Washington Editor

Hudson Health Sciences and Email Real Estate.com competed a reverse merger, and at the same time Hudson Health changed its name to Hana Biosciences Inc.

In the process of the reverse merger, Hana, a South San Francisco-based company, raised $8 million in a private placement financing led by Rodman & Renshaw, of New York.

Completion of the merger also transforms the former Hudson Health into a publicly traded company, Mark Ahn, president and CEO of Hana, told BioWorld Today. For the time being, Hana will trade on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board under the symbol "EMLR."

Hana, a Hawaiian word meaning "health," will operate as a subsidiary of Email Real Estate.com.

Hana has about 11 million outstanding shares, and Hana shareholders collectively own 87 percent of Email Real Estate.com's equity on a fully diluted basis. Further, the officers and directors of Hana replaced all of the officers and directors of Email Real Estate.com, which will cease its existing business operations and immediately will adopt and implement Hana's business plan, the company said.

Hana seeks to acquire drugs in late preclinical or early clinical development from academic and research institutions, Ahn said, adding, "We plan to serially acquire technologies and companies in the oncology and immunology space."

Hana currently employs eight people who are working on the firm's lead candidate, PT-523, a nonclassical antifolate that is a water-soluble, nonpolyglutamatable analogue of aminopterin discovered at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the National Cancer Institute. PT-523 is the subject of a Phase I trial in solid tumors.

The firm's other candidate, IPdR, is an orally administered prodrug of IUdR discovered at Yale University. IPdR is poised to enter clinical trials for certain types of radiosensitive cancers.

Financially, Hana has about $12 million in the bank (including the $8 million raised in the private placement plus an earlier financing of $4.7 million). Hana is burning about $200,000 a month, Ahn said. At the present rate, he believes Hana has enough cash for a year and a half to two years.

The company has financially managed to acquire and study PT-523 and IPdR via $12 million in grant funding from units of the National Institutes of Health.

The deal was disclosed Thursday morning. The stock gained 19 cents Thursday, then lost 10 cents Friday to close at $1.10.