Cambridge Drug Discovery Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, formed a collaboration with the University of Utah in the U.S. and the University of Glasgow in the UK to exploit a new mechanism of action of the inflammatory enzyme, type 4 phosphodiesterase (PDE4), uncovered by researchers at the universities. There are multiple PDE4 subtypes, and non-selective inhibitors have failed in clinical trials because of unacceptable side effects. In the collaboration, CDD will use its high-throughput screening and
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 8, 1999
HAMBURG, Germany - According to a report by the Dutch Industrial and Agrobiotechnology Association (NIABA), the number of small and medium-sized businesses in the Dutch biotechnology sector is expected to rise nearly fourfold during the next 3 years. Based on a survey of 26 of the 43 Dutch biotech companies, NIABA calculated that total turnover of the sector will rise from Euro 56 million (US$57.3 million) this year to nearly Euro 200 million in 2003. The number of employees is expected to grow
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 8, 1999
LONDON - There was another name change in UK biotechnology last week when Vanguard Medica Group plc announced the agreed takeover of central nervous system specialist Cerebrus plc, christening the new company Vernalis Group plc. The all-share deal valued Cerebrus at #9.6 million (US$15.6 million), based on Vanguard's Dec. 2 closing price. At the same time it was disclosed that Cerebrus signed a deal with F. Hoffmann-La Roche, of Basel, Switzerland, to license the pharmaceutical company its
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 8, 1999
I. FINANCING OF PRIVATE BIOTECHNOLOGY COMPANIES: $109.9M Company Location Date@ Amt. (M)* Details ICAgen Inc. (Round ND) Research Triangle Park, NC 11/30 $19 ICAgen completed private placements to new and existing investors; lead investors were Alta Partners and Chase Capital Partners; existing investors included Venrock Associates, Gutrafin and Hoegh Invest AS; new investors included New Medical Technologies and Fugijin Inspire Pharmaceuticals (Round ND) Durham, NC 11/2 $12.4
TOTAL: $336.25M Company (Symbol)# Type Of Financing Number Of Shares, Units Or Warrants (M) Amount Raised ($M)* Investors; Placement Agents; Details (Date)@ Abgenix Inc. (ABGX) Private placement of common stock 1.8S $75 Abgenix sold 1.8M shares of common stock to selected institutional and other accredited investors at $42 per share; Pacific Growth Equities served as placement agent (11/15) Avigen Inc. (AVGN) Private placement of common stock and warrants ND $40 Avigen sold an
By Nancy Volkers Special to BioWorld Financial Watch While most of the country is thinking about Y2K, the biotech industry seems to be concentrating on a different acronym: IPO. Initial public offerings have been slow all year. Besides Genentech Inc.'s nearly $2 billion offering in July, the biotech sector has seen only three companies go public between June and October raising $141 million and only two others file to go public. Last year looked much the same, to a point. IPO
LONDON - Celltech Chiroscience plc released data from its first Phase II study of CDP 870, its anti-tumor necrosis factor antibody for treating rheumatoid arthritis, that showed rapid and sustained benefit from the treatment. The Slough, UK-based company has developed a proprietary method for producing antibodies by fermentation in E. coli, which it says reduces manufacturing costs by 90 percent compared to mammalian cell culture. It expects this cost advantage will enable CDP 870 to be used to
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 1, 1999
LONDON - Cambridge Antibody Technology plc (CAT) said CAT-192, an anti-transforming growth factor-beta 1 antibody for the treatment of fibrotic conditions, has entered clinical trials. CEO David Chiswell told BioWorld International, "The case for using fully humanized antibodies is now proven, and corporate partners acknowledge this. Any company with a new target thrown up by genomics will be looking for a fully humanized antibody, because they know it will be quicker to develop and will be
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 1, 1999
SYDNEY, Australia - With royalties about to flow from its flu drug, Melbourne-based Biota Holdings Ltd. has started developing a compound it said has promise for treating the common cold. Biota has not released any details about how the molecule works against the various forms of rhinovirus that cause about half the cases of common cold. The only details available were that the molecule concerned was developed by Biota scientists in the company's laboratories attached to Monash University in
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 1, 1999
HAMBURG, Germany - A possible breakthrough in DNA research that could open up new research tools and business opportunities was reported last week by the University of Saarbr|cken. A joint German-Chinese research team announced it devised a procedure by which single DNA molecules can be stretched out on a surface, arranged to patterns at will and manipulated by an atomic force microscope. So far, all attempts have failed to access specific areas of DNA molecules by atomic force microscopes or
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 1, 1999
