Aventis Pharmaceuticals, of Collegeville, Pa., said the FDA granted marketing approval to Taxotere for Injection for treating locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy. Aventis Pharmaceuticals is the U.S. pharmaceuticals business of Aventis SA, which was formed this month through the merger of Hoechst AG and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer SA.
Axys Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, said its combinatorial chemistry subsidiary, Axys Advanced Technologies Inc., entered into an agreement with Cephalon Inc., of West Chester, Pa., under which it will supply Cephalon diverse screening libraries and chemistry services for use in target-based assays. Cephalon will pay for delivery of compounds and will make future payments if its uses AAT for chemistry support and services.
Celera Genomics, of Rockville, Md., said it purchased the Panther technology from Molecular Applications Group, of Palo Alto, Calif. Panther is a software tool designed for rapid and accurate determination of gene and protein function, and is focused on two areas: remote homolog detection and protein function classification. Some of the developers of the technology are transferring to Celera.
GelTex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Waltham, Mass., and Sankyo Pharma Inc., of Tokyo, signed the final agreements related to the licensing of GelTex's Cholestagel and an option on a second-generation cholesterol-lowering agent. The signing generated $12 million in up-front and option payments to GelTex. The deal is worth up to $75 million. (See BioWorld Today, Nov. 16, 1999, p. 1.)
Human Genome Sciences Inc., of Rockville, Md., said Credit Suisse First Boston, the purchaser in a private placement of $150 million principal amount of 5 percent convertible subordinated notes due 2006, exercised its option to purchase another $50 million of notes. The notes are convertible into common stock at $143.25 per share.
Procyon BioPharma Inc., of Montreal, said the Calgary office of Yorkton Securities exercised its option to purchase 100,000 common shares at C$1 each. The company, which is focused primarily on products to treat and diagnose cancer, recently completed a C$3 million (US$2 million) private placement.
Shire Pharmaceuticals Group plc, of Andover, UK, completed its merger with Roberts Pharmaceutical Corp., of Eatontown, N.J., following shareholder approval from both companies. The combined company has a market capitalization of $2.4 billion.
Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., received FDA approval to market Carnitor Injection for treating and preventing carnitine deficiency in patients with end-stage renal disease who are undergoing dialysis. The approval covers only the intravenous formulation. Carnitor (levocarnitine) tablets and oral solution were approved in 1992.