ImmunoGen Inc. announced Monday that it has filed for a 2 million-share secondary offering of common stock, making it one of a growing number of biotech companies going back to the public offerings well for a second time in 1991. In March, the Cambridge, Mass., company raised $38 million by selling 2 million shares priced at $19 per share. ImmunoGen plans two Phase III trials in 1992 of Oncolysin B, its Anti-B4 monoclonal antibody linked to blocked ricin, a plant toxin. A trial slated to begin
Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc. has received Food and Drug Administration approval to begin a Phase I clinical trial of its rationally designed drug for topical treatment of psoriasis, the company announced on Monday. The drug, designated AG-85, halts the abnormal proliferation of skin cells that characterizes psoriasis by inactivating the enzyme thymidylate synthase. TS is a building block of DNA that is responsible for the rapid proliferation of cells. The National Psoriasis Foundation
Applied Bioscience International Inc. has acquired Pharmaco Dynamics Research Inc. for 2.9 million shares of APBI common stock. The transfer of APBI stock is likely to take place after the end of this year, according to Marvin Hendrix, APBI controller. The stock (NASDAQ:APBI) closed Monday at $33.25, down 50 cents. APBI of East Millstone, N.J., provides biological safety testing, clinical and agrochemical research and development, and environmental risk assessment. Pharmaco is a privately held
Ecogen Inc. will receive a $7 million equity investment as part of an agreement for the marketing and distribution of its Cutlass Bt, Condor Bt and Foil Bt bioinsecticides in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore through an industrial group led by Lawrence Quah Gin Khoon. Under the agreement, which is subject to government approval in Malaysia, Quah will invest $7 million in Ecogen common stock (NASDAQ:EECN), which closed Monday at $12.50, down 25 cents. Ecogen has about 15 million shares
Somatix Therapy Corp. has obtained options for exclusive worldwide licenses to two U.S. patents on catheters owned by Trimedyne Inc. With the catheters, insulin-producing cells can be inserted into the abdomens of diabetics and tested to see if they provide sufficient insulin to eliminate the need for injections. Somatix (NASDAQ:SOMA) is conducting preliminary animal studies focused on implanting islet cells into the abdomens of animals. However, the Alameda, Calif., company is focused on gene
Alteon Inc., which late last Thursday priced its initial public offering at $15, is the latest beneficiary of the biotech stock feeding frenzy. The stock opened on Friday at $26.50 and hit a high of $30.25 before closing at $28.75 on a volume of 4.7 million shares. The offering was one of the year's larger IPOs, raising $45 million on the sale of 3 million shares. The company had originally proposed to sell 2.5 million shares priced between $12 and $14 per share. Alteon is developing
Immune Response Corp. shares fell $7.25 to $52 on Friday before recovering to close at $59.50, up 25 cents, after Kidder, Peabody analyst Robert Kupor said a rival AIDS vaccine may gain quicker Food and Drug Administration approval. The stock (NASDAQ:IMNR) had jumped $19.50 since Oct. 28, based on favorable reports about its AIDS therapeutic vaccine. Privately held MicroGeneSys Inc. of Meriden, Conn., and American Home Products Corp. (NYSE:AHP) are developing a vaccine using a genetically
Injection of a naked gene construct based on a section of the AIDS virus has induced both an antibody response and activation of killer T cells in mice, scientists from Vical Inc. were to report today at an AIDS conference in San Diego. However, the particular plasmid, which was developed by Chiron Corp., was only used to validate Vical's technology, and Vical does not intend to develop it as an AIDS therapeutic, company officers told BioWorld. The results do show that injections into muscle
Centocor Inc. has filed a post-trial motion in the patent infringement suit it recently lost to Xoma Corp., asking the court to reverse at least some of the jury's verdict, a Xoma spokeswoman said on Friday. Centocor spokesman Richard Koenig declined to elaborate, but said the company may also ask U.S. District Court Judge Robert H. Schnacke to order a new trial. On Oct. 28, a San Francisco jury found that Centocor (NASDAQ:CNTO) infringed the patent covering Berkeley, Calif.- based Xoma's E5
Biogen Inc. said Friday that it has filed for an offering of 2 million shares of common stock. If the offering is completed, Biogen will have 30 million shares outstanding. Underwriters Lehman Brothers, Hambrecht & Quist Inc. and Merrill Lynch and Co. have a 300,000-share overallotment option. Biogen stock (NASDAQ:BGEN) closed down $1.50 at $42.25. The Cambridge, Mass., company's revenues are generated from worldwide sales by licensees of five products, including alpha interferon and vaccines
Bio-Technology General Corp. said Friday that it has begun Phase I clinical trials of BioTropin recombinant human growth hormone in patients with HIV. The trials will examine the potential of BioTropin to reverse or slow down wasting in HIV- infected and AIDS patients. The New York company is also conducting two additional Phase I trials of BioTropin to prevent wasting, one in cancer patients and a second in elderly patients hospitalized with hip fracture and suffering from muscle atrophy. In
