* Avigen Inc., of Alameda, Calif., said underwriters of its recentinitial public offering exercised an option to purchase 250,000additional shares at $8 each. Avigen is developing gene therapyproducts derived from adeno-associated virus.

* CytoMed Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said Chiron Corp., ofEmeryville, Calif., made an additional investment in CytoMed basedon a milestone reached in their collaboration to develop complementinhibitors. In connection with the milestone Chiron agreed tocontinue funding studies for complement inhibitor products. The leadcandidate, CAB-2, was created by combining two naturally occurringcomplement inhibitory proteins.

* ImmuLogic Pharmaceutical Corp., of Waltham, Mass., received a$700,000 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant tocomplete preclinical development of a therapeutic vaccine to treatcocaine abuse. ImmuLogic showed in preclinical studies that vaccine-induced antibodies inhibit passage of cocaine to the brain, andtreatment with cocaine-specific antibodies eliminates the effects ofcocaine in rats.

* Isis Pharmaceuticals, of Carlsbad, Calif., reported results showingthe antisense compound ISIS 3521/CGP 64128A inhibited growth ofhuman tumors in animal models of human bladder, lung and coloncancers. Results were published in the August issue of CancerResearch.

* Molecular Geriatrics Corp., of Lake Bluff, Ill., completed a privateoffering of 3.6 million shares of Series C convertible preferred stockat $2 per share. The money will be used to complete development ofits Alzheimer's disease diagnostic and to advance other Alzheimer'sdisease research and development.

* T Cell Sciences Inc., of Needham, Mass., began patient enrollmentin a Phase I/II trial of the complement inhibitor, TP10, in patientswith reperfusion injury following lung transplant surgery.

* Xoma Corp., of Berkeley, Calif., announced completion of the firstinterim analysis for its ongoing 400-patient Phase II trial testingNeuprex to treat complications associated with acute blood loss. Anindependent board reviewed data from the first 100 patients andconcluded there were no safety concerns. Another analysis will lookat safety and efficacy data on the first 200 patients. That analysisalready is under way.

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