Life Science Briefs

21 June 1999 00:00  [Source: ICB Americas]

BIOCHEM PHARMA Inc. will purchase for cancellation 8 million BioChem common shares held by Glaxo Wellcome at $20 per share. Payment will be made in two stages. BioChem will pay $80 million on completion of the transaction and the remaining $80 million in another 18 months.

CYTOGEN Corporation has acquired Prostagen Inc., a privately held company in Allendale, N.J., for an upfront stock payment of $2.5 million. The acquisition strengthens and consolidates Cytogen's position in the prostate cancer market. Cytogen is also forming a joint venture with Tarrytown, N.Y.-based Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc. to develop vaccine and antibody-based therapeutics for prostate and potentially other cancers.

ELI LILLY & CO.'s manufacturing facility in Sesto Fiorentino, Italy, failed an FDA inspection because adequate quality control standards were not maintained in some parts of the plant, according to a published report. Lilly has responded to FDA's letter and will work closely with the agency to provide any needed clarifications. A spokesperson for the company says Lilly does not expect this to lead to any product shortages.

HOECHST Schering AgrEvo and Strategic Diagnostics Inc. have entered into a licensing agreement to develop a genetically modified food test kit that will determine whether labeling according to the European Novel Food Regulation is required for food ingredients containing AgroEvo's Liberty Link gene.

KNOLL PHARMACEUTICAL has signed a letter of intent with Kos Pharmaceuticals to co-promote two Knoll anti-hypertensive products: Mavik (trandolapril) and Tarka (trandolapril).

NOVARTIS Pharma AG and Rigel Inc. have signed agreements for five different five-year drug discovery research projects using Rigel's functional genomics technology. Novartis will provide up-front cash, an equity investment, research funding, and milestone and royalty payments. The majority of the equity investment is callable by Rigel through an initial public offering.

PFIZER INC. and Warner-Lambert Company will continue and expand their co-promotion of the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor (atorvastatin) for a total of 10 years. As part of the expansion, the companies will co-promote Pfizer's migraine drug Relpax (eletriptan). W-L will have global co-promotion rights to the drug for 10 years. In another deal, Pfizer has entered into a $50 million, five-year services, systems and technology access agreement for drug discovery with Aurora Biosciences Corporation, San Diego, Calif., that grants Pfizer automated screening equipment and assay technology.

TRANSKARYOTIC Therapies Inc. and Hoechst Marion Roussel are filing a motion to reopen litigation against Amgen Inc. in the US District Court in Boston for gene-activated erythropoietin (GA-EPO). TKT and HMR are also seeking acknowledgement from Kirin-Amgen Inc. in the UK that GA-EPO, currently in Phase III clinical trials there, does not infringe on European patent (UK) no. 0 148 605 B2.

CYTEL Corporation announced at last week's Goldman Sachs healthcare conference that it will merge with its majority-owned subsidiary, Epimmune Inc., which is the name by which the new company will go. After completion of the merger on June 30, the company will trade on Nasdaq under the symbol EPMN.

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