Cell Genesys Inc. announced Monday that it completed an initial public offering of 3.5 million shares at $11 per share. The Foster City, Calif, company has granted the underwriters -- Robertson, Stephens & Co, Invemed Associates Inc. and Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. -- an option to purchase up to an additional 500,000 shares to cover overallotments. The common stock will trade on the NASDAQ National Market System under the symbol CEGE. Net proceeds from the IPO will be used for research and
A study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said didanosine (ddI) and zalcitabine (ddC) were similarly effective and safe in slowing the progression of disease in people infected with HIV who no longer benefit from zidovudine (AZT) or who are intolerant of its side effects. ddI is the only anti-HIV medication currently approved by FDA for single-drug use in patients who cannot take or do not respond to treatment with AZT. ddC is indicated for use in
Phase I clinical trial results on Cambridge Biotech Corp.'s vaccine adjuvant QS-21 have shown that a vaccine containing this adjuvant is both safe and active in humans. Philip Livingston, a researcher at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, reported these results Saturday at a meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences on Specific Immunotherapy of Cancer with Vaccines. Livingston assessed methods of augmenting antibody response to melanoma ganglioside vaccines combined with
Gensia Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Genta-Jago, a joint venture between Genta Inc. of San Diego and the private Swiss company Jagotec AG, announced Monday that they have formed a collaboration to develop, manufacture and commercialize oral products intended for treating cardiovascular disease using Geomatrix's controlled-release drug delivery technology. The collaborators will use the Geomatrix technology to develop once-daily oral controlled-release formulations of certain cardiovascular products
TheraTech Inc. announced Monday that Ivers-Lee, a division of Becton Dickinson & Co., has agreed to produce TheraTech's transdermal patches. Ivers-Lee will provide an alternative manufacturing site in West Caldwell, N.J., for TheraTech's liquid reservoier transdermal products. TheraTech (NASDAQ:THRT) of Salt Lake City expects its new manufacturing facilities to be completed by mid-1994. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.
Medarex Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDX) of Princeton, N.J., said Monday that a research team from Dartmouth Medical School has filed an investigational new drug (IND) application with FDA for a dose-escalating Phase I/II clinical trial of a novel Bispecific antibody-based therapeutic for patients with advanced breast or ovarian cancer. The Bispecific antibody that will be evaluated consists of an antibody, which binds to the HER-2 protein on the surface of breast and ovarian tumors, linked to Medarex's
Vowing to "free science and medicine from the grasp of politics," President Clinton marked the anniversary of Roe v. Wade on Friday by overturning prohibitions on fetal tissue research and lifting restrictions on abortion counseling at federally funded clinics. Clinton also signed orders ending bans on abortion at military hospitals and federal financing for overseas population control programs. He also ordered a review of the ban on the private importation of RU-486, the French abortion pill
The therapeutic potential of opening and shutting cellular doors called potassium channels is the subject of a five-year licensing agreement between pharmaceutical giant Glaxo and a fledgling neuroscience company, NeuroSearch A/S of Copenhagen. Glaxo's research and development arm, Glaxo Group Research Ltd. of London, and the 4-year-old neuroscience company will explore potential therapies for central nervous system disorders based on openers and blockers of the high- conductant calcium
Published Dec. 23+30 (EPO) Dec.23(WO) Dec. 23(GB) Mass. Gen. Hospital Universal Boston nucleases Ligand-Staphylococcal-fusion-protein hybrids; can cleave any predetermined site within a DNA or RNA molecule. Merck Sharp & Dohme Ltd. GABA receptor WO 92/22652 Hoddesdon, Herts., U.K. medicaments Eukaryotic host expresses GABAA receptor; cDNA encodes alpha, beta, gamma subunits; subtype-selective medicaments. Merck & Co. AIDS immuno- EPO 519 554 Rahway, N.J. neutralization A class I recombinant
Procept Inc. announced Friday it has filed for an initial public offering, in particular to finance clinical trials of a proposed AIDS virus therapeutic. The Cambridge, Mass., company seeks to raise $21 million through an offering of 1.8 million shares at $11 to $13 per share. The offering is being managed by underwriters Kidder, Peabody & Co. Inc. and Tucker Anthony Inc. Net proceeds will be used to fund research and product development, including preclinical studies and initial clinical
A spate of biotechnology mergers and acquisitions in 1992 reflected the ever-present needs of companies on both sides of their respective bargaining tables for cash and technology. The large, well-established conglomerates found the means to establish or strengthen their presence in biotechnology, and the more mature biotech companies found a source of cash to help them get to market. And when both parties brought technology to the table, the whole often exceeded the sum of the parts. For
