Genzyme Corp. and Neozyme II Corp. on Wednesday announced that they have raised $73.5 million in a public offering of 2.1 million Neozyme units priced at $35 per unit. Neozyme II will receive the proceeds of the offering and will contract with Genzyme to develop protein replacement and gene therapy treatments for cystic fibrosis. The R&D spinoff will spend about $15 million annually on the programs. "We hope these funds will take us all the way through an end product," said spokeswoman Susan
Immucor Inc., a maker of blood bank reagent systems and related products, said Wednesday that it has authorized the purchase of up to 500,000 shares of its common stock on the open market. At Wednesday's closing price of $8.75, up 25 cents, the purchase would cost up to $4.4 million. The Norcross, Ga., company (NASDAQ:BLUD) has 7.8 million shares outstanding and $17.5 million in cash. "Market conditions have provided us with an opportunity to enhance shareholder value by purchasing stock at
Molecular Biosystems Inc. said that the European Patent Office on Wednesday granted it a broad antisense patent that the company said covers compounds in development at other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. The claims in European patent No. 0092574 cover any antisense oligonucleotide of 14 to 23 bases that is stabilized to prevent chemical or nuclease degradation and that targets messenger RNA. The San Diego company "will enforce and defend this position vigorously," said Dr
Genetic Therapy Inc. said Wednesday that it has received non- exclusive rights from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas to use the gene for the low-density lipoprotein receptor to develop treatments for high blood cholesterol. The Gaithersburg, Md., company will use the LDL receptor to develop viral and other vector systems for gene therapy of familial hypercholesterolemia, a genetic disorder that causes elevated cholesterol levels. The LDL receptor is a key factor in
American Biogenetic Sciences Inc. has acquired exclusive worldwide rights to a genetic screening technique that it plans to develop to detect susceptibility to breast cancer. ABS (NASDAQ:MABXA) will develop a product from a DNA- based test that was discovered by H.F. Given and D.R. Headon, both of the biochemistry department at University College, Galway, Ireland. The method involves the detection of a distinct genetic lesion that the researchers have found in about 25 percent of breast cancer
Genset, a French developer of antisense technology, has signed a collaborative agreement with the nucleic acid chemistry laboratory of the Lomonossov Institute at Moscow State University to develop circular antisense oligonucleotides for treatment of herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2 and hepatitis B. The agreement will allow a team at the Moscow laboratory to continue its research on oligonucleotides despite difficult conditions in Russian laboratories, said Pascal Brandys, president and chief
Centocor Inc. on Tuesday announced the resignation of James Wavle Jr., its president and chief executive officer, and said it was prepared to give up its independence to raise new capital. The moves came as a result of the FDA's April 15 decision that Centoxin (HA-1A), the company's monoclonal antibody to treat gram-negative sepsis, is not approvable based on the company's clinical trial data. The stock (NASDAQ:CNTO) fell $1.38 to $13 on Tuesday. The Malvern, Pa., company said its board of
Xoma Corp. announced Tuesday that John L. Castello, former president and chief operating officer of Ares Serono Group, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, has been named president and chief executive officer of Xoma. Castello immediately moved to dispel rumors that the company was a takeover candidate, telling BioWorld, "I didn't come over here because I wanted to peddle the company." Steven Mendell will continue as chairman, relinquishing the CEO position. Dr. Patrick Scannon, who founded Xoma in
CytoTherapeutics Inc. has signed a research agreement with device maker Medtronic Inc. to develop implantable therapeutic-producing cells to treat chronic pain, the companies announced Tuesday. CereCRIB would use encapsulated living cells or tissue that produce therapeutic substances to control pain that originates in the trunk or limbs, from diseases such as cancer, by disrupting pain signals to the spinal cord. Medtronic will take an equity position of less than 1 percent in CytoTherapeutics
Immunex Corp.'s R&D spinoff, Receptech Corp. (NASDAQ:RECP), jumped $3.63 to $19 on Tuesday in the wake of upbeat comments by Merrill Lynch analyst Stuart Weisbrod on Monday about prospects for Immunex's IL-1 receptor product. Immunex created Receptech in 1989 to fund receptor development and has licensed U.S. rights for its receptor products from the spinoff. Immunex (NASDAQ:IMNX) closed unchanged at $25 after gaining $1 on Monday. Vestar Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTR) closed unchanged at $11.25 despite