MONTREAL - Nexia Biotechnologies Inc. completed a C$10 million (US$6.8 million) private placement of preferred stock. The funding will be used for further development of company's lead product, BioSteel, a man-made spider silk. The BioSteel family of extreme performance fibers, which are 25 percent lighter than other synthetic, petro leum-based fibers, is based on recombinant spider dragline silk. Spider silk is the strongest substance known to man. These qualities will permit BioSteel, once it
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 1, 1999
STRASBOURG, France - Insects, the most abundant form of animal life on the planet, are providing a recent biotech start-up based in this eastern French city with a ready source of antimicrobial peptides for the treatment of serious infections. Called EntoMed S.A., the company was founded in January by researchers specialized in insect immunology from the Molecular and Cellular Biology Institute of the Strasbourg arm of France's National Scientific Research Center (CNRS). The company was
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 1, 1999
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Margot Wallstrvm, the new European commissioner for Environment, is making another attempt to straighten out the complications she inherited on biotechnology regulation in the EU. Reviewing the policy options facing her, she told the European Environment Bureau Annual Conference last week that "great and special attention is needed to genetically modified organisms." "It is important that we all take our responsibility in assuring a wide debate and the spreading of
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 1, 1999
LONDON - For several decades, geneticists have been puzzled by the observation that, in wild mice, a particular version of chromosome 17 has a 95 percent chance of being transmitted to the next generation instead of the 50 percent chance that would be predicted by Mendel's theory. The elucidation of the control of this process has been an important goal for scientists. Finding how this happens could make it possible to influence the inheritance ratio of other chromosomes, too. Now the discovery
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 1, 1999
LONDON - Peptide Therapeutics plc dropped its tolerizing peptide for the treatment of hay fever after it failed to show a statistically significant treatment effect in a Phase II study conducted at four UK centers. CEO John Brown told BioWorld International, "Twenty-five percent of the people who took the drug did not require any further medication at all, in what was a very bad summer for hay fever. But some did get severe symptoms. If we are going to show statistical significance, I think we
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 1, 1999
Mologen AG, of Berlin, last week said it successfully completed a Phase I/II clinical trial of its autologous genetic vaccination in patients with kidney cell cancer. "The results are very promising and will be published soon in detail," Burghardt Wittig, CEO of Mologen, said. "We are now negotiating with the agencies so that we can enter a Phase III trial very soon." In addition, the company announced that a group of three Chinese investors had acquired 10 percent of Mologen's 1.5 million
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 1, 1999
LONDON - Xenova Group plc received its first U.S. investigational new drug application approval for XR9576, for the prevention of multidrug resistance in cancer chemotherapy. Phase IIa trials, in which XR9576 will be given in combination with the approved cytotoxic vinorelbine to 30 patients, are to begin immediately at the U.S. National Cancer Institute in Washington. The trial is designed to assess the degree of drug-to-drug interaction between XR9576 and the cytotoxic agent. XR9576 binds to
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 1, 1999
HAMBURG, Germany - Soon after in-licensing a Phase II-ready drug to treat congestive heart failure, Medigene AG has added a drug to its portfolio of anti-HPV treatments. Medigene acquired an exclusive license for the development and commercialization of PolyphenoneE ointment from Epitome Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Canada. "The drug is a highly effective topical treatment for genital warts, which are caused by certain varieties of human papilloma virus," Peter Heinrich, CEO of Medigene, told
BioWorld International | Wednesday, December 1, 1999
Company* (Symbol) Product Description Indication Status/Date** CANCER Inex Pharmaceuticals Corp. (Canada;TSE:IEX) INX-3280 Anticancer therapeutic that targets the c-myc gene, believed to be a factor in the uncontrolled cell growth characteristic of tumors Solid tumors and lymphoma Filed an investigatonal new drug (IND) application with the Therapeutics Product Programme of Health Canada for approval to begin Phase I trials of INX-3280 in combination with cisplatin (10/13) Scotia
Cambridge Drug Discovery Ltd., of Cambridge, UK, formed a collaboration with the University of Utah in the U.S. and the University of Glasgow in the UK to exploit a new mechanism of action of the inflammatory enzyme, type 4 phosphodiesterase (PDE4), uncovered by researchers at the universities. There are multiple PDE4 subtypes, and non-selective inhibitors have failed in clinical trials because of unacceptable side effects. In the collaboration, CDD will use its high-throughput screening and