By Debbie Strickland Special To BioWorld Financial Watch The Human Genome Project will provide a major revenue stream this year for Genome Therapeutics Corp., which has landed two sequencing contracts worth a combined $28 million. Like much non-proprietary research, the sequencing contracts are not expected to be profitable in themselves, said Lynn Doucette-Stamm, director of genomics and the GTC Sequencing Center. Still, she noted, "It reduces our overall cost in sequencing. It brings
Company* (Symbol)** University/Non-Profit [Scientist] Type of Agreement Product Area Details (Month) Abgenix Inc. (ABGX) U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) Research and development collaboration Abgenix XenoMouse technology Abgenix and USAMRIID entered a collaboration in July 1999 to develop antibodies that could potentially protect U.S. troops during biological warfare; USAMRIID received access to Abgenix's XenoMouse technology to make fully human
Company (Symbol)* Product Description Indication Status/Date** CANCER Aeterna Laboratories (Canada; TSE:AEL) Neovastat (AE-941) Shark cartilage extract with anti-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory properties Lung cancer Presented Phase I/II trial data at the 10th European Cancer Conference in Austria (9/14) Cobra Therapeutics* (UK) GDEPT Gene directed enzyme prodrug therapy; targeted chemotherapy program in which a prodrug is converted to an active chemotherapeutic agent within a
Company (Symbol)* Product Description Indication Action/Date** CANCER Aronex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARNX) Atragen Liposomal formulation of all trans-retinoic acid Acute promyelocytic leukemia Received not-approvable letter (9/24) Battelle* Inhalation chemotherapy treatment with doxorubicin Lung cancer and metastatic tumors to the lungs FDA granted approval to begin Phase I trials (9/10) ImmunoGen Inc. (IMGN) huC242-DM1 Tumor-activated prodrug Colorectal and pancreatic
By Debbie Strickland Special To BioWorld Financial Watch Many biotechnology companies talk about resurrecting failed drugs in new indications, but Celgene Corp. has actually succeeded in that difficult endeavor, bringing back perhaps the century's most notorious pharmaceutical, thalidomide, while also using the compound as a springboard to building a pipeline of analogues and distant analogues with potential for treating chronic and life-threatening diseases without the risk of birth
Companies and academic researchers presented a slew of data on anti-infectives at the 39th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco in late September. But in the field of HIV/AIDS, which has in the past put the conference in the media spotlight, there were no breakthroughs. "There are no huge breakthroughs in HIV anymore," said New York analyst Mike King, who covers a number of companies with HIV/AIDS drugs in development or on the market for BancBoston
Company* (Symbol)** Product Description Indication Status (Date)*** CANCER Aronex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARNX) Platar Liposomal formulation of platinum product designed to overcome toxicity and drug resistance Metastatic renal cell carcinoma Expanded enrollment of Phase II trial (9/9) EntreMed Inc. (ENMD) Endostatin Naturally occurring fragment of collagen XVIII angiogenesis inhibitor Various cancers Commenced patient enrollment for Phase I trial (9/28) Genta Inc. (GNTA
By Debbie Strickland Special To BioWorld Financial Watch September saw its share of biotech setbacks, with Phase III problems for AutoImmune Inc., Chiron Corp. and Xoma Ltd. The reaction of Xoma's investors was typical the Berkeley, Calif., firm's shares (NASDAQ:XOMA) dropped by more than half in late September when the company stopped enrollment in a Phase III trial of Neuprex in trauma patients with severe blood loss. September also was marked by AutoImmune Inc.'s Colloral failing to
I. COMMENCED TRADING IN SEPTEMBER Company (Symbol) Date Filed Date Comm. Shares/Units Price Shares Out (M) Lead, Other Underwriters (M) Gross ($M) Net ($M) INITIAL OFFERINGS No initial public offerings commenced in September. FOLLOW-ON OFFERINGS Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc.(TSE:ANP) 6/17 7/9 1.5S $11.50 ND LBG, LOM C$17.2 (US$11.52) C$15.5E (US$10.4E) Pharmacyclics Inc. (PCYC) 8/12 9/24 2.3S $38.75 ND MSDW, HQ, PGE $89.1 $83.6E 1. Angiotech's underwriters
By Debbie Strickland Special To BioWorld Financial Watch Fall breezes appear to be cooling the biotech rally that sent stock prices soaring over the summer. As of Thursday, the Nasdaq Biotech Index was down 12 percent from the 52-week high of 669.56 achieved Sept. 10. But that setback came after a year of spectacular gains that doubled the index's value, with a 40 percent increase between June 1 and Sept. 10. The summer rally capped the comeback of an industry that had been in the
