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
Positive comments by analysts helped several biotechnology stocks enjoy strong gains on Thursday. Buoyed by comments this week by Montgomery Securities analyst Brandon Fradd, Genetic Therapy Inc. (NASDAQ:GTII) closed up $2.75 at $12.50; Glycomed Inc. (NASDAQ:GLYC) rose $3.25 to $14; and ImmunoGen Inc. (NASDAQ:IMGN) closed up $2 at $20.25, after gaining $2 on Wednesday. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. stock (NASDAQ:REGN) rose $3.38 to $16 after a "buy" recommendation from Larry Bloom of
In a further collaboration, IAF BioChem International Inc. and Glaxo Canada will develop a family of anti-cancer compounds that have shown promise in preclinical studies against melanoma, breast and colon cancers resistant to normal chemotherapies. The compounds, anthracycline analogs, are "a new family of products," said Dr. Francesco Bellini, IAF president and chief executive officer. Existing anthracycline antibiotics include doxorubicin and daunorubicin. Under the agreement in principle
New York investor David Blech will provide a minimum of $7 million in new capital to NeoRx Corp., the company announced Wednesday. The terms provide that for each $1 million invested, Blech will receive 1 million shares of common stock, 500,000 five-year warrants to purchase common stock at $1.75 per share, and 500,000 five-year warrants to purchase common stock at $2.50 per share. NeoRx stock (NASDAQ:NERX) on Wednesday closed at $2.25, up 19 cents. Blech's initial purchase of 7 million shares
Whittaker Corp. of Los Angeles is splitting into two companies, a biotechnology unit and an aerospace unit. Whittaker Bioproducts Inc., based in Walkersville, Md., will become a free-standing company called BioWhittaker Inc. The aerospace unit will retain the Whittaker Corp. name. By November, Whittaker hopes to complete a tax-free exchange of stock in which shareholders will receive one share each in BioWhittaker and the new aerospace company for each share of currently held Whittaker stock
A promising approach to gene therapy for hemophilia has been reported by researchers at the University of Michigan medical school. The scientists, writing this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have transformed capillary cells from rats with the human gene for Factor IX, the protein missing in hemophilia B. The researchers used a mouse retrovirus to ferry the human Factor IX gene into the rat capillary cells. Hemophilia B, inherited from the mother, appears in about
Chiron Ophthalmics Inc., a subsidiary of Chiron Corp., said Wednesday that it has received Food and Drug Administration approval to begin marketing its Chiroflex silicone, foldable, intraocular lenses for cataract surgery. Chiron Ophthalmics said it will begin shipping Chiroflex II and Chiroflex lenses imediately. In June, an FDA advisory panel recommended approval of Chiron Ophthalmics' epidermal growth factor in corneal storage media to preserve endothelial cell conditions. The company is
Using transgenic mice, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have shown that the high-density lipoprotein portion of blood cholesterol can protect against the early stages of atherosclerosis induced by a fat-rich diet. High concentrations of HDL, which ferries fat in and out of the bloodstream, have been linked with protection against atherosclerosis. However, the current study, published today in Nature, directly demonstrates the protective action of human HDL. A strain of
TSI Corp. announced that it has financed continued development of its four transgenic disease and toxicology animal models through a $7 million private placement. The financing involved the sale of units offered jointly by TSI and Exemplar Corp., a new company formed to finance TSI's research and development activities. TSI and Exemplar sold 280 units priced at $25,000. Each unit consists of 2,000 shares of callable Exemplar stock and 2,000 warrants to purchase an equal number of TSI shares
Procyte Corp. on Tuesday said its reformulated drug Iamin has improved the wound-healing ability of animals in new tests of the compound. The animal study was presented last week by company collaborator H. Paul Ehrlich, a wound healing researcher at the Shriner's Burn Institute and Harvard University, at a symposium in France. The results with Iamin, composed of three amino acids complexed with copper, show that the drug can bring impaired healing of immune-deficient rats back on a par with
Idec Pharmaceuticals Corp. has raised $45 million in an initial public offering of 3 million shares priced at $15 per share. The La Jolla, Calif., developer of monoclonal antibody-based drugs increased its offering by 500,000 shares from the preliminary prospectus, and sold the shares at the high end of its $13 to $15 price range. After the offering, Idec has 8.4 million shares outstanding. Idec has four products in clinical trials. Specifid, its most advanced drug, is in Phase III trials to
Epitope Inc. has raised $7.3 million through a private placement with European institutional investors. The placement, announced Tuesday, was for 234,100 units priced at $31 each. The units consist of 2 shares of Epitope common stock (AMEX:EPT) and a warrant to purchase an additional share at $16 per share. Epitope stock closed at $16.88, up 25 cents, on Tuesday. The company will use the funds primarily to fund its oral diagnostic research and development program. The Beaverton, Ore., company
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