Generex licenses drug technology to Amarantus for $10M

Generex Biotechnology Corp., a life sciences company focused on drug delivery, has licensed the rights to its “RapidMist” technology to Sunnyvale-based Amarantus BioSciences Inc. for a $10 million up-front fee.
Generex, which has offices in Toronto, Canada and Worcester, Mass., developed this technology for the delivery of drugs into the human body through the inner lining of the cheek. Amarantus plans to use the technology to develop a class of drugs that employ a protein that plays a key role in cell death, or apoptosis. Amarantus’ lead product is an early stage drug candidate to treat Parkinson’s disease.

WaferGen raises $30M in debt, equity financing

WaferGen Biosystems Inc. said Tuesday it raised more than $30 million in a private placement financing of equity and debt.
Fremont-based WaferGen (OTCBB:WGBS) said the financing is with three institutional life science investors: Greenwich, Conn.-based Great Point Partners LLC, Chicago-based Deerfield Management and New York-based Merlin Nexus.

Google, Children's Hospital Boston team to track dengue outbreaks

Researchers from Children's Hospital Boston and Google.org, the philanthropy arm of Google Inc., said Tuesday they have developed a new online tool for early detection of dengue outbreaks.
The tool, available at http://www.google.org/denguetrends, could help public health officials in the more than 100 countries affected by dengue respond more quickly to nascent epidemics, according to the researchers, who also published their findings Tuesday in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

AcelRx grabs $5.6M Army grant

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. has been awarded a $5.6 million grant by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command for development of a new pain treatment.
The grant will reimburse Redwood City-based AcelRx (NASDAQ: ACRX) for manufacturing and clinical costs needed for the planned Phase 2 trial of the new drug, ARX-04, and preparation for Phase 3 development.

Castlight brings bargain hunting to health care

Many consumers love to hunt for deals for airplane trips or flat-screen TVs, but for a knee replacement or heart bypass, the term “bargain-basement” is somehow less appealing.
Castlight Health brings the art of the deal to the health care sector, giving consumers the chance to compare prices and explore options before they pay for a medical procedure. The San Francisco-based company saw a 250 percent jump in revenue in 2010 and has five companies, such as Safeway, that use its online platform in addition to their existing health care insurance program, with nearly 100 more companies eager to get on board.

Venrock adds former White House adviser Robert Kocher to health care practice

Venrock on Friday announced that former White House adviser Robert Kocher joined the firm as a partner.
Venrock, which was originally established as the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller family, said Kocher will join partners Brian Ascher and Bryan Roberts in the Palo Alto office "in pursuit of paradigm shifting innovations at the intersection of health care and technology."

MAP: New hope for migraine sufferers?

MAP Pharmaceuticals Inc. submitted a new drug application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday for its orally inhaled migraine drug, branded LEVADEX, which had previously been delivered via intravenously.
The Mountain View-based company (NASDAQ:MAPP) alluded that the submission was coming in April.

Body count: Searchable list of Bay Area clinical trials, by company or area of the body

Here's the San Francisco Business Times' list of Phase I, II or III clinical trials by Bay Area life sciences companies. Search by company or by area of the body.
I'm certain this isn't a complete list, so I welcome your suggestions, additions and deletions at rleuty@bizjournals.com.

The New Deal: Venture firm CMEA looks to bring drugs in-house, spin them out in 3 years or less

If Big Pharma is too big and biotechs are too small, CMEA Capital is working on a model that may be just right.
The San Francisco venture capital firm wants to move companies’ shelved drugs to an in-house team, contract out studies that take the drugs into mid-stage trials and sell to product-hungry companies in three years or less.
Taking a drug from Point A to Point B never looked so quick, cheap and easy. Now CMEA must make it work.

Tethys enlists docs to change diabetes' course

The future of Tethys Bioscience Inc.’s predictive diabetes test may rely on places like Burlington, Iowa, and small-town family practitioners like Dr. Michael AbouAssaly.
Tethys’ simple blood test, which scores the risk of pre-diabetics getting full-blown type 2 diabetes within five years, hit the market in early 2009 to scientific applause. The test, called PreDx (sounds like “predicts”), could help doctors concentrate on their highest-risk patients and change the course of the disease, according to Emeryville-based Tethys.
There’s one problem: getting doctors to give the test. Their focus is typically on treatment, not prevention, said Tethys CEO Mickey Urdea.

