Enzon Inc. announced Friday that it has sold 3 million shares of common stock at $6.50 per share. Prudential Securities Inc. was the managing underwriter. The underwriters have the option to purchase an additional 450,000 shares to cover overallotments. After the offering, Enzon will have approximately 23.2 million common shares outstanding. The Piscataway, N. J., company (NASDAQ:ENZN) expects to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes. Enzon is a biopharmaceutical company
Interneuron Pharmaceuticals Inc. has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer 3 million shares of common stock (NASDAQ:IPIC). Proceeds will be used to conduct research, development and testing of Dexfenfluramine and other central nervous system compounds, and for drug transport and stem cell therapeutic technologies under development by Interneuron's subsidiaries, Progenitor Inc. and Transcell Technologies Inc., with the balance for working capital. Interneuron of Lexington
Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel has licensed to Baxter International a method of directing T cells to tumors, under an exclusive licensing and collaborative research agreement. Baxter announced Friday that its Biotech Group will use the unique immune-cell technology developed by Weizmann researchers to develop gene-therapy and immunotherapy products and systems. "It represents the beginning of engineering the immune system," Bob Goodenow, Baxter's research director of cellular therapy
Univax Biologics Inc. announced last week that it has received permission from FDA to conduct a plasma donor stimulation program using Genentech Inc.'s (NYSE:GNE) recombinant gp120 HIV vaccine. The goal is to produce a polyclonal antibody product to be tested in clinical trials for the prevention and treatment of HIV infections. Univax of Rockville, Md., expects to begin immunizing the individual donors by the end of January. By inoculating donors with the gp120 vaccine, the companies hope to
MedClone Inc. announced that it has received orphan drug designation for a potential monoclonal-antibody based therapy for kidney disease associated with lupus, the second most prevalent systemic autoimmune disease after rheumatoid arthritis. There are about 250,000 to 300,000 cases of systemic lupus erythematosus in the U.S., Peter Ulrich, MedClone's president and chief executive officer, told BioWorld. About half those cases have nephritis, a potentially life-threatening condition with 35
CytRx Corp. (NASDAQ:CYTR) announced last week that it formed Vaxcel Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary that will develop and commercialize new vaccine adjuvant systems. CytRx of Norcross Ga., will transfer to Vaxcel the rights to its immunoadjuvant TiterMax, which is already on the market for research applications. CytRx is developing therapeutics incorporating its copolymers. In critical care therapies, its products address treating vascular and infectious diseases, cancer and burns. (c) 1997
Published Dec. 23, 30 (EPO) Dec.23 (WO) Dec. 23 (GB) Ajinomoto Co. High-yield Tokyo bacterial strains Mutant bacterial host strains have high productivity of selected amino acids. AKZO, NV Coccidiosis EPO 519 547 Arnhem, Netherlands poultry vaccine DNA sequences encoding immunogenic Eimeria proteins as coccidiosis poultry vector vaccine. Albert Einstein Coll. Mycobacteria WO 92/22326 Med., New York mutations Mutation of Mycobacterium bovis-BCG, M. tuberculosis and M. leprae by insertion of a
Telios Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:TLIO) announced late Friday that Norsk Hydro has decided not to exercise its right to purchase $7.5 million of Telios common stock. As a result, Telios has reacquired entire ownership of Telios Pharma GmbH (TPG), a German limited liability company formed for the purpose of developing and marketing Telios products in Europe. According to San Diego-based Telios, Norsk said its decision was based upon its view that the development of Telio-Derm for Europe would
Focal Inc., a private company based in Cambridge, Mass., announced Friday that it raised $9.2 million in a private equity placement of its series C preferred stock. The offering was originally targeted for $6 million. A syndicate of venture capital firms participated in the offering, including Mayfield Fund, Domain Associates, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Delphi Bioventures, Partech and Frazier & Co. Focal was formed in 1991 with financing from the Mayfield Fund to commercialize what it
The president of the Industrial Biotechnology Association (IBA) on Friday applauded Environmental Protection Agency officials for their "forward-looking action" in proposing reduced regulations in the small-scale field testing of microbial pesticides. "We feel this should be viewed warmly by the new administration," Richard Godown, IBA president, told BioWorld, because easing development of biopesticides should minimize reliance on chemical pesticides while preserving environmental safety. The
The Liposome Company Inc. (TLC) announced that the underwriters of the company's recent offering have exercised their option to purchase an additional 360,000 depositary shares, at a price to the public of $25 per depositary share, to cover overallotments. Each depositary share represents one-tenth of a share of Series A cumulative convertible exchangeable preferred stock carrying a 7.75 percent dividend rate. TLC previously announced that it had successfully completed an offering of 2.4
