Karen Bernstein BioWorld Staff Cortecs International Ltd., a developer of oral peptide drug delivery systems, has raised $17.8 million through a private placement to institutional investors of 12.6 million shares at $1.41 per share. More than half of the proceeds will be used to retire $9.5 million of debt. The remaining funds will fund drug development. Cortecs was formed in 1976 to deliver protein-based drugs through the fat-aborption mechanism of the upper small intestine. The company's
Shares of Deprenyl Research Ltd. and its two affiliates on Friday recovered about half of the value they lost on Thursday after Wedbush Morgan Securities put a "sell" on Deprenyl Research. "It looked to me that the stock was overvalued in the current market, so I changed the recommendation from "buy" to "sell," said James Reynolds, Los Angeles-based director of research at the firm. Reynolds, who doesn't normally follow the stock, told BioWorld on Friday, "It's my responsibility as research
Medarex Inc. has filed for a secondary offering of 2.3 million shares of common stock, the company said. The Princeton, N.J., company is developing monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer, AIDS and other infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular disease. Medarex (NASDAQ:MEDX) went public last July, raising $14 million in an offering of 2.3 million shares and an equal number of warrants priced at $6 and 10 cents, respectively. The stock rose 38 cents to $12.75 on Thursday. The
Harvey S. Sadow has been elected chairman of Cholestech Corp., a privately held company focused on diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of high blood cholesterol and other lipid disorders. Sadow was founding president and CEO of Boehringer Ingelhiem Corp. until his retirement in 1988. Cholestech is based in Hayward, Calif. Oracle Diagnostics Inc. of Foster City, Calif., a development- phase biotech company developing diagnostic assays for infectious diseases that utilize non-invasive specimens
Neurogen Corp. has received its first patent and notices of allowance on two other patents covering its agents for sleep and anxiety disorders. U.S. patent No. 5,095,015, issued March 10, and the allowed claims cover novel drugs that act at the GABA receptor in the brain, which is involved in regulating anxiety and sedation. Neurogen (NASDAQ:NRGN) drugs are being developed to act more specifically at receptor subsets to avoid the side effects of available drugs such as the benzodiazepine
Gilead Sciences Inc. on Thursday said it has filed its first investigational new drug application, to test its drug GS 504 in AIDS patients at risk of developing cytomegalovirus infection in the retina. The company's shares (NASDAQ:GILD) jumped $2.38 to $19.25 on the news. GS 504, a dinucleotide, has demonstrated a longer duration and higher potency against CMV in mice. If this performance is shown in humans, the drug may compete with ganciclovir, marketed by Syntex, and foscarnet, developed
Scientists at Protein Engineering Corp. have remodeled an inhibitor of an enzyme associated with lung diseases, creating a blocker that is orders of magnitude more potent than all previous compounds. The new elastase inhibitor, which should find use in such respiratory disorders as cystic fibrosis, bronchitis and emphysema, will be tested preclinically, and if promising, will enter clinical trials by the end of 1993, John Freeman, company president and co-founder, told BioWorld. Elastase
WASHINGTON -- The chairman of a House oversight committee on Thursday charged that the White House is pressuring the FDA to expand the scope of drug approval reforms despite the agency's "serious misgivings" that this will endanger public health. Rep. Ted Weiss, D-N.Y., chairman of the human resources and intergovernmental operations subcommittee, made the charge at a hearing on the administration's plans to speed up the drug approval process. FDA Commissioner David Kessler did not respond
VimRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Thursday that the FDA has approved a new dosing schedule for its Phase I trial of VimRxyn in AIDS patients. The action will enable the trial to resume, and the Stamford, Conn., company (NASDAQ:VMRX) said it will begin enrolling new patients soon. The trial, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, was suspended after the anti-viral drug caused cutaneous discomfort in the patients. VimRx shares were up 19 cents to $2.81. VimRxyn is an organic compound
Calgene Inc. said Thursday that it raised $25.9 million in a secondary offering of 2 million shares of common stock, plus a 300,000-share overallotment option, at $11.25 per share. The agbiotech company (NASDAQ:CGNE) hopes to begin marketing in 1993 the first genetically engineered food, a tomato with enhanced shelf life. The tomato is being reviewed by the FDA. Calgene is also developing canola oil products and herbicide-tolerant cotton. Calgene stock lost 38 cents, closing at $12.25. The