Grant makers often reluctant to fund indirect costs

For biomedical nonprofits that rely on philanthropy, raising research grants is only half the battle.
Many philanthropists, be they individuals or large foundations, want to find cures for big diseases or affordable treatments for common ailments that afflict the poor. These same donors tend to be less excited about funding “indirect” costs like overhead, program managers and other science-free but necessary infrastructure.
And there is the rub, a rub that has chafed all kinds of nonprofits, not just those in the biomedical research arena.

Technology births boom in prenatal testing

Fresh guidelines for prenatal testing, coupled with fast-improving technology, promises to give expectant parents an unprecedented look at their child’s development.
That could mean a hot new area of revenue for a handful of Bay Area companies working on a new generation of prenatal screening tests, but they’re in a race that is moving faster than baby steps.

Bay Area cancer drug developers pin futures on ASCO

It is make or break time for cancer drug powerhouses and wannabes alike, and that’s not lost on companies like ACT Biotech.
Impress clinicians at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting June 3 to 7 in Chicago, and those scientists will want to be part of a company’s next trial. Wow investors and a company buys additional life for itself. Blow away Big Pharma and find a partner.
Bottom line: Be there or perhaps cease to be.
For every Genentech Inc., the South San Francisco biotech cancer drug powerhouse, that is presenting at ASCO, there is an ACT, a 3-year-old company with an experimental stomach cancer drug that it hopes to take into a Phase III trial later this year. For every Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc., looking to extend its Nexavar franchise into breast cancer, there’s an Exelixis Inc., which is betting its future on the power of one drug against several cancers.
Other ASCO presenters include OxiGene Inc., SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Berkeley’s Plexxikon Inc., which has teamed with Genentech and its parent, Roche, on a potential melanoma treatment.

SF life sciences hub lures East Coast venture firms

A second wave of venture capital firms is bringing an East Coast accent to Mission Bay.
OrbiMed Advisors LLC of New York and Boston-based Third Rock Ventures have set up operations at 455 Mission Bay Blvd. South above Bayer HealthCare’s research center. Third Rock took 2,000 square feet for its West Coast office, while VC titan OrbiMed moved to larger quarters that can accommodate up to 10 people.

InSite Vision, Merck, Pfizer sue Sandoz over generic eye drug

Alameda-based InSite Vision said Thursday it joined Merck and Pfizer in suing Sandoz over an antibiotic drug for eye, AzaSite, for which Sandoz is seeking FDA marketing approval.

Bayer: Blame Emeryville plant closing on larger cost pressures, not Bay Area

It’s MS, Emeryville, not you.
That’s the drum Bayer HealthCare is beating as it shifts production of its multiple sclerosis drug Betaseron from Emeryville to a European contract manufacturer over the next two years.
Who’s to blame? Surely not Emeryville or the 540 employees of the East Bay facility, said Bayer spokesman Sreejit Mohan. Instead, health system reform worldwide and an increasingly competitive market for MS drugs are putting pressure on Bayer and other MS drug companies.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals to raise $25M in stock sale

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. registered with regulators for a stock sale worth up to $25 million.
The South San Francisco company (NASDAQ: RIGL) is working on a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis along with AstraZeneca AB, and also an inhaled treatment for allergic asthma.

Bayer closing Emeryville plant, shedding 540 jobs

Bayer HealthCare will ditch 540 jobs in Emeryville as it shifts production of its blockbuster multiple sclerosis treatment over two years to a contract manufacturer.

Dynavax wraps up 2,400-patient hepatitis vaccine trial

Dynavax Technologies Corp. finished a Phase III test of its Heplisav hepatitis B vaccine candidate that enrolled 2,449 people.
Berkeley-based Dynavax (NASDAQ: DVAX) compared Heplisav to another vaccine, Engerix, in this year long test.
Results from the study should be ready in eight weeks.

WaferGen raises $30M in stock and debt sale

WaferGen Bio-systems Inc. agreed to raise $30.4 million in a private placement of both equity and debt.
The Fremont company (OTCBB: WGBS), which makes genomic analysis technology used in biology research and drug development, made the deal with Great Point Partners LLC, Deerfield Management and Merlin Nexus, as well as with some of its board members and executives.

California controller nominates entrepreneur to lead stem cell board, setting up battle for CIRM's top spot

Setting off another battle for the leadership of California’s $3 billion stem cell research funding agency, state Controller John Chiang nominated Southern California medical device entrepreneur and researcher Frank Litvack.
The appointment by Chiang comes after Gov. Jerry Brown and Treasurer Bill Lockyer nominated investment banker Jonathan Thomas, a founding partner of Saybrook Capital LLC in Santa Monica.

