British scientists reported today that a low-tech, unlicensed approach to treating sepsis effectively attacks the final common pathway acted on by biotech drug candidates. The non-biotech drugs used to treat rats with endotoxin- induced shock and two advanced cases of septic shock in humans come off the shelf of chemical supply houses. They are analogs of the amino acid l-arginine, and they block the arginine-dependent process of blood vessel dilation that causes blood pressure to fall and
Hoffmann-LaRoche Inc. on Thursday said it will initiate clinical development of an AIDS treatment derived from discoveries involving a compound related to Valium. The compound, which never made it off the shelf at the Nutley, N.J., company because it lacked enough activity in the brain, provided researchers with a strong lead for treating AIDS. Roche scientists and their collaborators at the University of California, San Diego, and Columbia University reported today in Science that the
Elan Corp. and American Cyanamid Co. have withdrawn their motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent Ciba-Geigy Corp. from marketing its transdermal nicotine patch. Elan and its marketing partner, Cyanamid, have filed patent infringement suits in New Jersey against Ciba-Geigy and in California against Alza Corp. and its marketing partner, Marion Merrell Dow Inc. A Cyanamid spokesman on Thursday said the lifting of a restraining order against sales of the Alza patch last week precluded any
The Liposome Co. has acquired rights to a pending patent on liposome-encapsulated clot-busters, a formulation that may cut the cost of recombinant therapy for heart attacks by increasing the efficiency of delivery of drug to the clot. Work at the University of Oklahoma in animals has shown that liposomal delivery of streptokinase preferentially releases this standard clot dissolver at the clot, and may cause less unwanted bleeding. "It would have to be proved in the clinic" that putting
In separate announcements, Marrow-Tech Inc. and Cellular Transplants Inc. said they have changed their corporate names. Marrow-Tech of La Jolla, Calif., has changed its name to Advanced Tissue Sciences Inc. Its NASDAQ symbol will change to "ATISA" from "MAROA." The company is developing products involving growth of human tissue outside the body. Privately held Cellular of Providence, R.I., has become CytoTherapeutics Inc. The company is developing encapsulating technology to deliver
Amgen Inc. on Thursday said it has filed a shelf registration for an offering of debt securities not to exceed $200 million. Final terms will depend on market conditions at the time the offering is made. Morgan Stanley & Co. and Merrill Lynch & Co. are the initial agents for the securities. The Thousand Oaks, Calif., company, which has $300 million in cash and a $100 million revolving credit line, said the proceeds would be used for general corporate purposes. Amgen shares (NASDAQ:AMGN) lost
Cambridge Neuroscience Inc. on Thursday said it has won a $50,000 small business innovation research grant from the National Institutes of Health to identify new blockers of calcium channels that will work selectively in nerve tissue. The Cambridge, Mass., company (NASDAQ:CNSI) will use its proprietary assays to detect binding and action of novel calcium channel blockers that could ameliorate brain damage caused by loss of blood supply to the brain. Patents on some blockers have already been
A month after the Nov. 15 sell-off of biotech stocks, it's clear that the market correction has neither damaged the public offerings market nor put much of a dent in prices. The pace and success of public offerings barely paused. Since Nov. 15, biotech companies have raised a total of $844 million on the public market, excluding overallotments. Those numbers include the largest single financing in the history of the industry and the third-largest biotech initial public offering ever. Synergen
Cytogen Corp. on Wednesday said it has concluded a co- promotion agreement with Knoll Pharmaceuticals for U.S. promotion of two cancer diagnostic imaging agents: OncoScint CR103 for colorectal cancer and OncoScint OV103 for ovarian cancer. In addition to sharing revenue and certain marketing expenses, Cytogen said it will receive an undisclosed up-front payment, milestone payments upon Food and Drug Administration approval of the two products, and funds for clinical development. OncoScint
Looking for ways to cut the potential $1 billion annual cost of treating Gaucher's disease in the United States with Genzyme Corp.'s Ceredase enzyme-replacement therapy, doctors are finding that lower doses of the drug may be sufficient to treat patients at far less expense. The inherited disorder, which affects 20,000 to 40,000 people worldwide, is characterized by enlargement of the spleen, erosion of bone, easy bruising, slow blood clotting and sometimes early death. Mental impairment
Applied Immune Sciences Inc. and Caremark Inc., an affiliate of Baxter Healthcare Corp., announced on Wednesday a joint venture to develop and operate cell therapy centers for treatment of HIV-positive and AIDS patients. The first AIS/Caremark Cell Therapy center will open in San Francisco in the first half of 1992, said AIS spokesman Jim Smith. The center will conduct Phase II trials of AIS's CELLector-AIDS ex vivo cell therapy. Additional trials will be conducted in other locations. The
