Telor Ophthalmic Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Tuesday that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering of 2.5 million shares of common stock, which it expects to price at $12-14 per share. Alex. Brown & Sons Inc. is the managing underwriter for the offering. Telor of Woburn, Mass., is developing prescription pharmaceuticals for use in ophthalmic surgery and for treating age-related eye diseases. The company has
BLOOD CELLS THAT REMOVE HIV Researchers for Sheffield Medical Technologies Inc. of Houston have completed laboratory studies of a system to use modified red blood cells to remove HIV from circulation. In the studies, red blood cells have the HIV-binding receptor CD4 electrically inserted onto their surface, where free AIDS virus particles can attach, then be broken down when the red blood cell ends its normal life span of about 120 days and is engulfed and dismantled by macrophages. The
Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced a collaboration and expansion Monday. The San Diego pancreatic hormone company (NASDAQ:AMLN) will scale up its recombinant process for bulk intermediate production of an amylin agonist AC137 in an agreement with the Alberta Research Council (ARC) in Edmonton, Canada. AC 137 is the company's first product candidate for the treatment of Type I diabetes. Amylin, a newly discovered pancreatic hormone, may play a role in the regulation of carbohydrate, fat and
Genta Inc. will collaborate with CV Therapeutics Inc. and Stanford University researcher Victor Dzau to develop and commercialize antisense drugs for preventing and treating restenosis, the San Diego company (NASDAQ:GNTA) announced Monday. Dzau, chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, will collaborate with Genta to investigate the mechanisms of restenosis and to identify antisense compounds that may be useful in preventing or treating
Although the papers have yet to be signed, the two biotechnology trade associations are already behaving like a married couple. Staffers are working together and the Association of Biotechnology Companies (ABC) and the Industrial Biotechnology Association (IBA) are speaking with a unified voice as the Clinton administration debates health care reform, said Carl Feldbaum, the new president of the de facto organization. The timing of the merger is propitious; as two voices, the industry's
A private start-up company formed to capitalize on DNA sequencing by hybridization expects a basic patent in this quick sequencing method to issue today. U.S. Patent No. 5,202,231 is being assigned to Hyseq Inc., which incorporated last year in Illinois and has temporary offices in the Chicago law firm of Shefsky & Froelich Ltd., said acting President Robert Weist, who retired from Amgen Inc. as a senior vice president last year after 10 years with that top-tier biotech company. Inventors of
Lidak Pharmaceuticals announced Monday that it has started its third Phase II clinical trial of the anti-viral compound Lidakol for treating oral herpes infections. The double-blind, placebo-controlled U.S.-based trial will test the safety, tolerance and efficacy of Lidakol as a topical treatment for recurrent oral herpes in a minimum of 40 patients, according to Michael Lorber, vice president and chief financial officer of the La Jolla, Calif., company. Lidak initiated two other Phase II
The American Stock Exchange on Monday began trading the first long-term options or LEAPS (long-term equity anticipation securities) on its pharmaceutical index (ASE:DGR). The DRG LEAPS Index is valued at 1/10 the stock exchange's pharmaceutical index. DRG LEAPS have initial expirations of January 1994 and January 1995 and trade as WRG and VRG, respectively. The new LEAPS offer investors an additional way to act on an opinion of the long-term movements of the pharmaceutical industry as a whole
A small human virus that elicits no symptoms is the basis of a new gene therapy company that has just raised its first $2 million in seed capital. Formed by John Monahan, the former vice president of research and development at Somatix Therapy Corp. of Alameda, Calif., Avigen Inc. was incorporated last December in Alameda to focus on treatments for red blood cell disorders such as sickle cell anemia and thalassemias, as well as a treatment for AIDS and chemotherapy drug tolerance. Instead of
Alkermes Inc. announced that it has initiated two U.S. clinical trials evaluating the use of RMP-7, its compound designed to enable drugs to cross the blood-brain barrier. One of the trials, a Phase I/II, will test the ability of RMP-7 to deliver the anti-infective drug amphotericin B to the central nervous systems of patients suffering from cryptococcal meningitis, an AIDS-related opportunistic infection. The second, a Phase I study, will test the safety of RMP-7 in patients with brain tumors
Cellco Inc. and Haemonetics Corp. announced last week that they have entered into an investment and development agreement to determine the feasibility of combining Cellco's cellular therapy systems with Haemonetics' automated blood processing systems to produce an integrated system for cell separation, enhancement and expansion. Haemonetics (NYSE:HAE) of Braintree, Mass., also made an undisclosed equity investment in privately held Cellco of Germantown, Md. The agreement also allows for