Stem cells heading somewhere in a gift basket

A reverse merger between VistaGen Therapeutics and Excalibur Enterprises slaps a bow on a Jekyll-and-Hyde month for the stem cell industry. Who is Excalibur? Another stem cell company? A group of Arthurian-minded investors expecting to pull stem cells from the Wall Street stone? None of the above.

Aptus Endosystems device gets European nod

Aptus Endosystems Inc. on Monday announced it received CE Mark approval for its EndoStapling system.
Sunnyvale-based Aptus is a medical device company focused on endovascular aneurysm repair.

Stanford, Coulter Foundation fund $20M translational research endowment

Stanford University will match a $10 million gift from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation to establish an endowment aimed at moving medical treatments and devices toward patients.
The cash will continue a program that has produced 25 projects over the past five years at Stanford, including a blood test that could be an alternative to prenatal amniocentesis and a surgical dressing that could prevent scarring. In fact, according to Stanford, the endowment will allow the Wallace H. Coulter Translational Research Grant Program continue in perpetuity.

Southern California investor nominated as stem cell agency chairman

Jonathan Thomas, a founding partner of Saybrook Capital LLC, has been nominated to lead California’s stem cell research funding agency following the departure of Chairman Bob Klein.
Thomas was nominated Friday by California Treasurer Bill Lockyer to lead the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Batten disease parents aim at screening

Trying to find patients for clinical trials of rare disease treatments can be tough. But following StemCells Inc.’s abrupt shelving of an early-stage trial in Batten disease, patient advocates and parents of kids afflicted with deadly malady are charged up to ensure it isn’t so difficult anymore.
It’s a backstory that runs from Palo Alto to Jacksonville, Fla. — catching Vacaville, San Diego, Columbus, Ohio, Austin, Texas, Kansas City, Mo., Houston and Santa Fe, N.M., in between — and it says a lot about the power of individuals to make a difference.

Orphan disease still stands alone: StemCells' exit from its Batten Disease trial

Once upon a time, StemCells Inc. held out hope that its neural stem cells could treat a fatal children’s ailment called Batten disease. But as StemCells abruptly halted preparations last month for its second trial, the Palo Alto company and parents of kids affected with the extremely rare brain-wasting malady discovered that efforts to develop treatments for so-called orphan diseases rarely have a fairy tale ending.

Incyte pays Genomic Health $800K to settle royalty claim

Diagnostic test maker Genomic Health Inc. won $800,000 from Incyte Corp. to settle a lawsuit in which it alleged Incyte received royalties that it should not have been paid.
Redwood City-based Genomic Health (NASDAQ: GHDX) initially sought in a July 2010 suit to recover nearly $3.6 million that it had paid to Incyte (NASDAQ: INCY) according to a 2001 deal.

Oraya promises another wet AMD study after eye device trial fills

Oraya Therapeutics Inc. completed enrollment in a trial of its experimental device to treat a common cause of blindness and plans another large trial later this year.
The Newark company said the 226-patient study of its iRay device is designed to study both the effectiveness and safety of its radiation therapy of wet age-related macular degeneration, or wet AMD, in conjunction with standard-of-care drug injections into the eye.

Genentech, Merck join forces to sell hepatitis C drug regimen

Genentech Inc. and Merck & Co. will combine forces to sell and promote a new three-drug, hepatitis C-fighting regimen in the United States and possibly abroad.
The companies did not disclose the value of the deal, but it centers on Merck’s (NYSE: MRK) recently approved chronic hepatitis C treatment, Victrelis, or boceprevir.

Stealth med device startup settles into San Jose digs

Stealthy startup C8 MediSensors Inc. has moved into the former Nortel Networks space at 6375 San Ignacio Ave., San Jose.
The company needed more space for its manufacturing and growing business.

Genentech veteran Juelsgaard named to CIRM board

Former Genentech Inc. executive Stephen Juelsgaard was appointed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom to the board overseeing California’s stem cell research funding agency.
At the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the $3 billion agency based in San Francisco, Juelsgaard’s 24 years of biotech experience make him “uniquely qualified” to serve on the board, Newsom said.