I. FINANCING OF PRIVATE BIOTECHNOLOGY COMPANIES: $92.85M Company Location Date@ Amt.* (M) Details AtheroGenics Inc. (3rd Round) Alpharetta, Ga. 9/15 $8 AtheroGenics closed an $8M tranche from William Blair Capital Parners LLC, completing a $24M Series C convertible preferred stock financing Cytokinetics Inc. (2nd Round) South San Francisco, Calif. 9/9 $20 Cytokinetics completed a Series B preferred stock financing; leading the financing were new investors International
TOTAL: $273.44M Company (Symbol) Type Of Financing Number Of Shares, Units Or Warrants (M) Amount Raised ($M) Investors; Placement Agents; Details (Date)@ Affymetrix Inc. (AFFX) Private placement of convertible subordinated notes $150 Affymetrix completed the private placement of $125M principal amount of 5% convertible subordinated notes with an undisclosed entity that exercised its option to purchase an additional $25M of notes for gross proceeds of $150M; the notes are
By Debbie Strickland Special To BioWorld Financial Watch This year is shaping up as a turning point for companies in biotechnology's photodynamics niche, as products with large market potential for age-related macular degeneration and donated blood products near the end of their development cycles. Photodynamic therapies are inert until a physician directs a beam of nonthermal light at a specific wavelength to the site where the chemical reaction is desired. The drugs, usually tweaked
Company* (Symbol)*** Product Description Indication Action/Date** CANCER Algos Pharmaceutical Corp. (ALGO) MorphiDex Enhanced opioid analgesic Moderate to severe cancer pain Received a not-approvable letter (8/2) Aronex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARNX) Atragen Liposomal formulation of all trans-retinoic acid Acute promeyelocytic leukemia FDA withdrew invitation to Aronex to discuss its Atragen new drug application (NDA) at the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee on Sept. 17 due to
Company Product Description Indication Status/Date* CANCER Biomira Inc. (Canada) BLP25 vaccine Synthetic 25-amino acid Advanced non-small cell lung cancer sequence of the MUC-1 cancer mucin, encapsulated in a synthetic liposomal delivery system, designed to induce an immune response to cancer cells Initiated Phase II trial (8/11) British Biotech plc (UK) Marimastat Oral matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor Gastric cancer Phase III clinical trial failed to meet survival target
Company* (Symbol)** Product Description Indication Status (Date)*** Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (a subsidiary of Warner-Lambert Co.; NYSE:WLA) Prinomastat (formerly AG3340) Matrix metalloprotease inhibitor Advanced non-smallcell lung cancer Initiated second Phase III trial in combination with chemotherapy (8/19) Aronex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARNX) Atragen Liposomal formulation of all trans-retinoic acid Hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer Expanded enrollment in Phase II
By Nancy Volkers Special to BioWorld Financial Watch There are a multitude of ways for a biotech company to raise money, and possibly even more ways for that same biotech to highlight certain areas of its programs. Among those ways is a tracking stock, an option popular with high-technology and Internet-oriented companies, but one in limited use among biotechs. Ideally, tracking stocks highlight (and track) the performance of a particular division. The stock is intended to be influenced
TOTAL: $191.65M Company (Symbol) Type Of Financing Number Of Shares, Units Or Warrants (M) Amount Raised ($M) Investors; Placement Agents; Details (Date) @ Advanced Viral Research Corp. (OTC BB:ADVR) Private placement of convertible debentures and warrants 1W $2.3E Advanced Viral made a private placement in the form of a $2M, ten-year 7% convertible debenture to Focus Investors LLC; in addition, Focus has been granted 1M warrants to purchase additional shares at approximately $0.25
By Debbie Strickland Special To BioWorld Financial Watch The Human Genome Project will provide a major revenue stream this year for Genome Therapeutics Corp., which has landed two sequencing contracts worth a combined $28 million. Like much non-proprietary research, the sequencing contracts are not expected to be profitable in themselves, said Lynn Doucette-Stamm, director of genomics and the GTC Sequencing Center. Still, she noted, "It reduces our overall cost in sequencing. It brings