Allelix Biopharmaceuticals Inc. said it has raised $21.8 million (C$25 million) in an initial public offering in Canada of 2,632,000 shares priced at $8.29 per share. The Mississauga, Ontario, developer of products for tissue repair and inflammation said the money would be used primarily for preclinical product development, clinical trials and construction of a pilot production facility. After the offering, Allelix (TSE:ALB) has 8.4 million shares outstanding. Underwriters Burns Fry Ltd
Deprenyl Research Ltd. has filed for Canadian approval to begin testing a drug for Alzheimer's disease in two clinical trials. One of the Phase II trials will test the effect of Alzene in Alzheimer's patients. The second Phase II study will look at the drug's effect on memory in normal adults. Ivax Corp. (AMEX:IVX), which has sublicensed Canadian rights for the drug to Deprenyl Research (NASDAQ:DEPLF), has also filed an investigational new drug application in the United States. "We anticipate
Alpha 1 Biomedicals Inc. said its Asian licensee, SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc., has formed a joint venture company to launch a Phase III clinical trial of Thymosin alpha 1 to treat chronic hepatitis B. SciClone owns 50 percent of the new company. Singapore Bio- Innovations Pte. Ltd., an entity of the Singapore government that was founded to commercialize biomedical research, owns 30 percent, and Transpac Capital Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based private venture capital company, owns 20 percent
Ribi ImmunoChem Research Inc. said Wednesday that S.R. One Ltd., the venture capital subsidiary of SmithKline Beecham, has invested $1.57 million through the exercise of warrants for 394,647 shares of common stock. The investment raises S.R. One's holding of Ribi shares outstanding to 11.1 percent. Of the warrants exercised, 94,647 were acquired in a June 1990 private placement and were exercised at $5 per share. Of the remaining 300,000 warrants, which were acquired in a private placement last
NeoRx Corp. said Wednesday that it has received the $9 million balance of a previously announced $10 million financing agreement with New York investor David Blech. The company is issuing to Blech 10 million shares of common stock, five million five-year warrants to purchase common stock at $1.75 per share, and five million five-year warrants to purchase stock at $2.50 per share. NeoRx shares (NASDAQ:NERX) closed at $3.63, up 6 cents, on Wednesday. After the issuance of the 10 million shares
Mycogen has received an experimental use permit (EUP) from the Environmental Protection Agency to initiate large-scale field testing of M-Peril, a bioinsecticide that controls the European corn borer, the company announced on Wednesday. Shares of the San Diego company (NASDAQ:MYCO) picked up $2, closing at $14. Mycogen will conduct trials during the 1992 growing season and expects to begin marketing M-Peril in 1993, said company spokeswoman Marie C. Burke. She said that the product could
Synergen Inc. on Tuesday said it raised $225.4 million in the largest single financing in the history of the biotech industry. The Boulder, Colo., company sold 3.5 million shares, plus a 525,000-share overallotment, at $56 per share. Synergen stock (NASDAQ:SYGN) rose 88 cents on Tuesday to $57.50. The funds will be used primarily for research and development and clinical trials, the company said. Next year, Synergen will have five products in clinicals for between 12 and 15 indications
Affymax N.V. continued its impressive string of fund-raising efforts on Tuesday by completing an $80 million initial public offering. The developer of drug discovery technologies has raised $146 million since its inception in 1988, including the 4 million- share IPO priced at $20 per share. The proposed offering was increased by 1 million shares. The company's stock (NASDAQ:AFMXF) closed Tuesday at $24.75, down 25 cents. The IPO is the second largest this year, after Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
SyStemix Inc. shares are probably nearing the top of the range at which it pays to buy the stock, according to estimates by two analysts. The stock (NASDAQ:STMX) closed at $55 on Tuesday, up $2. The stock rose $19.75 on Monday after the announcement that Sandoz Ltd. would acquire 60 percent of the Palo Alto, Calif., company for $392 million. Sandoz will acquire slightly more than 4 million shares outstanding for $70 per share and purchase for $111 million about 2 million newly issued shares at
British scientists reported today that a low-tech, unlicensed approach to treating sepsis effectively attacks the final common pathway acted on by biotech drug candidates. The non-biotech drugs used to treat rats with endotoxin- induced shock and two advanced cases of septic shock in humans come off the shelf of chemical supply houses. They are analogs of the amino acid l-arginine, and they block the arginine-dependent process of blood vessel dilation that causes blood pressure to fall and