Cell Technology Inc., which is leaving the biotechnology business, said Monday that it will acquire and merge with Air Methods Corp., a hospital-based provider of emergency air medical transportation services and systems. Cell (NASDAQ:CELL) will acquire privately held Air Methods through the exchange of about 3.6 million restricted shares of Cell common stock for all the Air Method stock outstanding. Boulder, Colo.-based Cell stock closed at $1.13, up 13 cents, on Monday. Cell began to look
Glycomed Inc. said Monday that it has filed its previously announced secondary offering of 2 million shares of common stock (NASDAQ:GLYC). Underwriters Montgomery Securities and Hambrecht & Quist have an option to buy 300,000 additional shares to cover overallotments. Alameda, Calif.-based Glycomed is developing drugs based on complex carbohydrates to treat cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, and for tissue repair. The stock closed at $10.75, up 50 cents on Monday. (c) 1997 American
Cel-Sci Corp. said last week that it has set its previously announced unit offering at 900,000 units. Each unit will consist of five shares of common stock and five warrants to purchase a share of common per warrant. The Alexandria, Va.- based developer of products to treat cancer, AIDS and weakened immune systems hopes to raise $9 million to $10 million. Underwriter Kober Financial Corp. has an option to purchase an additional 135,000 units to cover overallotments. Cel-Sci stock (NASDAQ:CELI
The recent elevation of George Rathmann to all the top executive posts at Icos Corp. has burnished the company's reputation on Wall Street. "Rathmann taking over is an enormously positive event -- squared," said Peter Drake of Vector Securities International Inc. "With (Robert) Nowinski leaving, the decks are cleared for clear leadership for managing the company and for the science organization." Icos on Sept. 27 announced that Nowinski, who was one of the founders of the company, was leaving
"George Rathmann has made more money for people in biotech investing than probably the aggregate of the other players in the industry" -- Peter Drake, Vector Securities International Inc. By Steve Usdin BioWorld Washington Bureau George Rathmann, a founder and former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Amgen Corp., and now founder, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Icos Corp., is perhaps biotech's most successful executive. He also has a problem other
Bio-Technology General Corp. has received a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a broad patent on superoxide dismutase. SOD is a scavenger enzyme that eliminates oxygen-free radicals. The patent contains claims for the gene encoding human copper/zinc SOD, recombinant expression vectors, and cells containing the gene and the use of such vectors and cells to produce SOD. BTGC (NASDAQ:BTGC) is conducting European Phase I trials of SOD to treat ulcerative colitis and
Japanese researchers have used infusions of naturally produced beta-interferon to cure hepatitis C. The researchers, reporting Saturday in The Lancet, gave intravenous infusions of interferon beta prepared from cultured cells to 11 patients for a month, and simply followed the conditions of another 14 patients. All had liver damage that showed acute hepatitis. At the end of a three-year follow up, all but one patient given interferon showed normal liver test values and no viral RNA. By
Glycomed Inc. has promoted Brian G. Atwood, a company founder, to senior vice president of operations. Atwood had been vice president of operations since July 1988. Glycomed (NASDAQ:GLYC) of Alameda, Calif., develops complex carbohydrates for use in cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases and tissue repair. Epitope Inc. has elected Richard K. Donahue, president and chief operating officer of Nike Inc., to its board. Epitope (AMEX:EPT) of Beaverton, Ore., is developing diagnostics for AIDS and
California Biotechnology Inc. announced Friday that it will acquire the 20 percent interest outstanding in its Metabolic Biosystems Inc. subsidiary. In a separate announcement, the Mountain View, Calif., company also said it has filed for a secondary offering of 2 million shares of common stock. Cal Bio stock (NASDAQ:CBIO) rose $1.13 on Friday, closing at $22.75. Cal Bio will purchase Meta Bio for 330,000 shares of Cal Bio common stock and additional contingent stock payments. The minority
Deprenyl Research Ltd. said Friday that its Deprenyl USA Inc. unit has filed for an initial public offering of 1 million units with a proposed price of between $11 and $13 per unit. Each unit consists of two shares of common stock and one class A warrant to buy one share of common stock for $9. If the offering is completed, Deprenyl USA will have 4.2 million shares outstanding. New Jersey-based Deprenyl USA was formed to develop a drug for treating skin cancer. The drug, 5-aminolevulinic acid
Amylin Corp. said Thursday it has developed transgenic rats containing what it believes is the culprit gene for Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease. The rats, developed in collaboration with scientists at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology at the National University of Singapore, contain the gene for amylin and produce human amylin peptide in their pancreases. "We'll have conclusive proof in the next six months of our hypothesis that amylin is the culprit gene," said
