Genetics Institute Inc. and its research spinoff, SciGenics Inc., announced Tuesday that FDA has finally given them the nod to begin human clinical trials on macrophage-colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) for lowering cholesterol. GI (NASDAQ:GENIZ) still needs to complete its final site selection and get institutional review board approvals, but plans to start the trials in the first half of this year, according to Dennis Harp, the Cambridge, Mass., company's director of corporate communications
Biotechnology analysts issued a flurry of ratings changes on Centocor Inc.'s stock in response to Monday's news that the company has stopped its Phase III clinical trial of its septic shock drug, HA-1A, and suspended sales in Europe due to unexpected patient deaths. The Malvern, Pa., company's stock (NASDAQ:CNTO) dropped 63 percent after the announcement on Monday, from $17.75 to $6.63 a share. It dropped another 88 cents a share on Tuesday, closing at $5.75, with almost 5.5 million shares
Calgene Inc. announced Tuesday that it has formed a new company with Quadrant Holdings Ltd. to develop and commercialize the food-related applications of the natural sugar trehalose. Calgene of Davis Calif., and Quadrant of Cambridge, England, will each initially own 50 percent of the new company, Osmotica Foods. Quadrant contributes its U.S. and foreign patents covering the uses of trehalose in all food applications; Osmotica gets Calgene's (NASDAQ:CGNE) license for the trehalose-synthesizing
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- This South Florida resort is the world capital of protein engineering this week, as upward of 700 microbiologists, biophysicists, chemists and crystallographers converge for the 25th Annual Winter Symposium. The theme of the conference, co-sponsored by Bio/Technology magazine, is protein engineering. Opening the event on Monday, William J. Whelan, conference co-director and president of the University of Miami's Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Foundation Inc., announced
Liposome Technology Inc. (LTI) announced Tuesday that it has received a U.S. patent, No. 5,180,713, for a method of preparing a stable liposome-entrapped amphotericin B drug product. LTI (NASDAQ:LTIZ) of Menlo Park, Calif., believes the patented technology could be key to the commercialization of a liposome-entrapped version of the drug because it provides the Ioptimal meansJ of preserving the particle size of amphotericin B-containing liposomes during storage. LTI scientists developed the
Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Tuesday that it has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a secondary offering of 2.5 million shares of common stock, with an overallotment option of 375,000 shares. The San Diego companyLs stock (NASDAQ:AMLN) closed Tuesday at $12.75, down $1.50 per share. Underwriters for the offering are Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. and Alex. Brown & Sons Inc. The company completed an initial public offering (IPO) last January, raising $64.4 million
Genzyme Corp. announced Tuesday that it has received FDA approval to market its kit for the direct measurement of low- density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. The Cambridge, Mass., company (NASDAQ:GENZ) claims that its kit is the first product that will allow routine and direct measurement of LDL cholesterol, a primary factor in coronary heart disease. Current tests are indirect and rely on calculations to arrive at LDL values that may not be accurate. They measure total cholesterol
Ciba Corning Diagnostics Corp., of Medfield, Mass., said it has acquired the cancer diagnostics business of Triton Diagnostics inc., a subsidiary of Shell Oil Co. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Triton Diagnostics now becomes Triton Laboratories, which will operate as a fully integrated unit of Ciba Corning. Triton of Alameda, Calif., currently has a portfolio of five manual, non-isotopic in vitro cancer diagnostics. Four assays use breast cancer markers -- one being the
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and the Max Planck Institute have received a U.S. patent covering the gene for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), Regeneron announced Tuesday. Regeneron (NASDAQ:REGN) and Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) are jointly developing BDNF for the treatment of neurological diseases. Regeneron is the exclusive licensee of BDNF technology from the Max Planck Institute. Regeneron of Tarrytown, N.Y., said it plans to begin clinical trials by midyear to treat diseases of the
DNA Plant Technology Corp. announced Tuesday that it has licensed to the Dutch company Mogen International N.V. its patents for the expression of chitinase in genetically engineered plants to enable them to resist fungal disease. The license gives Mogen, a plant biotech company that has close ties with seed companies, the exclusive worldwide rights to commercialize the patent for all applications to all crops except in DNAP's key business areas, principally premium fruits and vegetables and