Health Evolution Partners adds Rolf Classon as operating partner in new life sciences unit

Health Evolution Partners, which manages more than $700 million in health care investment funds, said Monday it’s added pharmaceutical industry veteran Rolf Classon as an operating partner.
Classon formerly managed companies in the pharmaceutical and diagnostic realms, according to the San Francisco-based health care investment firm; he’ll work with its new life sciences unit.

Tech boom spurs more bio building

The Salesforce effect is sweeping down the Peninsula.
HCP Inc. plans to build as much as 800,000 square feet of lab and office space on a 20-acre former U.S. Steel site in South San Francisco after buying the land from Genentech Inc. last month for $65 million.

1st COO at Mohr Davidow eyes right investment mix

Mohr Davidow Ventures has invested big dollars in life science, “clean” technology and other sectors in Silicon Valley — and now, it has hired someone to work full time on the business of the firm itself.
The Menlo Park-based venture capital firm announced May 6 that it hired Paul Cleveland as its first-ever chief operating officer. Cleveland also joined as a general partner.

Poniard cuts Q1 loss to $3.3M

Poniard Pharmaceuticals Inc. lost $3.3 million in the first quarter.
A year earlier in the same quarter the San Francisco company (NASDAQ: PARD) lost $12.5 million.

Lower HIV drug prices for state programs, protestors ask Gilead

HIV patient advocates protested outside and inside Gilead Sciences Inc.’s annual shareholder meeting Thursday, pleading for the world’s largest AIDS drug developer to cut the prices it charges cash-strapped government safety net programs.
About 20 people protested outside the Westin San Francisco Airport hotel, saying that the Foster City-based company (NASDAQ: GILD) could take a haircut on the $10,000 price it charges state AIDS drug assistance programs, or ADAPs.

SF tax exemption plan for options moves ahead

A proposal to exclude some payroll taxes on stock options granted by private San Francisco companies will go before the Board of Supervisors next Tuesday.

Impax Labs shareholders vote for yearly 'say on pay'

Shareholders at generic drug business Impax Laboratories Inc. voted in favor of an annual “say on pay” where the salaries of top executives would be subject to their approval.
The proposal, however, is not binding. Impax said in its proxy card that “our board and the compensation committee will consider the outcome of the vote when making future compensation decision for named executive officers.”

Big InterMune shareholder weighs sale

If trackers of InterMune Inc. can’t get The Clash out of their heads, there’s good reason: Should they stay or should they go?
The issue is that investment firm Warburg Pincus may opt to sell all or a significant chunk of its holdings in InterMune Inc., the Brisbane company that late last month beat down rumors that it was being shopped.
InterMune (NASDAQ: ITMN) said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday that Warburg Pincus is “actively considering” selling its InterMune holdings as early as the end of next month.

Heart disease test maker CardioDx raises $60 million

CardioDx Inc. gained five new investors in a $60 million equity financing round that the Palo Alto company will use to expand reimbursement coverage for its blood test for obstructive coronary artery disease.
CardioDx also will use the money to develop more gene expression tests for cardiovascular problems.

Geron spinal cord stem cell trial enrolls 2nd patient

Geron Corp., which last week won a $25 million loan from California’s stem cell research funding agency for a spinal cord injury trial, has recruited the second patient into that study.
The first Food and Drug Administration-approved trial using embryonic stem cells in humans enrolled its second patient, researchers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago reportedly said Tuesday.

Impax starts testing Restless Legs Syndrome drug

Impax Laboratories Inc. started a Phase I test of a treatment aimed at Restless Legs Syndrome, and it also filed an application for the drug with regulators.

Affymax Q1 loss widens to $9.6 million

Affymax Inc. on Monday reported a first quarter loss of $9.6 million, widened from a loss of $7.9 million in the same period last year.
Palo Alto-based Affymax (NASDAQ:AFFY) had revenue of $16.7 million, about half the year-ago quarter's $34.7 million.

Lawrence Berkeley Lab picks 6 finalists for second campus

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has identified six finalists in cities including Alameda, Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville, Albany and Richmond for its potential second campus site.

Mid-stage Medivation prostate cancer trial doses 1st patient

Medivation Inc. and partner Astellas Pharma Inc. started a Phase II trial of an experimental prostate cancer treatment, the fourth study involving the drug.
The mid-stage study of the drug, MDV-3100, ultimately will enroll about 60 patients in Europe, San Francisco-based Medivation (NASDAQ: MDVN) said Monday. It will test the drug, taken once a day orally for 24 weeks, as the first hormonal treatment for patients with early-stage prostate cancer.

