall
Vestar Inc. has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Europe against competitor Liposome Technology Inc. (LTI). San Dimas, Calif.-based Vestar (NASDAQ:VSTR) announced Monday that the lawsuit, which it filed in the Patents County Court in the United Kingdom, alleges that LTI's anti-cancer product Doxil infringes Vestar's European patent, No. 0,179,444, on tumor targeting. Vestar's patent covers the targeting to tumors of liposomes of specific sizes containing chemotherapeutic agents. Just
Somatix Therapy Corp. announced Tuesday that the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has approved its gene therapy protocol for treating advanced renal cancer. The protocol, which the Alameda, Calif., company (NASDAQ:SOMA) has developed in collaboration with The Johns Hopkins Oncology Center and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, involves a treatment designed to stimulate the body's own immune system to selectively destroy cancer
Magainin Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that the underwriters of its recent public offering have exercised their option to purchase an additional 375,000 shares at $6 per share. (The standard 15 percent overallotment would have put the options at 525,000.) The secondary offering of 3.5 million shares was effective January 27. Totals for the offering, including the overallotment option, now stand at about 3.9 million shares, with net proceeds to the Plymouth Meeting, Pa. company of approximately
Roche Molecular Systems Inc., a subsidiary of Hoffmann La Roche Inc., has granted Lifecodes Corp. of Stamford, Conn., a license for the commercial application of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process in the manufacture of oligonucleotides, Lifecodes announced Tuesday. The license will permit Lifecodes to expand its line of research reagents used with PCR, especially as a supplier of biological material in the human DNA identity field. "The agreement allows Lifecodes to expand upon our
Celtrix Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Monday that it has signed an agreement with the Japanese company Santen Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. to commercialize the growth factor BetaKine for ophthalmic therapy in Japan. The agreement brings together Santen's position as the leading ophthalmic company in Japan and its links with Japanese ophthalmic surgeons with Celtrix's experience with BetaKine in human clinical trials and its manufacturing operation. Under the terms of the agreement, Celtrix (NASDAQ
CytoTherapeutics Inc. is taking its encapsulation of therapeutic cell implants a step further by combining cell types to enhance function, a method that has resulted in U.S. patent No. 5,182,111, issued to Brown University Research Foundation and licensed exclusively to the company. The technology could allow combining a growth-factor secreting cell with a cell that produces a therapeutically useful compound to increase the capacity of the second cell to survive and function, Michael Lysaght
In a Clinton administration health care double-play last Friday, David Kessler was reappointed as head of FDA and Bernadine Healy resigned as director of the National Institutes of Health. Healy, who has been in office less than two years and is the first woman to hold that position, will return to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation to take up her cardiology practice after June 30, when the resignation becomes effective. Healy's goals and policies were often controversial on The Hill. But Eric
Gensia Pharmaceuticals Inc. raised $80 million last week when it completed a private placement of 1.6 million shares of its $3.75 convertible exchangeable preferred stock at a price of $50 per share. Alex. Brown & Sons Inc., Montgomery Securities and PaineWebber Inc. served as underwriters. The preferred shares are convertible into shares of common stock (NASDAQ:GNSA) at a conversion price of $27.60 per share, subject to adjustment. The preferred shares will be exchangeable at Gensia's option
ImClone Systems Inc. announced Monday that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued patent No. 5,185,438 covering the murine FLK-2 receptor gene. The patent is assigned to Princeton University and is licensed exclusively to ImClone (NASDAQ:IMCL) of New York. The totipotent stem cell receptor FLK-2 is found on hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow; these differentiate into both red and white blood cell lineages. As such, totipotent stem cells serve as prime targets for developing
Xenova Group plc of Oxford, England, appointed Geoffrey McMillan commercial director and a member of the board of directors. McMillan was head of business development and planning for the international pharmaceutical division of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Also named to the board were Stelios Papadopoulos, a managing director and head of the health care/life sciences investment banking group at PaineWebber Inc.; and Louis Lavigne Jr., chief financial officer
A new center for the study of genetic factors in heart disease, including arteriosclerosis, is expected to open at the University of California, San Francisco, with $20 million in financing from Daichi Pharmaceutical Co. of Tokyo. Daichi would receive a first chance to negotiate licensing agreements on any patents that may result from the work at the center, which would continue to publish all its findings in open scientific literature, as required by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which
Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. and PerSeptive Biosystems Inc. are forming a strategic alliance, dubbed PerIsis, to develop novel tools for manufacturing oligonucleotide therapeutics. The collaboration will focus on PerSeptive's (NASDAQ:PBIO) proprietary chromatography to purify, analyze and synthesize the molecules that can be designed to inhibit gene products. Isis' (NASDAQ:ISIP) oligonucleotide 2105, a treatment for human papillomavirus, is the first oligonucleotide to be tested in humans, and is
Symphony Pharmaceuticals Inc., a private biopharmaceutical company formed in 1991 to discover and develop drugs to regulate ion currents in the brain, announced that it has completed a $3 million private placement. The financing, led by Fostin Capital, also included S.R. One Ltd., Euclid Partners III L.P., Gateway Venture Partners III L.P. and Grotech. Symphony's research focuses on discovering new drugs to treat neurological disorders and neurodegenerative diseases such as central nervous