Univax

Despite doubled revenues, this Rockville biotechnology company said yesterday that its loss tripled, to $2.5 million, or 23 cents a share, in the second quarter, which ended June 30, compared with the same period the year before.The company attributed the loss to the growth of its work force from 25 employees to 100 this year andthe cost of adding several new products to its development plans.Three months ended 6/30/92KA.. ... .. .. .. .. .. Revenue .. .. .. Net .. .. .. .. .. Share'92 .. .. .. .. .. ..711,000 .. .. ..(2,546,497)

Stockholders will be asked to vote next month on the controversial proposed merger of Rockville-based Univax Biologics Inc., which makes vaccine products to treat infectious and other diseases, and North American Biologicals Inc.The Federal Trade Commission said yesterday that the merger poses no antitrust issues and that the companies can proceed with a stockholders' vote.Alfred J. Fernandez, chief financial officer of North American Biologicals, based in Boca Raton, Fla., said that proxies on the deal are to be mailed by Oct. 30 to stockholders and that a stockholder meeting has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 29 at the Radisson Center in Charlotte, N.C.North American, a plasma supplier, has offered to buy 7-year-old Univax, which has yet to turn a profit, for an estimated $150 million.

Univax Biologics Inc. said yesterday that it has won federal marketing approval for its first drug, a treatment for a common AIDS complication, and analysts said sales of the drug could near $100 million by 1999.The drug could make the 7-year-old Rockville company Maryland's only profitable publicly held biotechnology/drug development company, depending on whether it can beat Genetic Therapy Inc. of Gaithersburg and Martek Biosciences Corp. of Columbia into the black."I think it's a very exciting step, absolutely," said Matthew Geller, an Oppenheimer & Co. analyst who added Univax's stock to the firm's list of about 145 most-recommended companies after the announcement.

Genetic Therapy Inc. of Gaithersburg was to be honored this fall as the No. 1 pick in the "Fast 40" high-growth high-tech companies in Maryland. Then Genetic Therapy said in July it will be taken over by the Swiss drug giant Sandoz AG, whose U.S. headquarters border the scenic Passaic River in East Hanover, N.J.Thomas P. Stagnaro became one of Maryland's best-regarded business leaders by nurturing 7-year-old Univax Biologics Inc. from nothing into a...

Univax Biologics Inc. of Rockville will collaborate with one o the nation's largest biotechnology companies to develop a preventive therapy for people who may have been exposed to the AIDS virus as well as for those already infected.Genentech Inc., a San Francisco company, chose Univax to develop the therapy because of the company's expertise in treatments based on antibodies.Genentech will give Univax a genetically engineered vaccine now being tested on humans. Univax will innoculate healthy, uninfected volunteers whose bodies are expected to produce antibodies to the AIDS virus.

Wall Street continued to pound the shares of Univax Biologics Inc. and North American Biologicals Inc. yesterday, in a big negative reaction to the merger between Rockville-based Univax and the Florida firm that agreed Monday to acquire it.Investors in North American were angry that a profitable company with a stable business agreed to take on Univax, a 7-year-old company whose first drug reached the market only this spring and which had been projected before...

Univax Biologics Inc. of Rockville yesterday lost its financing for a new manufacturing plant and headquarters, as Bioplex Group Inc. backed out of a $45 million deal to build a 130,000-square-foot facility that was set to open in 1996.Bioplex, which has dual headquarters outside Boston and San Diego, said it was pulling out of the deal and suspending all biotechnology activities because of pending litigation. Bioplex officials couldn't be reached late yesterday after the announcement, and Univax officials say they don't know what the lawsuit is about.

Univax Biologics Inc. of Rockville said it laid off one-quarter of its staff yesterday after early data from clinical trials on a vaccine to prevent staph infections said the product needs to be returned to the early stages of research.The announcement that 40 people had been dismissed and that the company's StaphVAX vaccine would be delayed indefinitely sent Univax stock plunging, despite protests from biotechnology analysts that the market reaction was excessive. Univax shares fell as much as $2.125 before rebounding slightly to close at $5.75, down $1.375.

Stockholders will be asked to vote next month on the controversial proposed merger of Rockville-based Univax Biologics Inc., which makes vaccine products to treat infectious and other diseases, and North American Biologicals Inc.The Federal Trade Commission said yesterday that the merger poses no antitrust issues and that the companies can proceed with a stockholders' vote.Alfred J. Fernandez, chief financial officer of North American Biologicals, based in Boca Raton, Fla., said that proxies on the deal are to be mailed by Oct. 30 to stockholders and that a stockholder meeting has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 29 at the Radisson Center in Charlotte, N.C.North American, a plasma supplier, has offered to buy 7-year-old Univax, which has yet to turn a profit, for an estimated $150 million.

