Pharmatec Inc., which is developing a carrier system for delivering drugs across the blood-brain barrier, on Tuesday said it will raise $5.5 million in a private financing with investor David Blech. In exchange for the funds, Pharmatec will issue 3,666,667 units composed of two new shares of common stock and one class A warrant. The warrant will be exercisable at $1.25 for a six-year period to purchase a unit consisting of a share of common and one class B warrant. The class B warrant may be
Deprenyl Animal Health Inc. will be the first company to participate in a program that aims to harmonize the U.S and Canadian review process for new animal drugs. The company (NASDAQ:DAHI), based in Overland Park, Kan., will submit a new animal drug application for the pharmaceutical deprenyl to both countries simultaneously and will have the applications reviewed jointly by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Canadian Health Protection Branch Bureau. In the United States, deprenyl
Genelabs Technologies Inc. on Tuesday said it has begun enrolling patients in Phase II clinical trials of its anti-AIDS drug, GLQ223. The one-year trials are intended to establish efficacy of the drug in HIV-infected patients with CD4 T cell counts between 200 and 500 per cubic millimeter. GLQ223 is a protein-based drug derived from the tuber of the Trichosanthes kirilowii plant. In preclinical studies, GLQ223 blocked HIV expression in acutely infected T cells and chronically infected
Merck & Co. Inc. will pay $1 million over the next two years to prospect for natural sources of new therapeutics in the rain forests of Costa Rica. The agreement between the pharmaceutical giant and Costa Rica's Instituto National de Biodiversidad (INBio) was announced by INBio President Rodrigo Gamez on Sept. 20 at a conference at Cornell University. Cornell biologist Thomas Eisner helped mediate the agreement, in which Merck has pledged to donate part of its profits on any resulting products
Synergen stock plunged $7.13 on Monday to $59.88 following a "sell" recommendation from a Merrill Lynch analyst and cautionary remarks about the entire biotech sector from a Morgan Stanley analyst. Merrill Lynch's Stuart Weisbrod touched off sales of Synergen (NASDAQ:SYGN) when he lowered his rating to sell from "neutral" and put a share value of $30 to $47 on the Boulder, Colo., company, which closed Friday at $67. The market also heard a gloomy prediction for the whole sector from Michael
Genentech Inc. has signed a $14 million agreement with Incyte Pharmaceuticals Inc. to co-develop their candidate for the crowded sepsis market. The compound, called BPI (bactericidal/permeability increasing protein), has been shown to protect animals from lethal doses of endotoxin, which is responsible for the cascade of the often-fatal conditions associated with sepsis. Incyte, a privately held company, has discovered that a protein stored in certain white blood cells binds endotoxins from a
SAN FRANCISCO -- Gensia Pharmaceuticals Inc. in March hopes to complete Phase III clinicals of Arasine to reduce heart attacks associated with coronary artery bypass surgery and to file for U.S. and European marketing approval by the third quarter of 1992. The company also told the Montgomery Securities 21st Annual Investment Conference here that it plans Phase II clinicals in the fourth quarter of this year for Arasine in patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery who are at risk of cardiac
Shaman Pharmaceuticals Inc. of San Carlos, Calif., said it has received Food and Drug Administration approval to start human trials of its anti-viral drug, SP-303, derived from a medicinal plant. The drug is the first potential product of the ethnobiology- based company to enter clinical testing. Shaman is acquiring its drug candidates directly from the ecosystems of Latin and South America, paying local communities to harvest the plants. The company plans to donate a percentage of its profits
WASHINGTON -- The deadline has passed for any Federal Trade Commission action that would have blocked or delayed sale of Cetus Corp.'s GeneAmp polymerase chain reaction assets to F. Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., the company announced on Monday. The deadline for the FTC review of the acquisition of Cetus by Chiron Corp. is Wednesday, unless the agency requests additional information. The FTC completed its review on Sept. 20 into whether the PCR sale would stifle competition under the Hart-Scott
GenPharm International has obtained exclusive worldwide rights from Harvard University to a new variety of immune- deficient transgenic mice, the company announced Monday. The Mountain View, Calif., company will add the mouse -- deficient in certain components of the immune system -- to its other transgenic mouse, whose immune deficits are complementary. The new mice lack the cell surface proteins coded by the gene complex called major histocompatibility complex (MHC) Type II. In March
