Human Genome Sciences

Rockville-based Human Genome Sciences has warned state regulators that it plans to cut 114 jobs beginning in October, three months after striking a deal to be acquired by GlaxoSmithKline. Human Genome, which employs about 1,000 people in Rockville, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But it told the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation that the layoffs — to start Oct. 30 — were part of an internal restructuring. GlaxoSmithKline, a London pharmaceutical firm, also could not immediately be reached for comment.

Human Genome Sciences Inc., which was acquired for $3.6 billion by London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc in August, intends to lay off 97 employees in mid-December, and an additional but unspecified number of cuts are planned for next year, the company warned Maryland labor regulators this week. The Rockville-based biopharmaceuticals company, which employed as many as 1,000 people up until the acquisition, is in the process of integrating with GSK, a spokesman said. Previously, the company disclosed in September it would cut 114 positions by the end of this month.

Shares of Human Genome Sciences doubled in Thursday morning trading on news that a major British biopharmaceutical company offered to buy it for $2.6 billion, which the Rockville company rejected as too low. Human Genome, which uses the human DNA sequence to develop targeted drugs, said in a news statement that GlaxoSmithKline PLC offered to buy the company for $13 a share in cash. The company declined the offer, saying it did not "reflect the value inherent" in Human Genome, and added that it had begun exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale.

Rockville-based Human Genome Sciences has warned state regulators that it plans to cut 114 jobs beginning in October, three months after striking a deal to be acquired by GlaxoSmithKline. Human Genome, which employs about 1,000 people in Rockville, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But it told the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation that the layoffs — to start Oct. 30 — were part of an internal restructuring. GlaxoSmithKline, a London pharmaceutical firm, also could not immediately be reached for comment.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. of Rockville said yesterday that it has increased its ownership stake in Vascular Genetics Inc. to 33.9 percent from 19.9 percent.Publicly held Human Genome, which launched Vascular Genetics last November in a venture with St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston and two other partners, said the increased stake resulted from a redistribution of original holdings of the founding shareholders and a cashless exercise of warrants it held.The redistribution was for research and other support services Human Genome provided Vascular Genetics.

Rockville-based Human Genome Sciences Inc. yesterday reported that profit rose slightly to $2.9 million in the second quarter, up from $2.6 million for the same period of 1996.On a per share basis, earnings were flat at 13 cents for both quarters.Revenue also showed a modest gain to $14.8 million from $13 million a year ago.Human Genome Sciences, which is studying human, plant and microbial genes and their roles in disease, is one of Maryland's more prominent biotechnology companies. This week, the Texas-based Bass family disclosed that it now owns 14.3 percent of the company's stock.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. of Rockville said yesterday that it posted a loss of $18 million, or 39 cents a share, for the quarter that ended Dec. 31. That compares with a loss of $12.5 million, or 28 cents a share (adjusted for a stock split), in the fourth quarter of 1998. Human Genome, which has seen its stock price rise tenfold in the past year, is one of the companies that has benefited from Wall Street enthusiasm for the potential of gene-based therapies. William A. Haseltine, chairman and chief executive officer, said the larger loss reflected increased spending on clinical trials.

Human Genome Sciences has an enviable $1.55 billion in cash, but as the company released its third-quarter earnings report yesterday, its executives once again were dogged by questions about how long even that amount will last. The reasons: The Rockville-based company is spending heavily to develop eight drugs in clinical trials; simultaneously, it has acquired or is constructing buildings for research, administration and manufacturing, requiring it to set aside a growing amount of its cash as collateral for the off-balance-sheet borrowings that back them.

Rockville-based Human Genome Sciences Inc. announced yesterday its third-quarter loss narrowed to $3.7 million, or 17 cents a share.That figure is compared with a loss of $5.2 million, or 28 cents a share, for the three months ended Sept. 30 last year.Revenue for the quarter was flat at $6.5 million. The company has licensing agreements with several major pharmaceutical companies for access to its library of human and microbial genetic codes.For the nine-month period, however, Human Genome lost $12.9 million, or 61 cents a share, compared with earnings of $1.7 million, or 9 cents a share, last year as revenue shrank to $22.6 million from $33.4 million.

