* Aviron Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., completed its offering of $100 million in convertible subordinated notes, which carry an annual interest rate of 5.75 percent and are due 2005. The notes, convertible to stock at $30.904 per share, are not redeemable for three years. (See BioWorld Today, March 18, 1998, p.1.)
* Cypress Bioscience Inc., of San Diego, began a double-blinded, controlled Phase II trial of Cyplex (infusible platelet membranes) as an alternative to traditional platelet transfusions. In a 1997 open label Phase II trial, Cyplex seemed to be safe and efficacious when used to control bleeding in patients with low levels of circulating platelets. Cyplex is manufactured from human platelets, which after becoming contamination-free, still retain certain characteristics for promoting blood coagulation.
* Incyte Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., has expanded its agreement with Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, N.J., to include access to Incyte's PathoSeq microbial genome database in exchange for an annual access fee. Financial details were not disclosed. In January 1996, Johnson & Johnson became a subscriber to Incyte's LifeSeq human gene sequence and gene expression database. Johnson & Johnson is the sixth pharmaceutical company to subscribe to the PathoSeq database, which contains genomic information from more than 30 bacterial and fungal microorganisms.
* Pfizer Inc., of New York, extended its collaboration with Metabasis Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, for pain research through May 1999. Metabasis is a majority-owned subsidiary of Gensia Sicor Inc., of Irvine, Calif. The collaboration, which began in 1996, focuses on a subgroup of adenosine regulating agents (ARAs) that may signal a new class of analgesic drugs for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. The pain research is based on the ability of ARAs to regulate adenosine, a naturally occurring compound that produces analgesic effects in the spinal cord.
* Procept Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it expects to complete within the next two weeks a private offering of units consisting of shares and warrants. The firm is seeking between $10 million and $12 million to meet the net tangible assets condition necessary for continued listing on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market.
* Progenitor Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif., said it discovered a gene, called C18, that belongs to a family of lipoprotein lipase genes. The gene will be evaluated for treatments in cardiovascular disease, cancer and other disorders in which endothelial cells play a pivitol role. C18 was discovered by researchers at Progenitor and Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tenn. A joint U.S. patent application has been filed.
* Techniclone Corp., of Tustin, Calif., began enrolling patients in a Phase II/III trial of Oncolym (1311-Lym-1), a radiolabled murine monoclonal antibody, for treatment of intermediate- and high-grade refractory or relapsed non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma. Patients at nine medical centers are expected to participate.