A monoclonal antibody that neutralizes blood-clotting Factor VIIa effectively prevents excessive blood coagulation, such as occurs in sepsis. The preclinical trial results on Corvas International Inc.'s (NASDAQ:CVAS) Factor VIIa inhibitor Corsevin M were presented Wednesday by researcher Bart Biemond of the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, at the 65th Annual American Heart Association Meeting in New Orleans. Factor VIIa is the blood enzyme that triggers the first step in
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. raised $41.25 million in an initial public offering of 3.75 million shares completed Wednesday, David Robinson, the San Diego company's president and chief executive officer, told BioWorld. The company initially planned to offer 3 million shares of class A common stock at $10-$12 a share, but instead went out with 3.75 million shares at $13. The company's stock (NASDAQ:LGANDA) closed at $12.25 on Wednesday. Allergan Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Inc. and Glaxo Inc. will
The final action on a recommendation by an FDA advisory committee that the agency approve Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s taxol for marketing must await completion of an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the effects of harvesting the rare Pacific yew tree. According to Bruce Manheim, a senior attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Forest Service, the lead agency responsible for preparing the EIS, had scheduled a draft document to be completed by October
StressGen Biotechnologies Corp. of Victoria, British Columbia, this month returned to the private-placement well for $3 million to $5 million in new money, primarily from the Canadian venture capital community. Richard M. Glickman, StressGen's founder and president, told BioWorld he hopes to bank this second-round package by spring. He is "actively looking for environmental investors," but will develop cellular stress response proteins primarily for medical applications. Glickman and two U.S
The Liposome Company Inc. (TLC) announced Wednesday that it reacquired certain geographical rights to its liposomal prostaglandin products granted to Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd of Tokyo in a 1987 agreement. Under a restructured agreement, TLC (NASDAQ:LIPO) of Princeton, N.J., will retain rights to liposomal PGE 1 in North America and reacquire rights previously granted to Taisho in the rest of the world. Taisho will receive a royalty on sales and an undisclosed number of shares of common
Viratek Inc., a subsidiary of ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., announced Wednesday that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a secondary public offering of 1.25 million units consisting of one share of common stock and one five-year purchase warrant per share. The price of the units and the exercise price of the warrants will be determined at the time of the offering. H.J. Meyers & Co. Inc. of Beverly Hills, Calif., is underwriting the offering. The
Genset of Paris said it has raised $7 million in a new round of financing. The investors included Burr Egan Deleage & Co., a San Francisco-based venture capital firm; S.R. One Ltd., the fund created by SmithKline Beecham; and SoFinnova Inc., a French venture capital firm. Genset is developing synthetic nucleotides, both RNA and DNA, for use as research, diagnostic and therapeutic agents. For therapeutics, the company is developing antisense, anti-viral agents. Its antisense compounds are
Emisphere Technologies Inc. presented results on Tuesday of an initial human safety study of its proprietary oral drug delivery system (ODS) at the Seventh Annual Meeting of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists in San Antonio, Texas. The oral administration of Emisphere's system, which encapsulates a low molecular weight heparin (LMWH), was shown to be safe, and the compound's activity was comparable to that measured in preclinical trials in non-human primates, the Hawthorne, N
Isis Pharmaceuticals announced Tuesday that it has started Phase II clinical trials on its antisense drug for treating genital warts. The double-blinded trial is designed to determine whether ISIS 2105 can delay or prevent wart recurrence following surgical removal. Clinicians will administer the antisense compound into the wound margins at the time of surgery. Isis (NASDAQ:ISIP) has designed its antisense compound to attack human papillomavirus, which is the cause of most genital warts. There
PerSeptive Biosystems Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., announced Tuesday that it reached a settlement agreement with its former president, James Coutre, ending further litigation. Robert Fein, PerSeptive's vice president and chief financial officer, declined to disclose details of the agreement, but said the company expects no material impact on its results of operations." Under the terms of the settlement, Coutre has resigned from the company's board of directors. In June, Coutre filed a wrongful