Impax sued over generic version of ADHD drug Concerta

Alza Corp. is suing Impax Laboratories Inc. for patent infringement for the Hayward company’s generic version of blockbuster attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Concerta.
Concerta extended-release tablets, ranging from 18 milligrams to 54 milligrams, registered sales of $1.4 billion in the 12 months ended in February.

Medivation halves Q1 loss

Drug company Medivation Inc. cut its Q1 loss in half to $8.5 million.
A year earlier the San Francisco company (NASDAQ: MDVN) lost $17.5 million.
Revenue was about flat -- $14.7 million in the March quarter compared with $15.7 million a year earlier.

Mohr Davidow hires Affymax CFO as first COO

Venture firm Mohr Davidow in Menlo Park created the job of chief operating officer and tapped Paul Cleveland to fill it.
Cleveland, who was chief financial officer at Affymax Inc. from January 2006 until February 2011, also becomes a general partner at Mohr Davidow.
As COO, Cleveland will handle all finance, operations and administration work at the firm.

Pfizer returns allergy drug to Rigel

Pfizer Inc. returned rights to an early-stage asthma drug to Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. — at least the third such move involving a Bay Area biopharmaceutical company in the past couple of weeks.
R-343, targeting allergic asthma, recently completed several Phase I trials, but South San Francisco’s Rigel (NASDAQ: RIGL) said Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) decided to return the drug is based on the giant drug maker’s decision to exit R&D for allergy and respiratory drug.

Epitomics chief has line on China partnerships

Guo-Liang Yu has a plan for China.
Now with about 200 employees of his Epitomics Inc. in China — in biotech facilities built courtesy of district-level governments — and two burgeoning Chinese drug partnerships, Yu has become a sort of unofficial tour guide for a half-dozen biotech companies scouting space in the Middle Kingdom.

Optivia, UCSF looking at 'superhero' transporter proteins

In the creepiest neighborhoods of the body, Yong Huang is ready to unleash the power of hundreds of tiny superheroes.
Packing government grants, less than $5 million in founding cash and an important sidekick at the University of California, San Francisco, Huang’s Optivia Biotechnology Inc. is standing for better, safer drugs and the membrane transporter way of life.

Sanofi-Aventis opts out of Metabolex diabetes drug deal

Sanofi-Aventis returned rights to a mid-stage type 2 diabetes drug to Metabolex Inc.
The Paris company said it opted to terminate its right to MBX-2982, the center of a July 2010 deal that Sanofi and Hayward-based Metabolex. A year ago, the companies said the deal could be worth up to $375 million in milestone payments.

Maxygen swings to profit in Q1

Maxygen Inc. on Thursday reported first quarter net income of $1.5 million, or 5 cents a share, compared to a loss in the same period last year of $2 million, or 6 cents a share.

Dynavax Q1 loss doubles to $18.5 million

Berkeley drug business Dynavax Technologies Corp. lost $18.5 million in the first quarter, more than double its loss of $9.2 million a year earlier.
The company (NASDAQ: DVAX) got a $6 million milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE: GSK) after the end of the March quarter.

Former Genentech CEO Art Levinson among three Bay Area entrepreneurs tapped for Innovation Advisory Board

Former Genentech Inc. boss Art Levinson, former Cisco Systems chief technology officer Judy Estrin and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Kim Polese were appointed Wednesday by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to a new innovation advisory group that could shape national policies for job creation.
The 15-member Innovation Advisory Board, which will meet for the first time June 6 at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Va., will guide a study of U.S. economic competitiveness and innovation, Locke said Wednesday.

Seeking to slow cash burn, StemCells lays off 20 people

StemCells Inc. will cut 30 percent of its workforce — about 20 full-time people — as it tries to advance its neural stem cell treatment through trials in spinal cord injury and a number of other diseases.
The company (NASDAQ: STEM) said the job cuts should save about $2.3 million annually. That is on top of reduced costs for cell manufacturing, saving about $1.1 million annually, and its move this summer from Palo Alto to smaller, cheaper space in Newark that will save about $1 million annually, President and CEO Martin McGlynn said in a conference call with analysts Wednesday afternoon.

Geron lands $25M from CIRM for spinal cord stem cell trial

California’s stem cell research funding agency is paying for its first human clinical trial, awarding $25 million to Geron Corp. for the early phase of a spinal cord injury trial, the first FDA-approved clinical study using cells from human embryonic stem cells.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine’s board voted Wednesday to approve the award, which CIRM Chairman Bob Klein called “a landmark step.”

