Immunomedics Inc. said that it has filed for a 2 million-share offering of common stock, the company's second offering in six months. In July, the Warren, N.J., company raised $15.4 million through the sale of 2.2 million shares priced at $7. The stock (NASDAQ:IMMU) closed Friday at $9.63, up 88 cents. Immunomedics is developing monoclonal antibodies to deliver radioisotopes, chemotherapeutic agents or toxins to detect and treat cancers and infectious diseases. If the offering is completed

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Friday that it has received a $505,287 grant for immunosuppressive drug research from the National Institutes of Health. The Phase II small business innovation research grant will support the Cambridge, Mass., company's discovery and development, using structure-based design of low-toxicity immunosuppressants. Vertex is developing the small-molecule drugs for organ transplant rejection and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis

Oncogene Science Inc. and American Home Products Corp. on Thursday said they have signed a four-year agreement to jointly develop gene transcription-based drugs targeted at diseases in the areas of diabetes, immune system modulators, asthma and osteoporosis. AHP of New York will fully fund all research and development, and its Wyeth-Ayerst Division will have manufacturing rights and exclusive worldwide marketing rights to drugs developed under the program. Clinical development will be funded by

Stock of The Liposome Co. Inc. jumped $2.38 on Thursday after the company said it had been granted a U.S. patent for improved methods of encapsulating anti-cancer drugs in liposomes. The patent, No. 5,077,056, also covers the liposome drugs made with these methods. The shares (NASDAQ:LIPO) closed at $16.50. Liposome's TL CD-99, a liposomal doxorubicin anti-cancer drug, is covered by several of the claims. TLC D-99 is in Phase II trials for treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Some cancer

Immunex Corp.'s Leukine GM-CSF has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of cancer patients whose bone marrow transplants have failed. "This new indication establishes a survival benefit for cancer patients who may require a bone marrow transplant and who use Leukine," said company spokesman Jason Rubin. Immunex's granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor was first approved last March to accelerate marrow engraftment following autologous bone marrow

The Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation to Glycomed Inc.'s GM6001, a compound intended to retard or reverse corneal ulcers, the company announced Thursday. GM6001, called Galardin, will be Glycomed's first investigational new drug. The Alameda, Calif., company (NASDAQ:GLYC) expects to file its IND in mid-1992. The stock closed Thursday at $17, down 50 cents. Persistent corneal ulcers from infections, abrasions and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis

Chiron Corp. shares fell $2.25 to $67.50 on Thursday after Smith Barney analyst Denise Gilbert lowered her rating on the Emeryville, Calif., company to "hold" from "buy." "I had really underestimated what it was going to cost to integrate the two companies," she told BioWorld, citing Chiron's recent purchase of Cetus Corp. Cuts at Cetus haven't been as extensive as she expected. While Chiron (NASDAQ:CHIR) will still report profits in 1993 and has good long-term fundamentals, profit levels won

Ecogen Inc. said that it has raised $9.5 million through a private placement of 950,000 shares of common stock (NASDAQ:EECN) at $10 per share. For each share purchased, investors received one warrant to purchase a share at $14. The warrants will be exercisable until Dec. 26, 1995, and are callable if Ecogen stock trades for 20 days at or above $21. Shares of the Langhorne, Pa.-based developer of biopesticides closed up 50 cents at $12 on Thursday. D. Blech & Co. Inc. acted as agent for the

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