Cangene Corp. announced last week that it has been issued U.S. Patent No. 5,200,568 covering its proprietary production system for making recombinant proteins. The patent covers both method and product claims. Cangene's protein manufacturing system, termed Cangenus, uses Streptomyces as host cells to crank out recombinant proteins. The Toronto company claims that this host organism is "especially efficient in producing clean human proteins in biologically active form." The patent covers
Canguard Health Technologies Inc. changed its corporate name to Canguard Pharma Inc. last week. The company retains the same trading symbol on the Vancouver Stock Exchange. Canguard (VSE:CGD) of Vancouver, British Columbia, also announced that it has reorganized its senior management team to reflect new marketing and management responsibilities. John Armstrong, who had been president and chief executive officer, becomes Canguard's chairman of the board and chief scientific officer. Armstrong
Cellular Products Inc. of Buffalo, N.Y., named Bert Del Villano president, chief executive officer and director. He was executive vice president of SangStat Medical Corp. Also, Richard Montagna has resigned as company president and from the board of directors. He was the company's co-founder and president since its inception in 1982. Glycomed Inc. of Alameda, Calif., named Robert Terifay assistant vice president of marketing and sales. Terifay was senior director of marketing, gastro
Published March 17 & 24 (EPO & GB); March 18 (WO) Ag./Food Research Coun. YAK gene WO 93/05165 Cambridge, U.K. expression Embryonic stem cells are prepared from yeast artificial chromosomes, for transfering large-size DNA segments into organisms. American Cyanamid Co. HSV infection EPO 531 728 Stamford, Conn. vaccine Recombinant herpes simplex virus in baculovirus expression system produces highly immunogenic glycoprotein, useful in HSV vaccines. American Cyanamid Co. Cardiac adenylyl WO 93
Last year Gail Wilensky was the president's chief adviser on health care policy. She's now back at Project Hope, a health care policy research institute, from whence President Bush first tapped her to run the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), which administers Medicare and Medicaid, before drawing her into his inner circle of advisers. Wilensky remains very influential in Republican circles, but her thoughtful, non-dogmatic approach to policy enables her to cross party boundaries
Although he gave President Clinton high marks for including high technology in his budget proposal, the head of the new biotechnology trade association cautioned that the president must also keep in mind that price controls could seriously damage the biotechnology industry. On Friday, Carl Feldbaum, president of the newly merged biotechnology trade association, praised Clinton for including proposals for increased spending in high-technology research -- including biotechnology -- in the $1.52
Cantab Pharmaceuticals plc announced that a preliminary analysis of a Phase I/II clinical trial on LM-CD45, its drug for preventing acute rejection episodes following organ transplantation, was presented last week at the British Transplant Society meeting in Exeter. In the open-label safety study on 40 patients, donor kidneys were treated prior to transplantation with LM-CD45, which is a pair of monoclonal antibodies that bind to the CD45 antigen on the surface of the kidney's dendritic cells
Advanced Polymer Systems Inc. (APS) announced that it has completed its acquisition of Premier Inc., a marketing and distribution company specializing in over-the-counter drug and toiletry products. APS (NASDAQ:APOS) of Redwood City, Calif., will exchange approximately 450,000 shares of common stock for all the shares of Premier. Premier had 1992 revenues of about $7. 5 million. The company said the merger represents an ongoing vertical integration of APS and should allow the company to
Collaborative Research Inc. announced Thursday that it intends to sell its genetic and cancer testing business, Collaborative Diagnostics. The move is part of the strategic restructuring initiated by the company's new president and chief executive officer, Robert Hennessey. "The financial commitment required for a successful growth strategy in cancer and genetic diagnostic testing falls well beyond available resources," Hennessey explained. In fact, Hennessey brought with him to Collaborative
Telor Ophthalmic Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Tuesday that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering of 2.5 million shares of common stock, which it expects to price at $12-14 per share. Alex. Brown & Sons Inc. is the managing underwriter for the offering. Telor of Woburn, Mass., is developing prescription pharmaceuticals for use in ophthalmic surgery and for treating age-related eye diseases. The company has