Buoyed by licensing fees it was paid for rights to discoveries about the structure of human genes, Human Genome Sciences Inc. of Rockville reported yesterday it turned a profit in the second quarter of $2.6 million on revenues of $13.1 million.The company's second quarter, which ended June 30, had a much different bottom line than its profit picture during the same period last year, when the company reported a net loss of $5 million on revenues of $5 million.Human Genome said yesterday that the majority of its revenues in the second quarter came from licensing payments from Schering-Plough Corp.

Like a one-two punch, two major Maryland employers in the health care service and pharmaceutical industries were the targets last week of multibillion-dollar acquisition deals. Both homegrown companies — Human Genome Sciences Inc. and Catalyst Health Solutions Inc. — are based in Rockville. Both were courted by out-of-state companies. Human Genome ultimately rebuffed a $2.6 billion offer by biopharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, saying it was too low. But Catalyst agreed to be acquired by a larger Illinois competitor for $4.4 billion, and Human Genome has officially acknowledged it's on the market.

Shares of Human Genome Sciences doubled in Thursday morning trading on news that a major British biopharmaceutical company offered to buy it for $2.6 billion, which the Rockville company rejected as too low. Human Genome, which uses the human DNA sequence to develop targeted drugs, said in a news statement that GlaxoSmithKline PLC offered to buy the company for $13 a share in cash. The company declined the offer, saying it did not "reflect the value inherent" in Human Genome, and added that it had begun exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale.

Baltimore's biotechnology industry has made strides. Two biotech parks by the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland now anchor the east and west sides of the city. A few dozen biotech startups have made their home here. But Baltimore's nascent biotech industry doesn't yet have a breakout company — a darling of venture capitalists and Wall Street that has grown past the risky and unprofitable startup phase to achieve a steady stream of revenue and products in the pipeline.

Last week's $400 million deal by Teva Pharmaceutical to buy CoGenesys Inc. will enrich CoGenesys insiders and create a great launching pad for the Rockville company's drugs. Some shareholders of Human Genome Sciences, however, wonder why they aren't getting more of the action. Two years ago Human Genome's president and chief financial officer started CoGenesys by taking some of Human Genome's best scientists and ideas out the door. Now, in this edition of "Flip This Biotech," they and others who invested with them will walk away with most of the money.

Shares in Human Genome Sciences Inc., a 15-year-old Rockville biotech company that has yet to get a drug on the market, plummeted to their lowest level since 1995 yesterday after disclosing that serious side effects emerged during a clinical trial of a potentially lucrative hepatitis treatment when patients received high doses. The share price dropped nearly $4.40 to $5.62, or almost 44 percent. Human Genome Sciences officials said they were still optimistic that Albuferon would win approval - and have market success - at a lower dose.

CoGenesys Inc., a Rockville biotech spun off from Human Genome Sciences Inc. in 2006, is being sold for $400 million to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Inc., an Israeli company that specializes in generic drugs, the companies announced yesterday. In a statement, Shlomo Yanai, Teva's president and chief executive officer, said Teva had decided it needed to grow in biopharmaceuticals, and was interested in CoGenesys for its "breadth of technologies and the depth of their team and pipeline."

Gaithersburg-based MedImmune Inc. posted net earnings yesterday of $110 million, or 43 cents a diluted share, for the quarter that ended March 31, on record revenue driven by increased sales of its main product. Of $436 million in revenue, $392 million, or 89.9 percent, came from Synagis, which protects against respiratory infections in high-risk infants. MedImmune also reported a jump in first-quarter sales for Ethyol, a drug to mitigate side effects of cancer treatment, and said it expects federal approval for its FluMist in time for the winter flu season.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. reported clinical trial data yesterday showing that Albuferon, a hepatitis C drug the Rockville biotech is developing, is comparable to a current therapy and may do less damage to patients' quality of life during treatment. It also had a benefit of particular interest in the United States, where a large percentage of patients are overweight: The drug appeared to work better in heavier people than its alternative, a drug called Pegasys made by Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. But Albuferon, one of two drugs the company is relying on for eventual revenue, also had higher rates of patient discontinuation because of adverse events - particularly at the higher dosing levels.

Maryland is no longer in the running for a flu vaccine manufacturing plant that would have added hundreds of new jobs, many of them entry level, a state representative confirmed yesterday. Though no official word has yet come from the plant's developer, Switzerland's Novartis AG, the state's secretary of business and economic develop- ment conceded that Maryland couldn't offer the incentives that other states could. "It's too expensive," said Aris Melissaratos, who accompanied Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and his running mate, Kristen Cox, on a visit to Gaithersburg's Digene Corp.