• Apogent Technologies Inc., of Portsmouth, N.H., completed its private offering and sale of $345 million worth of floating rate senior convertible contingent debt securities due 2033. The company used about $70 million of the proceeds to repurchase 3 million common shares concurrently with the sale. Apogent plans to use the remaining proceeds to pay down a portion of its outstanding credit facility and for general corporate purposes.

• Endovasc Inc., of Montgomery, Texas, named Diane Dottavio its president and CEO. Most recently, she served for three years as the vice president of research and development at the company, which is developing cardiovascular and metabolic drug therapies.

• Genome Therapeutics Corp., of Waltham, Mass., said the SEC cleared its registration statement related to its merger with privately held Genesoft Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco. The completion of the $80 million stock-swap transaction remains subject to various closing conditions, including the approval by both companies' shareholders. Each plans to hold a stockholder meeting Feb. 2. (See BioWorld Today, Nov. 19, 2003.)

• Orchid BioSciences Inc., of Princeton, N.J., said it is expanding its genotyping business for scrapie, the mad cow-like disease in sheep, and leveraging its know-how and technology to develop assays for DNA-based food traceability applications. More specifically, it plans to develop SNP-based meat traceability assays as part of its services in the coming year. Orchid's agricultural genotyping services are based in its European facility in Abingdon, UK. The company's stock (NASDAQ:ORCH) gained 43 cents Wednesday, or 30.3 percent, to close at $1.85.

• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis said findings published in the Jan. 8, 2004, issue of Nature reveal that slight changes in the shape of a protein called vinculin completely change its role in a cell, making the protein a tool for completing different tasks. For example, by alternately changing its shape from active to inactive forms, vinculin can control a cell's ability to remain stationary or move through its environment. In its various roles, vinculin allows cells to move within developing tissues and organs of the embryo and spark the healing of wounds. Vinculin also can regulate the ability of cancer cells to move away from tumors and spread cancer to other parts of the body.