Genelabs Technologies Inc. on Thursday said its Asian subsidiary has purchased 2.5 million shares of common stock in Diagnostic Biotechnology (Pte) Ltd. for $1.79 million. Genelabs Asia (Pte) Ltd. acquired the shares from Venture Services (Pte) Ltd., a venture capital company. All three companies are located in Singapore. DBL is a privately held company that commercializes and markets diagnostic technologies and services, primarily in the Asian Pacific region. Genelabs' purchase gives it 22
The across-the-board rise in biotech stocks last year may be good reason for investors to anticipate some correction and to choose their 1992 investments carefully. "Biotech will continue to be volatile by nature of the large element of psychology in these stocks," said Cowen & Co. analyst David Stone. "If people have a warm, fuzzy feeling, the stocks will go higher; if they have a queasy feeling, the stocks will go down. The former would be more due to people's expectations of a good stock
Amgen Inc. rose $6.38 to $75.75 on Tuesday after Standard & Poor's announced that the Thousand Oaks, Calif., company was being added to the S&P 500 at the close of trading. The addition of the first biotechnology company to the list was a fitting end to a year in which biotech stocks outshone the rest of the market. BioWorld's group of 142 bioscience stocks -- which includes "pure" biotech companies, in-licensing and other clinical development players, and companies developing enabling
A report on potential toxicity of an appetite suppressant being developed by Interneuron Pharmaceuticals Inc. is not affecting the company's plans to file for U.S. marketing approval by the end of 1992. Johns Hopkins University researchers and a colleague at the National Institutes of Health reported in the Dec. 14 issue of The Lancet that dexfenfluramine damages certain nerve cells in the brains of monkeys given the drug. But Interneuron executives told BioWorld that the findings have not been
Nova Pharmaceutical Corp. said Monday that it has filed an investigational new drug application with the Food and Drug Administration to begin Phase I trials of its leumedin anti- inflammatory compound, NPC15669, to treat sepsis and septic shock. Leumedins (leukocyte mediator inhibitors) inhibit the expression of the adhesion molecule receptors on the surface of white blood cells. Those receptors normally bind to complementary proteins on the endothelial cell surface in the blood vessel lining
The relationship between the National Institutes of Health, the world's largest biomedical research organization, and the U.S. biotechnology industry is changing as the NIH adopts a more businesslike attitude. Since assuming her post in April, NIH Director Bernadine Healy has attempted to move the organization's 14,000 employees away from the "ivory tower" and toward a more assertive marketing model for transferring its technology. Healy's increased emphasis on protecting the government's
Investors gave a 72 percent boost to Crop Genetics International Corp. stock on Friday after the company announced an alliance with Du Pont to commercialize biological insecticides. The agreement is CGI's first corporate partnership. CGI shares (NASDAQ:CROP) rose $3.25 to $7.75. The Hanover, Md., company and Du Pont of Wilmington, Del., will develop insecticidal virus products (IVPs) targeted at caterpillars that attack vegetables. The IVPs will consist of natural baculoviruses that infect and
The Centers for Disease Control has finalized its recommendation, first announced in February, that all infants be routinely vaccinated against hepatitis B. The action could boost revenues of vaccine developers Chiron Corp. (NASDAQ:CHIR) and Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BGEN). The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that 4.2 million babies were born in the United States in 1990. Chiron of Emeryville, Calif., has licensed its recombinant vaccine technology to Merck, Sharp & Dohme. Cambridge
Shares of both Synergen Inc. and Xoma Corp. rose sharply on Friday. Spokeswomen for the companies said neither had released any news and they knew of no reason for the gains. Boulder, Colo.-based Synergen (NASDAQ:SYGN) was up $3.75 to $64.50. Xoma of Berkeley, Calif., (NASDAQ:XOMA) gained $2.63 to $22.88. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.
