Aspire Capital Fund LLC agreed to purchase 333,333 shares of International Stem Cell Corp. (ISCO) at $1.50 per share, a 7 percent premium over Friday's closing price of $1.40. In addition, the agreement includes a financing facility that will allow Aspire to purchase up to a total of $25 million in equity capital over the next three years, at the discretion of ISCO. Read More
Cytokinetics Inc.'s shares (NASDAQ:CYTK) were down 65 cents, or 22.2 percent, to close at $2.28 Monday despite "encouraging" results in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients from a Phase IIa evidence-of-effect trial of CK-2017357, a fast skeletal muscle troponin activator and the lead drug candidate in the company's skeletal muscle contractility program. Read More
Merck Serono SA, of Geneva, a division of Merck KGaA, signed a strategic collaboration with the Institute of Experimental Neurology and the Department of Neurology of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy, to advance clinical research projects in multiple sclerosis and neurodegenerative diseases. The deal follows previous agreements, initially started in 2004, and extends the partnership for three years. Financial terms were not disclosed. Read More
Chimerix Inc., of Durham, N.C., said Phase I results demonstrated that CMX157 has a favorable safety, tolerability and drug distribution profile. In addition, results from preclinical studies showed that the drug exhibited potent in vivo activity against HIV, including HIV strains resistant to current therapies, and potent in vitro activity against xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus. Data were presented at the HIV DART 2010 meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico. CMX157 is a chemically modified version of tenofovir using the company's Phospholipid IntramembraneMicrofluidization Conjugate technology. Read More
Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. is expected to garner an additional $110 million in 2012, on top of $65 million already banked this year and the $85 million anticipated in 2011, under an expanded deal with Mundipharma International Corp. Ltd., an independent European associated company of Purdue Pharmaceutical Products LP, to develop and commercialize IPI-926, Infinity's Smoothened (Smo) antagonist currently in Phase Ib/II testing, plus candidates arising from its phosphoinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and discovery programs. Read More
Shares in Intercell AG plummeted 40 percent Monday on news that its patch-based vaccine for traveler's diarrhea failed to demonstrate efficacy in two studies, a Phase III trial in Central America and a Phase II pilot study in India. Read More