David E. Robinson, former chief operating officer of Erbamont Inc., is joining Ligand Pharmaceuticals as president and chief executive officer. Robinson replaces Ligand's founder, Howard C. Birndorf, who will remain on the board as chairman emeritus. The privately held San Diego company focuses on intracellular receptor technology. Dr. Gerald A. Faich has been named chief executive officer of GHBA/PACT Inc., a St. David's, Pa., pharmaceutical industry contract research organization that
Using a gene therapy approach, tumor cells that were engineered to pump out large quantities of interleukin-4 and reimplanted in mice have prompted immune destruction of the tumor. This application of the immune messenger IL-4 suggests a new therapeutic approach to human cancer. Several companies are testing IL-4 itself in clinical trials against cancers, but the gene therapy approach provides a local, tumor-killing effect of IL-4 without the risk of toxic side effects. "The lymphokine is
TSI Corp. has acquired G.D.R.U. Ltd., a London-based provider of Phase I human clinical contract testing services, for 1.1 million shares of TSI common stock. The stock (NASDAQ:TSIN) closed Friday at $13, down 25 cents. The acquisition allows TSI to add human clinical trials to the preclinical and toxicology services it already provides. No regulatory approval or notification equivalent to an investigational new drug application (IND) in the United States is required for Phase I clinicals in
Published results of a Phase II clinical trial of ProCyte Corp.'s Iamin drug show that it decreases wound healing time by two days, from 21 days to 19 days, compared with a placebo cream. However, the 43-patient study, using patients recovering from Moh's micrographic surgery, was too small to produce statistically significant results. To gain additional efficacy information, the Kirkland, Wash., company is conducting a multicenter Phase II trial in diabetic patients suffering from chronic
Cytel Corp. and Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. have signed a five-year technology development agreement worth up to $45 million to develop drugs based on Cytel's LEC-CAM cell adhesion technology. In a separate announcement on Thursday, Cytel said it has filed for an initial public offering of 3 million shares of stock priced between $12 and $14 per share. The deal with Sumitomo covers leukocyte endothelial cell adhesion molecules to treat acute inflammatory diseases and cancer. LEC-CAMs are
WASHINGTON -- Immune Response Corp. will participate in a Nov. 12 Food and Drug Administration advisory committee meeting that will consider the use of surrogate markers -- similar to those now being used by the company -- in Phase II/III clinical trials to measure the effectiveness of AIDS vaccines. Shares of Immune Response (NASDAQ:IMNR), which is developing an AIDS therapeutic vaccine, have jumped nearly 50 percent this week. The stock closed Thursday at $59.25, up $6.13. On Tuesday
Scientists at Medarex Inc. have demonstrated that the company's bispecific antibody may inhibit infection by the AIDS virus in certain cells of the immune system. Collaborating with researchers at Dartmouth, Nathan Dinces, Medarex's vice president of operations, showed that a molecular combination of two monoclonal antibodies, which recognize HIV and a receptor on macrophages, respectively, can diminish replication of the AIDS virus. In the presence of the bispecific antibody, monocytes and
Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. has filed a new drug application for ddC that includes information on its safety and efficacy in AIDS when used alone and in combination with AZT. "We feel we have enough information to justify filing for the two indications," company spokesman Paul Oestreicher told BioWorld. He declined to provide specific data on how well the drug did in the clinic. Although he could not estimate when approval might be received, Oestreicher said that "we've been informed this would
Glycomed Inc. on Thursday said it raised $37.5 million through a secondary offering of 2.5 million shares of stock priced at $15 per share. The offering was 500,000 shares larger than the company had previously announced. The Alameda, Calif., company, which is developing pharmaceuticals based on complex carbohydrates, now has 11.7 million shares outstanding. Underwriters Montgomery Securities and Hambrecht & Quist Inc. have a 375,000-share overallotment option. In June, Glycomed (NASDAQ:GLYC
ImmunoGen Inc. announced Monday that it has filed for a 2 million-share secondary offering of common stock, making it one of a growing number of biotech companies going back to the public offerings well for a second time in 1991. In March, the Cambridge, Mass., company raised $38 million by selling 2 million shares priced at $19 per share. ImmunoGen plans two Phase III trials in 1992 of Oncolysin B, its Anti-B4 monoclonal antibody linked to blocked ricin, a plant toxin. A trial slated to begin