Immunology Ltd. and Baxter Healthcare Corp. onThursday announced conclusion of a development and marketing agreement for a new drug, anti-CD45, that reduces rejection of transplanted kidneys. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Andrew Sandham, Immunology president, told BioWorld that the agreement ranks among the "top tier" of deals between pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. A Baxter spokesman said only that the agreement was a multimillion-dollar deal. Baxter of Deerfield, Ill
Closing arguments in the patent suit brought by Xoma Corp. against Centocor Inc. are scheduled for Oct. 21-22. The companies are battling for the market to treat gram-negative sepsis with rival antibodies. Berkeley, Calif.-based Xoma claims that its U.S. patent, No. 4,918,163, covers Centocor's Centoxin, a claim disputed by Centocor. The closely watched trial began in July in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Xoma stock (NASDAQ:XOMA) closed down 75 cents on Thursday at $14.25. Stock of
Marion Merrell Dow Inc. has extended for two years a strategic partnership agreement with Gensia Pharmaceuticals Inc. to develop products for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, Gensia announced Thursday. MMD will make a $5 million equity investment in the San Diego company, bringing the total invested under the agreement to $20 million and giving MMD about 14 percent of Gensia's stock (NASDAQ:GNSA). The agreement is targeted at the research and development of orally active adenosine
Alkermes Inc. said Thursday that it has filed for a secondary offering of 2 million shares of common stock, making it the third company this year to file a secondary offering only months after its initial public offering. Alkermes stock (NASDAQ:ALKS) closed down 50 cents at $16.25 on Thursday. Alkermes in July netted $18 million on an IPO of 2 million shares, including an overallotment, priced at $10. The Cambridge, Mass., company, which is developing products to deliver compounds across the
Anergen Inc. has grossed $14 million in its initial public offering of 1.75 million shares of common stock priced at $8. The stock (NASDAQ:ANRG) closed unchanged at $8.25 on Thursday. The Redwood City, Calif., company is developing protein-based drugs called AnergiX to treat autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis and rheumatoid arthritis. AnergiX are composed of the soluble form of major histocompatibility class (MHC) II combined with an epitope of an antigen for
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., chairman of the Ways and Means health subcommittee, challenged Amgen Inc.'s right to receive "gross" profits from Medicare reimbursements for its Epogen erythropoietin at a hearing Thursday on national health insurance reform. Stark sent a letter to the General Accounting Office on Tuesday requesting that it investigate options for lowering government costs for EPO and other single-source drugs, according to the lawmaker's office. Stark said the
Immunex Corp. stock lost $2 on Thursday, closing at $39.75, amid conflicting estimates of its share of the GM-CSF market and ethical concerns about a long-term purchasing agreement with American Healthcare Systems. Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Jeffrey Casdin wrote that Immunex appeared to be losing market share to Hoechst AG, its co- marketing partner for granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor, and that the deal with AmHS appeared to be aimed at stemming the erosion. Emphasizing that
Liposome Technology Inc. and Escagenetics Corp. said Thursday that they will explore combining LTI's Stealth liposomes with taxol produced by Escagenetics. Taxol, currently derived from the bark and needles of the Pacific yew tree, has been shown to be effective in women with advanced ovarian and breast cancer. Each company will bear its own costs in an exploratory phase, which could take three to six months or longer, said Raymond Moshy, president and chief executive of Escagenetics. The San
WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration's approval on Wednesday of the AIDS drug ddI broke new ground and may change the future development, approval and regulation of drugs for fatal diseases. The agency approved Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s ddI (dideoxyinosine) for use by patients who cannot tolerate AZT, which is the only other approved AIDS therapeutic, or are failing to respond to AZT therapy. Both drugs, plus the not-yet-approved ddC (dideoxycytidine), are nucleoside analogs that
Cell Technology Inc., which is leaving the biotechnology business, said Monday that it will acquire and merge with Air Methods Corp., a hospital-based provider of emergency air medical transportation services and systems. Cell (NASDAQ:CELL) will acquire privately held Air Methods through the exchange of about 3.6 million restricted shares of Cell common stock for all the Air Method stock outstanding. Boulder, Colo.-based Cell stock closed at $1.13, up 13 cents, on Monday. Cell began to look