Biogen Inc. on Tuesday reported Phase II clinical trial results of Hirulog, its anti-coagulant for treating unstable angina, at the 65th Annual American Heart Association Meeting in New Orleans. In short, the researchers have found that Hirulog is safe, effective, and easy to dose. Unstable angina is a severe cardiovascular condition caused by a transient blockage of a coronary artery as a result of thrombosis. It can lead to a heart attack. The majority of people affected by this condition are
A recent in vitro study of Seragen's epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor-targeted fusion toxin, DAB389EGF (389), suggested that it may inhibit proliferating smooth muscle cells (SMC) in restenosis. Restenosis is the premature re-narrowing of blood vessels in cardiac patients after they have undergone angioplasty to widen constricted vessels. The results were reported Tuesday at the American Heart Association's 65th Scientific Sessions in New Orleans. Investigators studied 389's effect on
Applied Immune Sciences Inc. (AIS) announced Monday that it formed a 50/50 partnership with Eriphyle BV of the Netherlands to build the first cell therapy center in Israel. Under the terms of the arrangement, Eriphyle will construct and manage the operation and AIS will provide its expertise and equipment for the cell isolation and treatment processes. In line with similar recent agreements with Caremark International Inc. and the Swiss Red Cross, AIS will share earnings with Eriphyle and will
DynaGen Inc. scientists on Monday presented data on two of the company's newest diagnostic tests -- for tuberculosis -- at the World Congress on Tuberculosis in Bethesda, Md. The tests include a five-minute latex agglutination test for detecting mycobacteria in sputum, and an enzyme immunoassay for detecting anti-mycobacterial antibodies. The Cambridge, Mass., company (NASDAQ:DYGN) said that the latter test can be used to distinguish between patients with active disease and those who have been
Liposome Technology Inc. announced that it is now producing commercial-scale batches of Amphocil for use in its Phase III clinical trials. Amphocil, a lipid-complexed amphotericin B formulation, is being tested in patients for its ability to treat life-threatening systemic fungal infections. "The timing of commercial-scale production is crucial for initiating a planned pivotal Phase III clinical trial, for conducting product stability studies and for expediting the timely filing of FDA
Lifecore Biomedical Inc.'s stock jumped 25 percent Monday, up $2.25 per share to $8.88. The jump was apparently sparked by an announcement from Ethicon Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, that it will continue its development project on Chaska, Minn.-based Lifecore's sodium hyaluronate technology to create a product for the reduction of surgical adhesions. Ethicon's continued involvement in the project was in question due to their analysis of a human clinical study that showed Lifecore's
Seragen Inc. on Saturday reported results of its interleukin-2 (IL-2) receptor-targeted fusion toxin, DAB486IL-2 in two applications, severe rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes, at the Seventh Annual Conference of the Clinical Immunology Society in Philadelphia. According to Seragen spokeswoman Helen Maslocka, data from the severe rheumatoid arthritis trial, which were retreatment data from ongoing Phase I safety studies, demonstrated that the duration of response to the IL-2 fusion toxin
Vical Inc. announced Monday that it received a $500,000 small business innovation research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health to further develop Vical's proprietary cytofectins. Cytofectins are a family of lipids for delivering functional genes to cells and tissues in vivo. According to Philip Felgner, Vical's chief scientist, cytofectins readily form stable complexes with genetic material such as DNA or RNA, enabling its safe delivery to the interior of the cell and bypassing
True to analysts' predictions, the FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee on Monday recommended unanimously approval of Bristol-Myers Squibb's taxol for metastatic ovarian cancer therapy. "Although this indication alone (for treating patients who have failed standard therapy) is unlikely to generate domestic sales much greater than $20 million annually, taxol revenues could approach $1 billion in mid-decade if this novel chemotherapeutic realizes its promise in the treatment of breast and non
Researchers reported Monday at the 65th Annual American Heart Association Meeting in New Orleans that an anti-P- selectin antibody can protect against reperfusion injury in animal models. The antibody, CY1747, developed by Cytel Corp. of San Diego, apparently inhibits the migration of neutrophils to tissue that has been ischemic (deprived of blood and oxygen) during reperfusion. It was already known that such migration of neutrophils could lead to substantial and often irreversible tissue
A monoclonal antibody that neutralizes blood-clotting Factor VIIa effectively prevents excessive blood coagulation, such as occurs in sepsis. The preclinical trial results on Corvas International Inc.'s (NASDAQ:CVAS) Factor VIIa inhibitor Corsevin M were presented Wednesday by researcher Bart Biemond of the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, at the 65th Annual American Heart Association Meeting in New Orleans. Factor VIIa is the blood enzyme that triggers the first step in