Centocor Inc. on Friday reported a $34.9 million loss for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, which the company attributed to aggressive investment in marketing in Europe and the United States, and increased research and development costs associated with its four products in clinical trials. Spokesman Richard Koenig said the loss was expected. Centocor shares (NASDAQ:CNTO) closed at $44.75, down 50 cents on Friday. The Malvern, Pa., company posted $11.1 million in revenues, the bulk of which
Synergen Inc. stock jumped $5.50 on Thursday after the company reported preliminary Phase II results showing that Antril "significantly reduces mortality" in patients with sepsis syndrome. The company, whose stock (NASDAQ:SYGN) closed Thursday at $63.25, also filed for a public offering of 3 million shares of common stock, its second offering this year. Three different doses of Antril were tested in a total of 99 patients who showed signs of the sepsis syndrome, a bodywide inflammatory
Scientists at Bio-Technology General Corp. said Thursday they have discovered an action of the HIV reverse transcriptase enzyme that appears to be unique to the virus, creating a much better target for therapeutic intervention. The company's stock (NASDAQ:BTGC) jumped $1.50 to $9.50 Thursday on the news. Existing inhibitors of reverse transcriptase -- AZT, ddI and ddC -- all have dangerous side effects because they can also affect normal enzyme activities. By contrast, the activity of reverse
Athena Neurosciences Inc. saw its stock jump $5 Thursday in the first day of trading after the company raised $54 million in an initial public offering of 4.5 million shares priced at $12 per share. Investor demand had enabled the South San Francisco, Calif., company to increase its IPO by 1 million shares from the proposed offering. Athena in August announced a three-year research collaboration with Wyeth-Ayerst to develop drugs based on Athena's technology for blocking the pathological
Greenwich Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Thursday said it has raised $15 million in a private equity placement of 2 million units. Each unit, priced at $7.38, consists of one share of common stock and a warrant to purchase one share of stock. The warrants are exercisable at a price of $9.23 through Oct. 31, 1993. The funds, along with $5.5 million in cash already held by the Fort Washington, Pa., company, will be used to complete clinical trials and support commercialization of Therafectin and to
Embrex Inc. will net $16.4 million from an initial public offering of 2.2 million shares of common stock priced at $8.50 per share and 2.2 million warrants priced at 10 cents per warrant, the company said Thursday. The number of shares and warrants offered was raised from a proposed 1.7 million of each. The Research Triangle Park, N.C., company markets its Inovoject automated egg-injection system for the poultry industry. Embrex sells for use with Inovoject two poultry vaccines against Marek's
The original investors in MedImmune Inc., beneficiaries of a more than 400 percent increase in the company's stock price since May, will sell 2 million of their shares as part of a 2.5 million-share offering of common stock filed by the company. In its announcement late Thursday, the Gaithersburg, Md., developer of therapeutics and vaccines said it will offer the remaining 500,000 shares. MedImmune shares (NASDAQ:MEDI) closed Thursday at $50.50, up 75 cents. In May, the company raised $23.1
Belgian doctors have reported that two of their patients developed serious signs of central nervous system damage after receiving a recombinant hepatitis B vaccine. Six weeks after receiving the vaccine, the two patients showed signs and symptoms of demyelination, or loss of the nerve coating, in their central nervous system, the doctors reported in this week's issue of the British journal The Lancet. One patient had previously been diagnosed with a relapsing form of multiple sclerosis, and
Applied Microbiology Inc. has raised $1.145 million in a private placement of convertible preferred stock with individual investors, the company said. The New York company sold 1,145 shares at $1,000 per share. The stock pays 12 percent annual dividends, and each share is convertible into 286 shares of common stock, subject to adjustment in certain circumstances. Common stock of Applied Microbiology (NASDAQ:AMBI), which is developing Ambicin anti-bacterial agents for the oral care
Enzon Inc. of South Plainfield, N.J., completed its acquisition of Genex Corp. after shareholders of the Gaithersburg, Md., company voted to approve the deal. Enzon will acquire all the outstanding shares of Genex stock (NASDAQ:GNEX) for about 701,000 common shares of Enzon common stock (NASDAQ:ENZN) and 583,000 three-year warrants to purchase one share of Enzon common stock at an exercise price of $18 per share. Enzon shares closed Thursday at $11.35, up 38 cents. Enzon said GenexLs specialty