For the second time in six weeks, a promising Maryland biotechnology company will be sold to an out-of-state buyer, as Univax Biologics Inc. of Rockville said yesterday it has agreed to be acquired by North American Biologicals Inc. in a deal worth about $8.21 a share.The buyout of Univax, which took a huge step toward profitability when its drug to treat a common AIDS complication won federal marketing approval in March, follows the announcement July 10 that Swiss drug giant Sandoz AG would acquire Genetic Therapy Inc. of Gaithersburg.

Wall Street continued to pound the shares of Univax Biologics Inc. and North American Biologicals Inc. yesterday, in a big negative reaction to the merger between Rockville-based Univax and the Florida firm that agreed Monday to acquire it.Investors in North American were angry that a profitable company with a stable business agreed to take on Univax, a 7-year-old company whose first drug reached the market only this spring and which had been projected before...

For the second time in six weeks, a promising Maryland biotechnology company will be sold to an out-of-state buyer, as Univax Biologics Inc. of Rockville said yesterday it has agreed to be acquired by North American Biologicals Inc. in a deal worth about $8.21 a share.The buyout of Univax, which took a huge step toward profitability when its drug to treat a common AIDS complication won federal marketing approval in March, follows the announcement July 10 that Swiss drug giant Sandoz AG would acquire Genetic Therapy Inc. of Gaithersburg.

Univax Biologics Inc. of Rockville said it laid off one-quarter of its staff yesterday after early data from clinical trials on a vaccine to prevent staph infections said the product needs to be returned to the early stages of research.The announcement that 40 people had been dismissed and that the company's StaphVAX vaccine would be delayed indefinitely sent Univax stock plunging, despite protests from biotechnology analysts that the market reaction was excessive. Univax shares fell as much as $2.125 before rebounding slightly to close at $5.75, down $1.375.

Univax Biologics Inc. said yesterday that it has won federal marketing approval for its first drug, a treatment for a common AIDS complication, and analysts said sales of the drug could near $100 million by 1999.The drug could make the 7-year-old Rockville company Maryland's only profitable publicly held biotechnology/drug development company, depending on whether it can beat Genetic Therapy Inc. of Gaithersburg and Martek Biosciences Corp. of Columbia into the black."I think it's a very exciting step, absolutely," said Matthew Geller, an Oppenheimer & Co. analyst who added Univax's stock to the firm's list of about 145 most-recommended companies after the announcement.

GM shares fall to 52-week lowGeneral Motors Corp.'s shares fell for a second day yesterday, to a 52-week low, as four investment houses cut their earnings estimates yesterday following Thursday's disappointing third-quarter results.Analysts panned the stock, saying some of the problems that led to a $328 million loss at GM's North American car and truck business -- high costs for overtime, freight and new-model launches -- are likely to continue.GM stock has lost 12 percent of its value since Wednesday.

Univax Biologics Inc. of Rockville yesterday lost its financing for a new manufacturing plant and headquarters, as Bioplex Group Inc. backed out of a $45 million deal to build a 130,000-square-foot facility that was set to open in 1996.Bioplex, which has dual headquarters outside Boston and San Diego, said it was pulling out of the deal and suspending all biotechnology activities because of pending litigation. Bioplex officials couldn't be reached late yesterday after the announcement, and Univax officials say they don't know what the lawsuit is about.

ROCKVILLE -- In the realm of biotechnology companies, Univax Biologics Inc. seems like a sprinter among a pack of joggers.Just two years ago, the company seemed unremarkable. It was one of the dozens of tiny biotech companies in Maryland squeaking by with fewer than 20 employees and visions of turning a scientific discovery into a product.Today, Univax has a cutting-edge science that is taking off. In two years, it has grown to a staff of 110, has five products in clinical trials, raised $44 million in its first public offering and opened a pilot manufacturing plant this summer.

Small biotech firm grows by acquisitionOne of the state's tiniest biotechnology companies grew dramatically last week when it bought NovaScreen, a subsidiary of Scios Nova Inc.The deal between Adheron Inc. of College Park and Scios Nova of Mountain View, Calif., will give the young biotech company, which had no products and only a few employees, $1.7 million in annual revenues and about 15 new employees. One key element of the deal: a three-year, $4.3 million contract from the National Institute of Mental Health, won last July.

Univax Biologics Inc., a Rockville-based biotechnology company, said yesterday that it has formed a partnership with Genzyme Corp. under which Genzyme will underwrite most of the costs of clinical trials to test a possible treatment for a respiratory infection that kills 95 percent of cystic fibrosis patients.Genzyme, based in Cambridge, Mass., will invest $5 million in Univax stock and will provide $6 million in payments to the Maryland company in return for marketing rights to HyperGAM+CF, a therapy for fighting the pseudomonas bacteria.

More venture capital urged for start-upsIs Maryland a hotbed of venture capital, or is the biotech industry being held back by a lack of capital?The debate was revived by University of Baltimore economics Professor Zoltan J. Acs' recent article in Economic Development Quarterly.Dr. Acs has stirred the pot by saying that local venture capital firms don't support Maryland's biotechnology businesses, particularly start-up companies.He wrote that only 43 percent of the biotech firms in the state get any money here, and that it represents a small portion of their capital.