Imre Corp. of Seattle said Tuesday that Japan's TakedaChemical Industries Ltd. is ending an agreement to developImre's Prosorba blood-filtering column.

"Takeda is getting out of the device business," said Frank Jones,Imre's chief executive officer. "It (the decision) has nothing todo with Imre or the Prosorba column."

Osaka-based Takeda has been Imre's major corporate investor,starting with a $5 million loan in 1987 that was later convertedinto Imre common stock. Takeda, which owns 9 percent ofImre's 11 million shares outstanding, gave Imre a right of firstrefusal to buy back the stock at market price.

Imre stock (NASDAQ: IMRE) closed up 12.5 cents a shareTuesday to close at 94 cents. Last October, Imre raised $2.5million through a private placement of more than 4 millionshares at 62 cents a share.

Takeda also agreed to help Imre locate another partner to helpobtain marketing approval in Japan for the Prosorba column,which removes immune complexes from the blood, Jones said.Imre last fall signed a distribution agreement with Green CrossCorp. of Japan to distribute the product in Korea.

The Prosorba column has been marketed since 1987 fortreating idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, a bleedingdisorder. Jones said third quarter 1990 sales of Prosorba wereroughly $500,000. -- Carol Ezzell

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