Onyx returns rights to 2 cancer drugs to Singapore partner

Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. has pulled out of a two-year-old deal — once pegged to be worth $550 million — with a Singapore partner on a set of possible cancer drugs.
South San Francisco-based Onyx (NASDAQ: ONXX) remains a shareholder in S-Bio Pte Ltd. but will return the North American and European rights to the S*Bio drugs SB-1518 and SB-1578.

Exelixis slashes Q1 loss to $27.5M

Exelixis Inc. on Tuesday reported a first quarter loss of $27.5 million, or 24 cents a share, narrowed from a loss in the same period last year of $43.2 million, or 40 cents a share.
South San Francisco-based Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) had revenue of $35.9 million, down from $42.2 million for the comparable period in 2010.
The narrowed loss was primarily because of decreases in operating expenses.

OncoHealth raises $1.6M in new funding

Sand Hill Angels on Tuesday announced that it joined with Life Science Angels to anchor a $1.6 million first round of funding for OncoHealth Corp.
Other investors included Band of Angels, Emergent Medical Partners, Halo Fund, Tech Coast Angels, The Angels Forum and Wilmington Investor Network.
Fremont-based OncoHealth is developing novel diagnostics for cervical cancer and other potentially deadly cancers caused by the human papillomavirus.

Jazz Pharma Q1 profit jumps to $21.8M

Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Tuesday reported first quarter net income of $21.8 million, or 48 cents a share, compared to $1.5 million, or 4 cents a share in the same period last year.
Palo Alto-based Jazz (NASDAQ:JAZZ) reported revenue of $50.9 million, up from the year-ago quarter's $35.2 million.

Map Pharmaceuticals swings to $17.6M profit in Q1

Map Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Tuesday reported first quarter net income of $17.6 million, compared to a loss in the same quarter last year of $14.1 million.
Mountain View-based Map (NASDAQ:MAPP) said the income primarily was because of $34.2 million in collaboration revenue recognized from a $60 million upfront payment received in February. The payment was part of a collaboration agreement with Allergan Inc.

St. Jude Medical invests in Nanostim, may acquire company

Nanostim Inc. on Tuesday announced a financing agreement with St. Jude Medical Inc. that also includes an exclusive option to acquire the company.
Milpitas-based Nanostim is a privately owned medical device startup that develops miniaturized, leadless pacemakers.

Alexza to raise $16.1M in direct offering

Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Tuesday it entered an agreement with three institutional investors to raise about $16.1 million in a direct offering sale.
Mountain View-based Alexza (NASDAQ:ALXA) said the investors include RA Capital Management and Tavistock Life Sciences.

ArthroCare profit up 44% as it moves from Sunnyvale to Texas

Surgical device manufacturer ArthroCare Corp. posted a 44 percent jump in profit on Tuesday to $12.7 million as it consolidates its Sunnyvale and Austin operations in Texas.

Xoma botulism treatment starts early-stage government trial

A Xoma Ltd. antibody treatment aimed at preventing and treating botulism poisoning — particularly that caused by a biological weapon — is the focus of an early-stage trial sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The 24-patient Phase I trial at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore will test the safety of XOMA 3AB, the Berkeley-based company’s (NASDAQ: XOMA) most advanced R&D program. It uses three antibodies that when combined neutralize the botulism neurotoxin at very low doses.

Impax Q1 sales drop 66%, profit falls 89%

Generic drug business Impax Laboratories Inc. reported a 66 percent drop in revenue in the first quarter -- sales fell to $108.7 million from $323.3 million a year earlier.
Hayward-based Impax (NASDAQ: IPXL) blamed the $214 million drop in revenue on the success a year ago of the launch of a new product, Flomax, and also on “our continuing inability and frustration in obtaining sufficient generic Adderall XR product.”

Genentech CEO, Pixar ex-CFO join Solazyme board

Solazyme has added Ian Clark, CEO of Genentech Inc., and Ann Mather, former chief financial officer of Pixar Animation Studios, to its board of directors, the company said Tuesday.

Wilson Sonsini expands medical device practice with Townsend attorney James Heslin

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati named James M. Heslin a partner at the firm.
Palo Alto-based Wilson Sonsini said Heslin is the former founder and leader of the medical device technology patent group at Townsend and Townsend and Crew (now Kilpatrick Townsend).