New Haven antibiotics maker Melinta Therapeutics Inc. announced a public offering of its common stock this week in hopes of raising $75 million to advance its antibiotics portfolio.
Melinta, which went to market in January with Baxdela, a drug to fight skin infections caused by MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus), said it would also use the cash to expand its sales force, bolster its supply chain, and make milestone payments stemming from the European-launch of a drug for complicated urinary tract infections.
Melinta acquired that drug, Vabomere, and two others from New Jersey-based The Medicines Company in January. The acquisition followed the company’s merger in November with publicly-traded North Carolina antibiotics developer Cempra, Inc.
J.P. Morgan and Jefferies are joint bookrunners and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. is lead manager in the offering, Melinta said.
In other news, Branford medical technology manufacturer CAS Medical Systems Inc. (Casmed) said it has won initial U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance that allows its tissue oximetry technology to be used with monitors made by a third party.
Casmed’s FORE-SIGHT cerebral oximeter product line is a non-invasive technology to detect low levels of oxygen in the brain.
The FDA clearance will allow the company to go forward with an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) version of its FORE-SIGHT ELITE Tissue Oximeter, allowing hospitals to display brain oxygen readings and other medical indicators on a single monitor.
“A multi-parameter monitor is often preferred by hospitals over a stand-alone monitor, as floor space in the operating (room) and the intensive care unit are at a premium,” Casmed CEO Thomas M. Patton said in a statement. He said it also would allow for easier transmission of data to a patient’s electronic health record.
He said the company and an undisclosed partner plan to file for FDA clearance for their first “combination product” by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Canadian biopharma Bioasis Technologies Inc., which has an office in Guilford, said this week it has partnered with China’s WuXi Biologics to help develop and manufacture xBᶾ-001, a potential treatment for brain tumors.
Bioasis developed technology to deliver medicines past the brain’s filtering mechanism, known as the blood-brain barrier. The barrier makes some drugs that work elsewhere in the body ineffective on brain diseases.
“The initiation of manufacturing for xBᶾ-001 is a pivotal milestone for Bioasis as we look to advance our lead program in HER2+ breast cancer brain metastases,” CEO Mark Day said. “WuXi Biologics’ expertise and experience in manufacturing biologics is instrumental to Bioasis in developing our pipeline.”
Bioasis said last week that it raised $2.2 million in equity and plans to begin trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market by the end of the year.
Natalie Missakian can be reached at news@newhavenbiz.com