ImmuLogic Pharmaceutical Corp. announced that it has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a public offering of 2.5 million shares of common stock with an overallottment option of 375,000 shares. Managing underwriters for the offering will be Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. and Hambrecht & Quist Inc. ImmuLogic of Waltham, Mass., completed a secondary offering last January, raising $48.5 million from the sale of 2.1 million shares at $22.75 a share. The companyLs stock (NASDAQ
In a major setback to its lead product for sepsis, Centocor Inc. announced Monday that it has suspended its second Phase III trial of HA-1A and stopped product sales in Europe due to an excess of mortality observed in one arm of the study. Stock in the Malvern, Pa., company (NASDAQ:CNTO) dropped 63 percent -- $11.13 a share -- after the announcement, closing the day at $6.63. Nearly 14 million shares changed hands, the most the company's stock has traded since last April 15, when the company
Sugen Inc. announced Monday that it has signed an exclusive three-year collaborative agreement with Selectide Corp. to develop novel, small-peptide therapeutics targeting two classes of cell receptors. The deal entails a stock swap of roughly 10 percent of the two privately held companiesL respective capitalizations. Under the terms of the agreement, each company may create its own scientific team within its collaboratorLs laboratory facilities to pursue specific research projects. The two
Vestar Inc. announced that it has initiated a limited program to provide DaunoXome free of charge to AIDS patients with advanced Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) who have failed at least one other cytotoxic therapy. DaunoXome is Vestar's liposomal formulation of the anti-cancer drug daunorubicin. The San Dimas, Calif., company (NASDAQ:VSTR) said it intends to start shipping DaunoXome immediately to a limited number of hospital centers; the program will be administered by PACT, a clinical research
Glaxo Canada, a subsidiary of Glaxo Holdings plc, on Monday exercised its option to purchase about 3.9 million common shares of BioChem Pharma Inc. at an exercise price of C$7.80 (US$6.01) per share for a total of C$30.3 million (US$23.6 million). Glaxo was granted the option in January 1991 under agreements between the companies covering the research and development of compounds discovered by BioChem for the treatment of viral diseases and cancer, BioChem said. Glaxo has now invested about C
Deprenyl USA Inc. reported Monday that an independent study showed that ALA photodynamic therapy, the company's proposed treatment for skin cancers and other dermatological disorders, is "effective for superficial epithelial skin tumors." Reporting in the January issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, the researchers said: "We observed a complete response after a single treatment for all nine solar keratoses, five of six early invasive squamous cell carcinomas, and 36 of
Applied Bioscience International Inc. said Monday that it has consolidated into one organization three major companies in the phamaceutical, consumer product and chemical contract research areas. Pharmaco, Life Science Research and Bio/dynamics will operate under a new company name, Pharmaco-LSR. Grover C. Wrenn, president and chief executive officer of Applied Bioscience of Arlington, Va., said the anticipated restructuring costs associated with the formation of Pharmaco-LSR were included in a
Baxter International's Biotech Group has granted to Applied Immune Sciences Inc. (AIS) a non-exclusive license covering certain patents for Baxter's anti-CD34 antibodies and stem cell populations, AIS said Monday. AIS declined to disclose terms of the arrangement. AIS of Santa Clara, Calif., said it will use the antibodies with its proprietary stem cell separation device, the AIS Cellector. Stem cells are the cells in the blood and bone marrow from which all blood cells are derived. The goal
Chiron Corp. announced on Monday that it has established Chiron Mimotopes U.S. (CMUS) to market custom peptides and multipeptide synthesis kits and related products. CMUS is an affiliate of Chiron Mimotopes Pty Ltd. of Australia, which Chiron acquired in 1991. Chiron Mimotopes Pty's proprietary Multipin Peptide Synthesis technology synthesizes custom peptides at a variety of purity levels and lengths. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.
Canguard Health Technologies Inc. announced that, together with its corporate partner Pharmasciences Inc. of Montreal, it has signed a commercial agreement with Athena Neurosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHN) of South San Francisco, Calif. Athena will develop and commercialize two unidentified Canguard products in the U.S. Canguard of Vancouver, British Columbia, recently raised about C$165,000 (US$129,000) in a private placement to support the company's drug development program, which is currently
Genetics Institute Inc. and its research spinoff, SciGenics Inc., announced Tuesday that FDA has finally given them the nod to begin human clinical trials on macrophage-colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) for lowering cholesterol. GI (NASDAQ:GENIZ) still needs to complete its final site selection and get institutional review board approvals, but plans to start the trials in the first half of this year, according to Dennis Harp, the Cambridge, Mass., company's director of corporate communications