• Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., disclosed its intention to offer, subject to market and other conditions, $50 million of its common stock and $75 million in aggregate principal amount of its convertible senior notes due 2020 in concurrent underwritten public offerings. Merrimack expects to grant the underwriters in the common stock offering an option, exercisable for 30 days, to purchase up to an additional $7.5 million of its common stock and to grant the underwriters in the notes offering an option, exercisable for 30 days, to purchase up to an additional $11 .25 million in aggregate principal amount of the notes. Merrimack expects to use the net proceeds from both offerings to complete the clinical development of, seek marketing approval for and fund pre-approval commercial efforts for MM-398 for metastatic pancreatic cancer patients whose disease has progressed on gemcitabine. Merrimack's stock (NASDAQ:MACK) closed Thursday at $5.03, down $1.96, or 28 percent.

• Nuvo Research Inc., of Mississaugo, Ontario, and Paladin Labs Inc., of Montreal, completed the amended loan arrangements, the details of which were previously announced June 17. Under the terms of the amended arrangements, Nuvo has drawn down a second $4 million loan tranche bringing the total amount currently outstanding on the loan to $5.9 million. The loan bears annual interest of 15 percent.

• Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Jerusalem, entered definitive agreements with investors to purchase an aggregate of 657,144 shares of common stock at a price of $7 per share in a registered direct offering. The offering is expected to close on or about July 16. Oramed intends to use the net proceeds for expenses related to its clinical trials, research and product development activities and for general corporate purposes, including general working capital purposes. Aegis Capital Corp. is acting as the lead placement agent, and Maxim Group LLC is acting as a co-placement agent.