Medeva plc, the largest British supplier of human vaccines, has acquired two hepatitis B products from Epitec Ltd. and GA Investments SA. Worldwide rights to a vaccine for the viral disease and a treatment for chronic hepatitis caused by the B virus, were purchased for $6.6 million, plus $9.2 million to be paid upon successful completion of development and registration milestones in certain European countries. The vaccine candidate is in late clinical testing and, according to the company
American Biogenetic Sciences Inc. said Thursday that it has raised $15.5 million through the exercise of its 3.4 million class B warrants outstanding. The warrants were exercised at $4.50 per share. The stock (NASDAQ:MABXA) closed Thursday at $9.50, up 38 cents. After the exercise, the Notre Dame, Ind., company has about 13 million shares outstanding and $24 million in working capital. ABS this month filed an investigational new drug application with the FDA to begin human trials of its MH-1
Shares of Deprenyl Research Ltd. and its two affiliates, Deprenyl Animal Health Inc. and Deprenyl USA Inc., fell on Thursday after a Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst put a "sell" recommendation on Deprenyl Research. Deprenyl Research (NASDAQ:DEPLF) fell $2.38 to $12.50, Deprenyl USA (NASDAQ:DUSA) was off $3.25 to $28.75, and Deprenyl Animal (NASDAQ:DAHI) lost 38 cents to $5.75. The Toronto company said it is "unaware of any situation that should prompt such a radical and unsupported opinion
Quidel Corp. (NASDAQ:QDEL) on Thursday said it has received FDA clearance to market its one-step test that predicts ovulation with a few drops of a woman's urine. The San Diego company's test gives results in three minutes. It is the first of a set of new rapid immunodiagnostics that the company is developing for the fields of fertility, allergy and infectious disease. The stock closed Thursday at $5, up 25 cents. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.
Telios Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Thursday said it raised $20 million in a scaled-down initial public offering of 2.5 million shares of common stock at $8 per share. Telios had proposed selling 3 million shares at $10 to $12 per share. The shares (NASDAQ:TLIO) closed at $8. The San Diego company is developing drugs based on the role of the extracellular matrix, a meshwork of proteins and other compounds that surrounds most cells. OcuNex, an adhesion peptide-based drug, is in Phase II trials to
Genentech Inc.'s next product has performed well in preliminary clinical testing, with cystic fibrosis patients showing significant improvements in lung function while they were taking DNase. As reported today in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Phase I trials at the National Institutes of Health showed that, as predicted, the DNA-digesting enzyme appeared to improve lung function, presumably because it thins the mucus. Cystic fibrosis is associated with difficulty in clearing thick
Synergen Inc. shares rose $2.75 to $52.75 on Wednesday after Shearson, Lehman analyst Teena Lerner initiated coverage, adding the stock to the SLB Selected Growth Stock List and recommending that investors buy shares on weakness. Synergen "is the only biotech company currently in Phase III studies with a drug of blockbuster potential," Lerner wrote. Based on Phase II data, she said, Antril interleukin-1 receptor antagonist appears to be superior to the anti-sepsis monoclonal antibodies
SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc. has raised $22.4 million in an initial public offering of 3 million shares of common stock at $7.25 per share and 3 million warrants at 20 cents per warrant. The San Mateo, Calif., company (NASDAQ:SCLN) acquires for development later-stage proprietary drugs that have an existing base of preclinical and clinical data, focusing on infectious diseases, cancer and immune system disorders. SciClone has acquired from Alpha 1 Biomedicals Inc. worldwide rights, excluding
Somatogen Inc. has published preclinical research showing that its modified, mutated hemoglobin has promise as a blood substitute. Human hemoglobin itself is unsuitable as an oxygen carrier in blood because it holds onto oxygen too tightly in the bloodstream and disintegrates too readily into its constituent parts. Scientists at the Denver company and colleagues at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, reported today in Nature that they have corrected these problems. The
Genzyme Corp. on Wednesday said it has started clinical studies of a bioresorbable membrane designed to reduce the formation of post-surgical adhesions. The trials, under an investigational device exemption application, are expected to take two years. Spokeswoman Donna LaVoie said that the product, HAL-F, will be marketed in 1995-1996. HAL-F is one of four products based on hyaluronic acid (HA) that Genzyme is developing. The products are principally intended to be used by surgeons to reduce
Karen Bernstein BioWorld Staff Cortecs International Ltd., a developer of oral peptide drug delivery systems, has raised $17.8 million through a private placement to institutional investors of 12.6 million shares at $1.41 per share. More than half of the proceeds will be used to retire $9.5 million of debt. The remaining funds will fund drug development. Cortecs was formed in 1976 to deliver protein-based drugs through the fat-aborption mechanism of the upper small intestine. The company's