Sepracor Inc. (NASDAQ:SEPR) of Marlborough, Mass., and Sterling Winthrop Inc. of New York have entered into a joint agreement to develop for over-the-counter use and to market an analgesic product based on a single isomer form of a current non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory prescription drug. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.
PDL DEVELOPS HUMANIZED ANTIBODIES Protein Design Labs Inc. (NASDAQ:PDLI) of Mountain View, Calif., announced Wednesday at the Robertson Stephens & Co. conference in New York that it has developed humanized antibodies to two adhesion molecules: integrin and selectin. The company claimed that its humanized antibodies have approximately the same biological activity and binding affinity as the mouse antibodies from which they were derived. Gregory Lawless, president and chief executive officer of
Drug pricing was the topic before the advisory committee to the director of the National Institutes of Health on Wednesday, and the big questions was, given the crucial role that NIH plays in drug development, is the public subsidizing the industry. And if so, should citizens be reimbursed through lower drug prices, or should NIH or the federal government receive royalties? And finally, what role, if any, should NIH play in determining "reasonable pricing"? The public is angry, said John
Innovir Laboratories Inc. announced Wednesday that a U.S. patent, No. 5,168,053, covering therapeutic applications of ribozyme (RNA enzyme) was issued to Yale University on Tuesday. Licensed exclusively to Innovir, the patent covers the use of small, specific RNA segments called external guide sequences (EGSes) that target key disease-causing molecules known as messenger RNAs (mRNAs). EGSes direct the cellular ribozyme element Ribonuclease P (RNase P) to mRNA targets, where the RNase P cleaves
Cel-Sci Corp. and Alpha 1 Biomedicals Inc. announced that their putative AIDS vaccine, HGP-30, proved safe in U.S. Phase I clinical trials on 16 healthy volunteers. Moreover, "some individuals showed T cell responses, including the ability to elicit cytotoxic killer T cells that are thought to be essential in the elimination of AIDS infected cells," said Allan Goldstein, professor and chairman of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at the George Washington University Medical
APPLIED IMMUNE BEGINS PHASE II Applied Immune Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:AISX) of South San Francisco, Calif., announced that it has begun Phase II trials on its cell therapy for AIDS in 20 patients at the University of California, San Francisco. Celltech Group plc of Slough, England, announced that it has spun off its contract manufacturing business as an independent, wholly owned subsidiary, Celltech Biologics plc. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.
Vestar Inc. announced that its liposome-formulated amphotericin B compound may be useful in treating visceral leishmaniasis (VL), an often fatal parasitic infection. Clinician Robert Davidson of St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, reported on a multicenter, combined Phase II/III clinical trial of Ambisome at the XIII International Congress for Tropical Medicine and Malaria held in Pattaya, Thailand. AmBisome treatment cured all 32 VL-infected patients, including 12 who were
Mycogen Corp. said Tuesday that it has completed the acquisition of Lubrizol Corp.'s agricultural seed and plant science division, Agrigenetics Co., in a $135 million deal announced in April. The transaction involved the formation of a partnership between Mycogen and Lubrizol giving Mycogen a 51 percent interest and Lubrizol a 49 percent interest. To acquire controlling interest in the partnership, Mycogen of San Diego transferred 2.29 million shares of its common stock (NASDAQ:MYCO) and $39.4
Creative BioMolecules Inc. announced Tuesday that it has filed an initial public offering of 3 million shares of common stock at an estimated price range of $7 to $9 per share. The underwriters of the offering, Montgomery Securities and Prudential Securities Inc., have an option to purchase up to 450,000 additional shares to cover overallotments. The company will trade on the NASDAQ under the approved symbol CBMI. Creative Biomolecules originally filed a registration statement with the
TheraTech Inc. announced that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a secondary public offering of 1.25 million shares of common stock. The offering will be co-managed by William Blair & Co. and Vector Securities International Inc. The Salt Lake City drug delivery company (NASDAQ:THRT) will use the proceeds to fund R&D, as well as for construction of additional R&D and manufacturing facilities. TheraTech has six drug delivery products in clinical
Just as Darwin's finches have diversified throughout the Galapagos Islands, so have parrot species diverged island by island in the Caribbean. Millions of Puerto Rican parrots, Amazona vittata, used to darken the skies of the 3,515-square- mile island. By 1975, their number was down to 13 adult birds. Before then, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service had begun a conservation program to pull Amazona vittata back from the brink of total extinction. It snared birds of both sexes and tried to breed