Cellular Transplants Inc. has received $2.5 million in insured bond financing from the state of Rhode Island to renovate a building in Lincoln as a pilot manufacturing plant and to buy equipment. The plant, expected to come on line in 1992, will produce the companyLs cell implants to deliver a potential treatment for ParkinsonLs disease that is now in preclinical development. Based in Providence, the company is developing living cells, encapsulated by a membrane that protects them from immune
U.S. Class: 424--93 Patent No.: 5,063,055 Assignee: Agricultural Genetics Co. Ltd., Cambridge, England Claims/Description: 4 claims for Bacillus thuringiensis strains that are better able to kill butterflies and moths. U.S. Class: 435--5 Patent No.: 5,063,150 Assignee: U. of California, Berkeley Claims/Description: 27 claims for peptides similar to regions of HTLV-I or HTLV-II that are associated with transformation of human cells. U.S. Class: 435--24 Patent No.: 5,063,152 Assignee: Nitto
A special meeting of NeoRx Corp. shareholders has approved an increase in the companyLs common stock to 60 million from 30 million shares. The decision allows NeoRx (NASDAQ:NERX) to complete a previously announced $10 million private placement from New York investor David Blech. BlechLs initial purchase of 10 million shares would bring the number of NeoRx shares outstanding to 25.7 million, giving Blech 39 percent of shares outstanding. The deal includes warrants to purchase additional shares
Mycogen Corp., which develops and markets biopesticides, has completed an offering of 2 million shares of common stock at $14.50 per share. Of those shares, 1,272,092 were offered by the San Diego company, raising $18.4 million before underwriting fees. The remaining 727,908 shares were sold by selling stockholders who received their shares in connection with MycogenLs acquisition of Soilserv, a crop-protection service, in August. After the offering, Mycogen has 14 million shares outstanding
T Cell Sciences has signed an agreement in principle with the Swedish company AB Astra to co-develop therapeutics based on the biotech company's work with T cell antigen receptors. The total agreement could provide T Cell with $32 million in revenue over the next few years. In the first phase of the collaboration, over the next 24 months, Astra will pay T Cell $15 million to complete preclinical trials and begin clinical testing of three monoclonal antibodies and one protein immunomodulator, T
Celtrix Laboratories Inc. announced Wednesday that it has signed a definitive agreement to merge with privately held BioGrowth Inc. in a deal valued at about $14.5 million. The companies, which are both developing cell-regulating proteins, will merge through an exchange of stock. All outstanding BioGrowth common and preferred shares will be exchanged for 950,000 newly issued shares of Celtrix common stock, or about 16 percent of the combined company. After the merger, the combined company
In a race for what has been called the "holy grail" of molecular neurobiology, Japanese researchers have cloned a molecule that receives nerve signals carried by the excitatory transmitter glutamate. Glutamate carries signals that govern memory and brain development, as well as the unbridled neuronal activity that can cause epilepsy, the damage caused by stroke and the degenerative changes of diseases such as Alzheimer's. Several of its docking sites have been cloned, but an important holdout
The board of directors of Lidak Pharmaceuticals Inc. has relieved Fred A. Espinosa of his duties as president and chief operating officer, the company said on Wednesday. The La Jolla, Calif.-based company declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding the decision. Some of Espinosa's duties will be performed temporarily by Dr. David Katz, Lidak's chairman and chief executive officer, said Michael Lorber, chief financial officer. Last month, Lidak announced that Katz would become CEO of a
Marrow-Tech Inc. said Wednesday that it has received Food and Drug Administration approval to expand clinical trials of Dermagraft, its living dermal replacement product, from 12 to 24 burn centers. The La Jolla, Calif.-based company is also conducting trials of Dermagraft to treat chronic venous skin ulcers, and it hopes to add a third trial to treat patients with decubitus ulcers by the end of next January. The company's stock (NASDAQ:MAROA) picked up $2, closing at $15 on Wednesday. (c
Celgene Corp. has successfully demonstrated the ability of its bioreactor system to reduce emissions of the carcinogen methylene chloride, and the company is discussing purchase by General Electric of one or more commercial-grade bioreactor units, to be installed in the first quarter of 1992. Celgene is just starting commercialization of its bioreactor process to break down methylene chloride into water, carbon dioxide and salt, John Ufheil, company president and chief executive officer, told
Centocor Inc. on Friday reported a $34.9 million loss for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, which the company attributed to aggressive investment in marketing in Europe and the United States, and increased research and development costs associated with its four products in clinical trials. Spokesman Richard Koenig said the loss was expected. Centocor shares (NASDAQ:CNTO) closed at $44.75, down 50 cents on Friday. The Malvern, Pa., company posted $11.1 million in revenues, the bulk of which