The National Institutes of Health has a formal procedure for granting requests for experimental gene therapy through its Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC). So it was unprecedented when NIH Chief Bernadine Healy bypassed it Dec. 28 to grant a request for "compassionate" treatment for a 51-year-old woman dying of a brain tumor. This followed Healy's consultations with just a few of the NIH's leading cancer researchers. The FDA had already approved the treatment. On Thursday the RAC voted
Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corp. continued its substantial investment in neuroscience by announcing Thursday that it will provide more than $75 million over a 14-year period to the Neurosciences Institute (NSI), an independent international research organization that will be located on the campus of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. Under the terms of the alliance, Sandoz of East Hanover, N.J., gets the first rights to any discoveries related to the central nervous system. The NSI
Researchers have demonstrated that it's not only possible to deliver nerve growth factor (NGF) across the blood brain barrier (BBB), but also that the NGF exhibits in vivo activity, an important step in devising means to treat neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's in which the demise of central cholinergic neurons, which depend on NGF for their survival, may play a role. Researchers from Alkermes Inc. (NASDAQ:ALKS), Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, the University of Colorado, and
Scios Nova Inc. and privately held Adheron Corp. announced Thursday that Scios has sold its NovaScreen receptor screening business to Adheron for a combination of cash, stock and future payments. NovaScreen, which operated as a division of Nova Pharmaceutical Corp. before the merger of Scios and Nova last September, is a commercial research and development support service for drug discovery and development groups in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Adheron of College Park, Md
A leading supply company moved a step closer to merging with an international conglomerate with final regulatory approval of the proposed merger of Applied Biosystems Inc. (NASDAQ:ABIO) of Foster City, Calif., and Perkin-Elmer Corp. (NYSE:PKN) of Norwalk, Conn. The companies announced Thursday that their registration statement became effective with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. Perkin-Elmer and Applied Biosystems' boards of directors approved Perkin-Elmer exchanging 0
"Costimulation" is the name of the newest game in cancer immunotherapy. It already works in vivo -- at the mouse level -- as three widely separated research teams are now reporting. Their strategy was to saddle the surface of each malignant cell with a genetically engineered protein, B7. This costimulator, they hoped, would turn up the volume of the killer T cell response to the cancer's own immunogenically weak, tumor- specific antigen. In today's issue of Science, tumor immunologist Sarah E
Cibus Pharmaceutical Inc. announced on Thursday that it has filed an investigational new drug application (IND) with FDA for Phase II human clinical trials of its cholesterol-lowering drug, CP408. The privately held company, which re-incorporated with a pharmaceutical focus last August, intends to have products on the market before it integrates backward into a drug discovery company, its chief executive told BioWorld on Thursday. "We're taking a reverse approach to building a pharmaceutical
Argus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ARGS) of Houston announced Thursday that it has received clearance from the FDA to begin human clinical trials on its anti-cancer compound AR-623 for treating leukemia. The initial Phase I study will be conducted at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. AR-623 is a formulation of all trans retinoic acid, or tretinoin. The product is designed to deliver the drug to sites where leukemic cells are formed and then induce them to develop
Two new genetically engineered biologics and the first diagnostic imaging agent were approved by FDA in 1992, along with 23 other new drugs, according to an annual report released Wednesday by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PMA). The approvals brought to 17 the total number of biotechnology drugs and vaccines (including the imaging agent) cleared by FDA. As of August 1991, 132 biotechnology drugs had been in development, according to the PMA. John F. Beary III, senior vice
Enzon Inc. announced Friday that it has sold 3 million shares of common stock at $6.50 per share. Prudential Securities Inc. was the managing underwriter. The underwriters have the option to purchase an additional 450,000 shares to cover overallotments. After the offering, Enzon will have approximately 23.2 million common shares outstanding. The Piscataway, N. J., company (NASDAQ:ENZN) expects to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes. Enzon is a biopharmaceutical company