Vincent T. DeVita Jr., an oncologist who had been director of the National Cancer Institute from 1980-88, has been elected to the board of ImClone Systems Inc. New York-based ImClone (NASDAQ:IMCL) is developing therapeutics to treat selected cancers, disorders of the blood and immune system, and inflammatory diseases. Medizone International Inc. of New York has named Peter Melera and Wayne Chou to its board. Melera is the director of the graduate program in molecular and cell biology at the
WASHINGTON H The Bush administration is continuing to ponder whether to make federally supported biotechnology research a Presidential Initiative in the fiscal year 1993 budget, which President Bush will present to the Congress on Feb. 4. If approved, an initiative would commit the federal government to increased funding and better coordination of biotechnology research activities in the fiscal year that begins next October. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is in the midst
Chiron Corp. will acquire 50 percent of the vaccine business of Sclavo SpA of Italy for about $64.4 million, the Emeryville, Calif. company said Thursday. Under the agreement in principle, Chiron's joint venture partner, Ciba-Geigy Ltd., will acquire Sclavo's entire vaccine business and form it into a new Dutch holding company in which Chiron (NASDAQ:CHIR) will acquire a half interest for 75 billion lira. In a related agreement, Chiron and Ciba will restructure financial aspects of their 50-50
Embrex Inc. said it has reached a collaborative research agreement with an undisclosed major pharmaceuticals and chemicals company to study methods for modifying the genetic makeup of poultry while the birds are still embryos. Terms of the agreement, while not specified, "are reasonably significant for a small company, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars," Embrex President Randall Marcuson told BioWorld. The company (NASDAQ:EMBX) will be funded for an initial two- year feasibility study to
Vaccine developer Univax Biologics Inc. has done a "silent filing" for an initial public offering of up to 3 million shares of common stock. The Rockville, Md., company is developing immunotherapeutics using hyperimmune intravenous immunoglobulins. IGIVs are derived from human plasma containing specific vaccine- induced antibodies. Products in Phase I clinical development include a vaccine targeted at a bacterium that colonizes the lungs of children with cystic fibrosis, and vaccines targeted
MacroNex Inc. has raised $2 million in its first round of financing from S.R. One Ltd., Brantley Venture Partners and Intersouth Partners. The Morrisville, N.C., company hopes to develop therapeutics using the natural regulators of macrophages, white blood cells that ingest foreign organisms and present antigens to T and B lymphocytes. The company has licensed technology from Duke University and is developing two lead compounds. The first is a modified peptide that lowers the level of gene
Synergen Inc. and the University of Colorado Foundation Inc. said Tuesday that they have received a broad patent on the DNA for interleukin-1 inhibitors and methods for the production of IL-1 inhibitors. "This is very important to us," Jon Saxe, Synergen's president and chief executive officer, told BioWorld. "It establishes our exclusive rights to Antril." This is the company's first U.S. patent related to Antril, the recombinant IL-1 receptor antagonist that is scheduled to enter Phase III
WASHINGTON -- The value of biotechnology companies probably will not be boosted in the near future by reform of the Food and Drug Administration's drug approval process. But reforms could significantly increase the value of selected biotechnology stocks in the longer term, according to industry and government analysts. The reforms, announced Nov. 13, are intended to reduce approval times by 45 percent by 1994 for therapies against life-threatening diseases and by 25 percent for other diseases
Cytocare Inc. (NASDAQ:CYTI) said that it has acquired exclusive worldwide rights to diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic uses of certain hybridoma cell lines and murine monoclonal antibodies specific for prostate cancer. The patented molecules were licensed from the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. Irvine, Calif.-based Cytocare is developing a family of molecules to diagnose and treat benign prostatic hypertrophy and prostate cancer. The company's shares closed unchanged at $1
TSI Corp. said it has filed a 2.3 million-share offering of common stock in which the company will sell 2 million shares and the remainder will be offered by selling shareholders. The Worcester, Mass., company (NASDAQ:TSIN) is developing disease models, toxicology tests and animals for use as bioreactors for pharmacological substances. It also provides a variety of preclinical and clinical testing services. TSI said the selling shareholders will not include executive officers or directors. The
Vestar Inc., which develops drugs to treat patients with cancer and serious infections, on Tuesday filed for a public offering of 2.5 million shares of common stock. Vestar shares (NASDAQ:VSTR) closed down 75 cents at $16.75 on Tuesday. Vestar's AmBisome liposomal formulation of the anti-fungal amphotericin B is sold in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Mexico. Fujisawa USA Inc. is developing AmBisome in the United States. Earlier this month, the San Dimas, Calif., company reported promising
Genelabs Technologies Inc. on Thursday said its Asian subsidiary has purchased 2.5 million shares of common stock in Diagnostic Biotechnology (Pte) Ltd. for $1.79 million. Genelabs Asia (Pte) Ltd. acquired the shares from Venture Services (Pte) Ltd., a venture capital company. All three companies are located in Singapore. DBL is a privately held company that commercializes and markets diagnostic technologies and services, primarily in the Asian Pacific region. Genelabs' purchase gives it 22