Seragen Inc. announced Thursday that FDA has approved the company's application to test its interleukin-2 (IL-2) fusion toxin in patients infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The PhaseI/II trial involves DAB389IL-2, the Hopkinton, Mass., company's new version of its IL-2 recepter-targeted fusion toxin, and will determine the safety of administering the agent to HIV-infected individuals. The trial will be conducted at the Beth Israel and Boston City Hospitals in Boston and Johns
Excitement about potentially treating rheumatoid arthritis with a natural antagonist to inflammation created some friction Thursday between a lead immune system investigator and one stock analyst. Analyst Franklin Berger of the institutional research firm Josephthal Lyon & Ross Inc. drew attention Thursday to a report in the Jan. 16 edition of The Lancet in which physicians at Tufts-New England Medical Center examined levels of interleukin-1 (IL-1) and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL- 1ra
CellPro Inc. announced Thursday that it has started two Phase I/II stem cell concentration trials in cancer patients. The trials, at St. Louis University Medical Center in St. Louis, Mo., and Albert-Ludwigs-University Medical Center in Freiburg, Germany, will test the safety and efficacy of the Bothell, Wash., company's Ceprate SC stem cell concentration system in autologous peripheral blood for use in restoring bone marrow and immune systems following high-dose chemotherapy to treat advanced
LifeCell Corp. announced Thursday that interim results from clinical evaluations for its dermal skin replacement tissue AlloDerm indicate no evidence of immune rejection. Based on results from the first six months of clinical evaluation of AlloDerm, said Paul Frison, president and chief executive officer, "we are accelerating the clinical studies and plan to increase the number of clinical evaluation sites to eight." The results were presented Tuesday at the company's (NASDAQ:LIFC
An "interesting story and very impressive science" spurred a successful initial public offering (IPO) by company targeting autoimmune therapies, its chief financial officer said Thursday. AutoImmune Inc. (NASDAQ:AIMM) of Lexington, Mass., raised about $41 million after costs, selling 3 million shares of common stock and all 450,000 shares of overallotments in the first day of trading, said Thomas Hennessey, vice president, CFO and treasurer. The offering was managed by Hambrecht & Quist Inc
So far this year public financing of biotechnology companies has followed a pattern established in 1992. Last year a heated first quarter was followed by three lean quarters. While it's too early to tell how closely 1993 will follow last year's script, public offerings have been brisk in January. "The bullishness of Wall Street is high right now," said Kenneth Lee, national director of life sciences industry services for Ernst & Young in Palo Alto, Calif. "But no one expects it to be as big as
Vestar Inc. announced Wednesday that it has sued Liposome Technology Inc. (LTI) over a patent just issued to LTI on a method for making liposome-entrapped amphotericin B. LTI (NASDAQ:LTIZ) of Menlo Park, Calif., announced Tuesday that it had been awarded U.S. patent No. 5,180,713, claiming a method of preparing a stable liposome-entrapped amphotericin B drug product. Vestar (NASDAQ:VSTR) of San Dimas, Calif., responded in a release, also on Tuesday, that "the methodology described in this
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- On or about Feb. 2, FDA will receive an investigational new drug (IND) application, seeking to inject a variety of cancer patients with a protein-engineered bacterial toxin. Ira H. Pastan, chief of the National Cancer Institute's Molecular Biology Laboratory, revealed the plan here on Tuesday at the 25th Annual Miami Winter Symposium in a session on chimeric proteins. Pastan's tumor-killing exotoxin is secreted by a common pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. One molecule of
Eli Lilly and Co. announced Wednesday that it will incur a fourth-quarter 1992 special charge to write off expenses related to the company's investment in Centocor Inc. and its sepsis product, HA-1A. The charge will reduce the Indianapolis company's (NYSE:LLY) after-tax earnings per share by nine cents to 11 cents. The charge accounts for known costs and losses in connection with the suspension of clinical trials of HA-1A in the U.S. and suspension of sales of the product overseas. It also
Cell Genesys Inc. announced Monday that it completed an initial public offering of 3.5 million shares at $11 per share. The Foster City, Calif, company has granted the underwriters -- Robertson, Stephens & Co, Invemed Associates Inc. and Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. -- an option to purchase up to an additional 500,000 shares to cover overallotments. The common stock will trade on the NASDAQ National Market System under the symbol CEGE. Net proceeds from the IPO will be used for research and