• Acorda Therapeutics Inc., of Hawthorne, N.Y., filed a shelf registration statement to offer, from time to time, up to $150 million in common stock and warrants. The specific terms will be set at the time of any offering. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures. Acorda, which develops drugs to improve neurological function in people with central nervous system diseases, is in Phase III testing with its lead development candidate, Fampridine-SR, in multiple sclerosis and has a preclinical pipeline targeting other aspects of MS, as well as spinal cord injury and other CNS disorders. Shares of Acorda (NASDAQ:ACOR) closed at $20.44 Tuesday, up 6 cents.

• Living Cell Technologies Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, said U.S. investment group NaviGroup Management Ltd. completed the initial closing under the Oct. 4 share purchase agreement, paying $2 million in exchange for 20.2 million shares priced at A11 cents each. Under the terms, LCT will seek shareholder approval to grant NaviGroup a 90-day option to subscribe an additional $6 million at the lower of A20 cents per share or 80 percent of the 30-day average closing bid price. The combination of those funds and the Oct. 30 placement by Taylor Collison Ltd. - that deal calls for up to 17.7 million shares issued at A36 cents each - could bring the company as much as $15 million. Funds strengthen LCT's financial position and will support further development of DiabeCell, a porcine pancreatic cell product for treating Type I diabetes.

• Sloning BioTechnology GmbH, of Puchheim, Germany, raised €4.7 million (US$6.8 million) in the first closing of a Series E round. New investor LBBW Venture Capital GmbH, of Stuttgart, Germany, joined existing investors HBM BioVentures, KfW Bankengruppe and Deutsche Effecten-und Wechsel-Beteiligungsgesellschaft AG. Proceeds will be used to support the internationalization of the company's Slonomics gene synthesis business and to further expand Slonomax, its gene mutant library product family.