DNA Plant Technology Corp. (DNAP) announced Monday that it will restructure its business strategy to focus on areas where the company is already profitable. According to John Bedbrook, DNAP's executive vice president and director of science, the company will continue to build in the fruit and vegetable, specialty oils, and environmental diagnostics areas, but will move out of its ice modification and floriculture technologies. "We want to bring critical mass together and maintain
British Bio-technology Group plc (BBL) plans to use InSite Vision Inc.'s drug delivery systems to evaluate BB-94, BBL's collagenase inhibitor, in human eye disease. BBL of Oxford, England, said Monday that it will investigate BB- 94 as a topical treatment for post-corneal surgery. Under the terms of the agreement, InSite will fund and conduct U.S. Phase I trials in mid-1993. If the safety trials are successful, InSite will also fund and manage Phase II trials in patients undergoing corneal
Lifecore Biomedical Inc. has initiated a research agreement with Iolab Corp. to develop a high molecular weight sodium hyaluronate based on Lifecore's microbial fermentation process for use in Iolab's ophthalmic products. Under the terms of the agreement announced last week, Iolab, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary based in Claremont, Calif., will fund the project for an undisclosed sum in exchange for the right to negotiate an exclusive commercial supply agreement covering Iolab's ophthalmic use
Decorin, a human proteoglycan that is a natural inhibitor of TGF-beta, seems to be capable of preventing the progression of kidney disease. Researchers from the University of Utah, the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation and Telios Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:TLIO) of San Diego reported last week in Nature that decorin prevents scarring in kidney disease in animals. Scarring is the leading cause of kidney failure in humans. Decorin is normally found in cartilage, skin and other extracellular
By Michelle Slade Associate Editor Calgene Inc. announced Monday that it has exclusively licensed from the University of Tromso in Norway the genes that convert glucose into trehalose, a simple sugar that preserves flavor and texture in frozen, dehydrated or dried foods. Trehalose is a non-reducing disaccharide composed entirely of glucose, a basic building block of starches and complex sugars. Studies show that the compound preserves the "fresh" flavor and texture of foods such as milk
ICI Seeds of Wilmington, Del., a global business group of Imperial Chemical Industries plc (NYSE:ICI) of London, announced that its Japanese collaborator, Kagome, will begin large-scale field trials of ICI's gene technology for fruit ripening, especially of tomatoes. ICI Seeds has a "broad-based research program on fruit ripening," Simon Best, the company's business manager for fruit and vegetable technology, told BioWorld. "We have 13 fully characterized ripening genes," he said, including
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found that anti-HIV RNA can reduce production of the virus in infected cells by as much as 99 percent. Saswati Chatterjee, Philip Johnson and K.K. Wong Jr. used as their antisense targets sequences that are present in all HIV-1 transcripts -- the TAR sequence, essential to viral transcription and replication, and the polyadenylation sequence. As detailed in last week's issue of Science, the researchers used an adeno-associated virus
Published Nov. 11 & 19 (EPO) & Nov. 12 (WO) BioWorldLs weekly European patent preview lists in alphabetical order by assignee, and briefly summarizes, all salient biotechnology patent applications as they are made public in Europe. European patent offices publish full texts of patent applications worldwide within six months of their filing, and months to years before the corresponding U.S. patent issues. Two organizations and Great Britain (GB) comprise the European system: -- The European
Collagen Corp. announced that it raised about $15 million after expenses and taxes in a public offering of Target Therapeutics Inc.'s common stock (NASDAQ:TGET). The public offering price for the 1.05 million shares of Target common stock was $26.75 per share. Collagen Corp. (NASDAQ:CGEN) sold 1,004,700 shares in the offering, and 45,300 shares were sold by stockholders. The company has approximately 6,674,488 shares outstanding after the offering. Collagen will get 36 percent of the
Sepracor Inc. (NASDAQ:SEPR) of Marlborough, Mass., and Sterling Winthrop Inc. of New York have entered into a joint agreement to develop for over-the-counter use and to market an analgesic product based on a single isomer form of a current non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory prescription drug. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.