--(www.USEquityNews.com)-- 05/16/2008 - Healthcare industry alert provided by U.S. Equity News. QLT Inc. (NASDAQ: QLTI) announced recently that it has signed a sale and purchase agreement to sell the land and building comprising its corporate headquarters and an adjacent undeveloped parcel of land in Vancouver, British Columbia. Concurrent with the closing of the transaction, QLT will enter into a five-year lease of space in the building to continue its operations. "We are very pleased that our strategic efforts to divest non-core assets have produced a transaction that we believe will enhance shareholder value," said Bob Butchofsky, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Omrix" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: OMRI) announced recently that Larry Ellberger was named Chairman of the Board of Directors ("Board") and Pamela McNamara was elected a Director at the Company's 2008 Annual Meeting of Stockholders held recently in New York City. Mr. Ellberger succeeds Fredric Price who served as Omrix' Chairman from January 2005. Mr. Ellberger has been a member of the Company's Board since August 2006 and was previously Chairman of the Compensation Committee. He will continue to be a member of the Audit Committee and will Chair the Governance and Nominating Committee. Mr. Ellberger is also a member of the Board of AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc. and TransPharma Medical(TM) Ltd., and is a Founding Partner of consulting firm HVA, Inc.
Shares of biotechnology company Geron Corp. regained some ground Thursday, following a prior-day plunge on the Food and Drug Administration's decision to place a clinical hold on a planned stem-cell study. The stock rose 3 cents to close at $3.97, after earlier rising as high as $4.49. On Wednesday, shares fell nearly 20 percent to close at $3.94 after hitting a 52-week low of $3.76. The FDA told the company it needs more time to review the clinical trial plans for GRNOPC1, a stem-cell based therapy candidate for spinal cord injuries. Geron does not yet know the reason for the delay and is awaiting the FDA's explanation.
TapImmune Inc. (OTCBB: TPIM) announces completion of initial testing on our bench made vaccine at AppTech. The company now has the necessary data to proceed with clinical grade vaccine stock production. Going forward, our work and development program includes phased manufacturing and production for both infectious disease adjuvant and cancer therapeutic vaccine candidates. These will culminate in toxicology studies and will coincide with pre-IND meeting preparation with the FDA and clinical protocols for our proposed phase 1 human studies. This milestone is predicated on the back of a year where we have seen the completion of the UBC assignment agreement finally effecting our acquisition of the core technologies we developed under the world-wide license agreement.
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