The Cross-Border Biotech Blog

This week’s deal review has a couple of new placements, a couple of new plants, a very interesting claim asserted in Boston, and many, many updates on deals we have previously covered.  Check out the full review  

Most interesting use of a “Most-Favoured Nations” clause:

QLT Inc. (NASDAQ: QLTI; TSX: QLT), having faced a jury trial that awarded the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary a 3.01% royalty on Visudyne, is now facing a claim from Massachusetts General Hospital.  Mass Gen has an MFN clause in its license with QLT, and is claiming that it too is entitled to a 3.01% royalty.  QLT got most of the claims dismissed, but one was allowed to proceed.

Securities:

• Protox Therapeutics Inc. (TSX: PRX), which develops receptor targeted fusion proteins, announced that it closed its Canadian private placement of common shares at a price of $0.27, for gross proceeds  of approximately CDN$2.31 million including an over-allotment option of approximately CDN$0.81 million.
• Oncothyreon Inc. (Nasdaq: ONTY) (TSX: ONY) announced an $11.1 million PIPE deal.  The investors are purchasing units at $2.85 per unit, each consisting of one common share plus a warrant to purchase 0.75 shares at $3.92 per share between 6 months and 5 years of Closing.

New Physical Facilities:

• Microbix Biosystems Inc. (TSX: MBX)  is opening its new head office and manufacturing center in Mississauga this coming Friday. Microbix is “a major supplier of infectious disease biologics and is a leader in the field of increasing the global manufacturing capacity of influenza vaccine.”  The new facility apparently quintuples the capacity of Microbix’s older operation.
• Enerkem GreenField Alberta Biofuels (EGAB) is building a CDN$70 million commercial facility to produce biofuels and green chemicals from sorted municipal solid waste in Edmonton, Alberta. The City of Edmonton and the Province of Alberta, through the Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI), are contributing a combined CDN$20 million to its production. The facility will initially produce 36 million litres of ethanol per year.

Updates on previous deals:

• JLL and Patheon kept plugging along this week, with more Board drama, a Q2 results call coming up in June, new business initiatives from Patheon and another offer extension by JLL.
• Haemacure Corporation (TSX: HAE) provided an update on the loan from Angiotech.  The initial advance and the term sheet were announced a couple of weeks ago.
• Akela Pharma Inc. (TSX: AKL) and Nventa Biopharmaceuticals (TSX: NVN) closed the merger they announced at the end of March, following approval by the shareholders of Nventa, the BC Supreme Court and the TSX.
• The HSR waiting period expired on Merck’s and Cardiome’s collaboration and license agreement that provides Merck with exclusive global rights to the oral formulation of vernakalant.
• Response Biomedical Corporation (TSX: RBM, OTCBB: RPBIF) closed the offering it launched a couple of weeks ago, including the full over-allotment.  Gross proceeds were CDN$12.65 million.