The merger deal between Genetics Institute Inc. and American Home Products Corp. looks very similar to the 1990 merger between Genentech Inc. and Roche Holding. But analysts scrutinizing the proposed transaction on Friday generally concluded that Genentech shareholders got a better deal. Genentech (NYSE:GNE) was trading at $21-$22 before the merger, and Roche paid an average price of $31 per share, said analyst Denise Gilbert of Smith Barney. In contrast, at the closing, AHP will pay about
Bio-Technology General Corp. has received marketing approval for its first product, human growth hormone to treat short stature, from the Netherlands, Denmark and Luxembourg, the company announced Friday. SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, BTGC's European licensee, expects to begin sales of hGH under the brand name Eskatrope in early 1992. BTGC of New York will receive 30 percent royalties on sales. BTGC estimates the European market for short stature will be $275 million in 1991. The market
Argus Pharmaceuticals Inc. of The Woodlands, Texas, has created a seven-member scientific advisory board comprised of experts in immunology, oncology, infectious disease and biochemistry. The board includes Dr. Gabriel Lopez-Berestein, an Argus founder and professor of medicine and chief of the immunobiology and drug carriers section at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; Dr. Gianni Bonadonna, professor of clinical hematology at the University of Milan; Dr. Edwin C. Cadman
MicroProbe Therapeutics, a division of MicroProbe Corp., has received a $50,000 Phase I small business innovation research grant to determine the best approach for targeting antigene and antisense agents against viruses. Under the grant from the National Institutes of Health, which was to be announced today, MicroProbe will use the hepatitis B virus as an experimental model system. The company will aim novel antigene agents against the genetic code of the hepatitis B virus to determine the
Genetics Institute Inc. and American Home Products Corp. said Thursday that AHP will acquire 60 percent of GI in a merger valued at $666 million. "We weren't shopping the company," GI Executive Vice President Garen Bohlen told BioWorld. "This one came to us. They approached us with a concept that looked interesting to us and increased our chances to build a successful pharmaceutical business." Under the agreement, AHP of New York will acquire from public shareholders 40 percent of outstanding
Centocor Inc. said Thursday that it will issue within the next week about $100 million principal amount of Euro-convertible subordinated debentures. The debentures would be convertible into Centocor common stock (NASDAQ:CNTO), which closed up 25 cents at $53.75 on Thursday. The Malvern, Pa.-based company opted for an offering in Europe because it "has a large concentration of institutional holders in the United States, and Europe is a largely untapped financial market for us," said spokesman
Roberta Friedman, Ph.D. Special to BioWorld Gynex Inc. has won orphan drug designation from the Food and Drug Administration for its metabolic stimulant as an adjunct to AIDS therapy. Robert Dudley, vice president for research and development, told BioWorld that the company hopes to begin by the end of the year human trials of Oxandrin for the wasting syndrome that often accompanies AIDS. The Vernon Hills, Ill., company has obtained from G.D. Searle & Co. exclusive rights to the anabolic
Cel-Sci Corp. on Thursday said it has signed a letter of intent with an unnamed underwriter for a $5 million unit offering. The company, located in Alexandria, Va., said the funds would finance its operations for the next two years. Cel-Sci, whose burn rate has been about $1.1 million annually, had only $400,000 in the bank as of June 30. With the financing, "we are finally going to have the ability to think beyond tomorrow," Geert Kersten, vice president of operations, told BioWorld. The
MGI Pharma Inc. and Molecular Genetics Research Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary that functions as the general partner for Molecular Genetics Research and Development L.P., have been sued by two limited partners. The suit, filed Sept. 12 in the U.S. District Court in Hennepin County, Minn., alleges breach of fiduciary responsibility in the development and sale of certain plant and animal technologies. The plaintiffs haven't specified what damages they are requesting, said MGI spokeswoman Lori
UniSyn Fibertec Corp., has signed a letter of intent to acquire BioProbe International Inc. of Tustin, Calif., a manufacturer of affinity chromatography products for the purification of monoclonal antibodies and related protein-based products. UniSyn President Stan Yakatan said the acquisition was part of the company's strategy to become a fully integrated biotech supply company. A final stock purchase agreement is expected to be signed in about a month, said Manfred Wolff, BioProbe's vice
Pharmatec Inc., which is developing a carrier system for delivering drugs across the blood-brain barrier, on Tuesday said it will raise $5.5 million in a private financing with investor David Blech. In exchange for the funds, Pharmatec will issue 3,666,667 units composed of two new shares of common stock and one class A warrant. The warrant will be exercisable at $1.25 for a six-year period to purchase a unit consisting of a share of common and one class B warrant. The class B warrant may be