Billed as legislation that would make the first significant changes to the U.S. patent system in nearly 60 years, the Patent Reform Act of 2011 got the unanimous approval the Senate Judiciary Committee last Thursday and moves on to the full Senate.
Ziopharm Oncology Inc. could raise as much as $63.5 million through an underwritten public offering of 9.6 million shares of common stock priced at $5.75 per share – about 7 percent below Wednesday's closing price – and an underwriter's 30-day option to purchase as many as 1.4 million additional shares.
Seattle Genetics Inc. expects to fund potential regulatory approval and the commercial launch of brentuximab vedotin, its candidate in Hodgkin lymphoma and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), with some of the $155 million grossed from an underwritten public offering of 10 million shares of common stock at $15.50 per share, about 4 percent below Tuesday's closing price.
"Premature to speculate" and "need more details" were default answers for Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. CEO Michael Narachi as he attempted to respond to questions during a conference call Tuesday about what's next for the San Diego-based company's new drug application (NDA) for Contrave (naltrexone HCl/bupropion HCl) extended-release tablets for the treatment of obesity.
MAP Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Allergan Inc. will collaborate on marketing MAP's Levadex, a self-administered, orally inhaled therapy for acute migraine in adults. MAP, of Mountain View, Calif., will get $60 million up-front and as much as $97 million if it meets milestones.
Although its $36.3-million acquisition of privately held CyDex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lenexa, Kan., is the fourth in the last 28 months for Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc., CEO John Higgins described it as "transformational" and a "game changer."
Calling it a "temporary setback," "easily remedied" and "relatively immaterial," analysts played down the negative impact of the FDA's refuse-to-file (RTF) letter to Gilead Sciences Inc. for its new drug application (NDA) seeking approval of HIV single-tablet regimen Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) plus Tibotec Pharmaceuticals Ltd.'s TMC278 (rilpivirine).
Amgen Inc.'s future, in particular the prospects for recently approved drugs Prolia and Xgeva, have gotten much of the attention this week as the Thousand Oaks, Calif.-company reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2010 financial results. But CEO Kevin Sharer put things in perspective when he reminded listeners during a conference call that the future is in large measure the past: it took 15 years of work to develop the products and set the stage for Amgen's promising outlook.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. expects to gross $24.3 million in an offering of 21.1 million shares of common stock packaged with 10.5 million warrants priced at $1.15 a unit, 11.5 percent below the stock's closing price of $1.30 last Friday. The Blue Bell, Pa.-company said it expects to net $23 million.
