Biotechnology

Biospherics Inc., a Beltsville information services andbiotechnology company, said yesterday its shareholders have approved splitting off its Information Services Division, which provides database management services for governmental and other clients, into a wholly owned subsidiary.The company said it has not decided who will head the subsidiary.Biospherics also reported net income of $414,476, or 4 cents a share, for the first quarter of 1997, compared with a loss of $71,030, or 1 cent a share, that was reported for the period last year.

Carefully extracting 20 microliters of the DNA sample with their micropipettes, the biology students at Westminster High School were earnestly searching for a way to save the American chestnut tree from a menacing fungus. The fungus has nearly wiped out the American chestnut along the East Coast. While researchers at the University of Maryland have discovered they can disable the fungus by infecting it with a virus, they have not developed a way to do it efficiently. So far, they have been limited to infecting the fungi one by one. The 10th-grade biology students at Westminster High were grappling with the problem by conducting DNA analysis aboard a state-of-the-art mobile biotechnology laboratory, called MdBioLab, in the school parking lot. The mobile lab - a $400,000 customized trailer equipped with all the amenities of a biotechnology research laboratory - travels atop an 18-wheeler to high schools across the state, spending about a week at each location in an effort to spark interest in bioscience careers.

In what analysts said could lead to a capital crunch for the industry, biotechnology stocks suffered a dramatic decline yesterday after an announcement by Synergen Inc. that its most promising drug, Antril, wasn't as effective as first predicted.The stock of Synergen, based in Boulder, Colo., lost 68 percent of its value yesterday, dropping $28.625 a share, to $13.50. More than 21 million shares changed hands, making it by far the most widely traded stock yesterday."I have never been able to understand the reaction of the stock market," said Jon S. Saxe, president of Synergen.

Researchers and administrators at the University of Maryland said they were unsettled by the apparent eagerness of the state's top biotechnology officer to seek jobs elsewhere.In the most recent episode, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute President Rita R. Colwell went through four days of interviews as one of three finalists for the presidency of Oregon State University in Corvallis. She ultimately withdrew only a few hours before the post was filled.Little known outside of scientific circles, she is considered a leading light nationally in biotechnology for promoting public and private partnerships.

These are heady days for scientists at biotechnology companies as they take part in what many see as a remarkable revolution in our understanding of disease and efforts to develop treatments for scourges like cancer and spinal cord injuries.But for the executives charged with running many of these ventures, these are days of fret and worry: As their companies burn up cash, traditional sources of financing such as venture capital and the stock market have gone bone dry."It's really dismal," said Robert Curtis, chief executive officer of Baltimore-based Lion Pharmaceuticals Inc. The company was born two years ago as the nation's first biotech venture focused on commercializing discoveries at a major university, in this case the Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine.

Dexter Corp.'s effort to take full control of Rockville-based Life Technologies Inc. came up short, the chemical maker said yesterday, but it did manage to raise its stake in Life Technologies to about 71 percent.Dexter originally offered $37 a share in a bid to buy the 48 percent of Life Technologies it did not already own, but earlier this month raised its unsolicited offer to $39.125 after a committee at Life Technologies rejected the first bid as inadequate.Dexter then took the offer directly to Life Technologies shareholders last month.

MedImmune Inc., the Gaithersburg biotechnology firm whose shares have soared in the current biotech rally, said yesterday that it would split its stock three-for-one. The split, which is contingent on shareholder approval, would increase the number of authorized shares from 120 million to 320 million. Shareholders will vote on the measure at the company's May 18 annual meeting. If approved, the split will take effect at the close of business that day, with the extra shares being distributed to shareholders June 2, the company said.

Can a work of architecture help scientists find a cure for AIDS, or cancer, or the common cold? More to the point, will downtown Baltimore's new Medical Biotechnology Center be the place where it happens?Perhaps it's putting too much of a burden on any one building to suggest it could play such an important role in medical research.But walking through the $41.4 million palace of science that Maryland has created for AIDS researcher Dr. Robert Gallo and others, it's hard not to be swept up by the promise of it all.The six-story Medical Biotechnology Center, which officially opens today at 725 W. Lombard St., was launched as part of a far-reaching effort by the University of Maryland to help make the state a center for biotechnology and other life sciences.

Oncor Inc., the once promising Gaithersburg biotechnology company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., yesterday.In its filing, the company listed $6.5 million in debts and $7.41 million in assets. Among the largest creditors: Johns Hopkins University, which is owed more than $473,000. Oncor had research agreements with Hopkins."The company intends to reorganize its financial affairs," Oncor's acting chief executive officer, Joseph Shaya, said in a statement issued by the company.

MedImmune Inc. and pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories said yesterday that they've struck an alliance to market MedImmune's promising new drug to prevent a common infant respiratory disease.The agreement, potentially worth more than $60 million for the Gaithersburg-based biotechnology company, covers marketing rights for Medi-493. MedImmune is developing the drug to prevent respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, in infants.RSV is the most common cause of hospitalization for children under 1 year old in the United States, striking about 90,000 children annually, according to pediatric experts.