Genelabs Technologies Inc. and Proteus International plc said Tuesday that they have formed Progene Partners, an equally owned joint venture general partnership to design and develop DNA-binding drugs focused on viral infections and cancer. Progene will design drugs that bind specifically to targeted DNA sites, such as gene regulatory regions, to alter or block disease-causing gene expression. Target genes will be cancer- causing oncogenes and viral infection genes. Each company will
Cygnus Therapeutic Systems Inc. said Monday that its Nicotrol nicotine transdermal patch has received FDA marketing approval. Nicotrol won't be on the market until early in the third quarter, after Cygnus has completed manufacturing validations and built up stock, said Gregory Lawless, president and chief executive. "We're ramping up production as fast as we can," said Lawless. "Parke-Davis doesn't want to end up with insufficient stock." Parke-Davis, a division of Warner-Lambert Co., is
Shares of Immunex Corp. rose $1 to $25 on Monday after Merrill Lynch analyst Stuart Weisbrod said the stock is undervalued and should be one of four or five biotech stocks that investors own. As of Friday, the stock (NASDAQ:IMNX) was down 54 percent since March 13, when it closed at $52.25, a drop of $420 million in market value, Weisbrod said. Much of the drop has been a reaction by investors to slow sales of Leukine granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor. "But nobody ascribed that
In his Monday morning trading call, Vector Securities International analyst Peter Drake said that Centocor Inc. and the FDA are close to a decision on proceeding with the application for marketing approval of Centoxin. "We believe that Centocor is likely to imminently announce that they have reached a mutually beneficial accord with the FDA that will result in Centoxin moving forward toward regulatory approval without the use of a placebo-controlled trial," Drake told BioWorld. Centocor shares
British Bio-technology Group plc said Monday that it has done a silent filing for an initial public offering of shares. Neither the number of shares nor the proposed price range have been determined. The Oxford, England, company has finished Phase I trials of its AIDS immunotherapeutic and plans to enter Phase II trials later this year. The drug, which is designed to delay the onset and/or slow the progression of AIDS, uses virus-like particles that carry the p17 and p24 HIV core proteins on
Cytel Corp. has received a Phase I small business innovation research grant for $50,000 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to develop a vaccine for chronic hepatitis B infection. The San Diego company, in collaboration with Scripps Research Institute, has identified several sequences from viral proteins, or epitopes, that stimulate cytotoxic T cells. The T cells are the only immune cells capable of destroying infected liver cells found in chronic hepatitis B, as
Epitope Inc. said Monday that it has extended for two years its distribution and supply agreements with Organon Teknika Corp., which has exclusive worldwide distribution rights to Epitope's Epiblot Western blot AIDS confirmatory test kits. Last week, the company filed a response to FDA comments on its marketing application for another AIDS test, the OraSure oral kit for detecting antibodies to the AIDS virus. Last July, the FDA demanded that Epitope and its distributor, Home Office Reference
"The only entity that knows the true course of disease is nature," said Irwin Braude, founder and chief scientific officer of drug discovery start-up CellPath Inc. The Berkeley, Calif., company is betting that screening compounds on cells derived from diseased patients will provide a better road to drug discovery than testing drugs using conventional cell lines. CellPath, founded last August, is seeking $5 million in funds to pursue its plans to use patient-derived cells to find drugs to treat
U.S. Bioscience Inc. announced Monday that Russell C. McLauchlan has been named president and chief operating officer. He is taking over the position of president from Dr. Philip S. Schein, who will remain chairman and chief executive officer. McLauchlan had been president and chief operating officer at Immunomedics Inc. (NASDAQ:IMMU) for the past three years. Before that, he spent nearly 20 years at American Cyanamid Co., most recently as vice president and general manager of Lederle
Investors trying to figure out when the bioscience sector will hit bottom may find some signals in the number of companies trading at or near their cash values. Using data provided by Smith Barney analyst Denise Gilbert, BioWorld calculated the cash multiple, based on Friday's closing prices, for the 22 companies on her list. The numbers were calculated using cash levels as of Dec. 31. In the 1987 sector downturn, said Gilbert, "the point at which investors threw up their hands and said this
Genzyme Corp. and Neozyme II Corp. on Wednesday announced that they have raised $73.5 million in a public offering of 2.1 million Neozyme units priced at $35 per unit. Neozyme II will receive the proceeds of the offering and will contract with Genzyme to develop protein replacement and gene therapy treatments for cystic fibrosis. The R&D spinoff will spend about $15 million annually on the programs. "We hope these funds will take us all the way through an end product," said spokeswoman Susan