Techniclone Corporation (NASDAQ:TCLN) today announced that its shareholders overwhelmingly approved the proposal to change the Company's name to Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The Company's ticker symbol on NASDAQ will become "PPHM", effective November 7, 2000.
Additionally, Techniclone's subsidiary, Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, has been renamed Vascular Targeting Technologies, Inc. Shareholders will not be required to exchange their shares for new certificates.
"We are a new company going forward with a new name, financial stability, a strong management team and board and talented employees. We believe the Company has the people and the resources to effectuate our goals of continuing and expanding our clinical trials, creating additional licensing opportunities, exploiting our patent position, and creating shareholder value," stated, Dr. John Bonfiglio, President and CEO.
The Company concurrently announced that it has consolidated its corporate headquarters to a single building in an effort to further reduce its cash burn rate while continuing to focus on clinical trials. The facility houses all research, clinical trial and administrative employees under one roof. In addition, the research laboratory has also been incorporated into the new facility to further reduce the burn rate. The Company has subleased a portion of the old facility and anticipates its cash burn rate will be reduced by over $350,000 over the next two years, thus freeing up additional funds that can be dedicated to clinical trial activities.
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is located at 14272 Franklin Avenue, Tustin, CA 92780, which is adjacent to its old corporate headquarters. The new headquarters for Peregrine houses 22 employees and the research and development laboratories. The Company plans to maintain approximately 25 full-time key employees while efficiently using outside contractors for special projects on an as needed basis. Peregrine is focusing its cash resources on the expansion of its clinical trial activities for its lead TNT product, Cotara(TM), currently in a Phase II trial for brain cancer and a Phase I/II study for the treatment of colorectal cancer at the Stanford University Medical School. The Company has announced plans to begin additional Phase I/II trials for other solid tumor indications this year.
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development, commercialization and licensing of unique technologies for the treatment of cancer, primarily based on its "collateral targeting technologies". These technologies therapeutically target cell structures and cell types, rather than surface cancer cells, as a means to attack solid tumors, without causing damage to surrounding healthy tissue. The Company has three collateral targeting technologies: Cotara(TM), Vasopermeation Enhancement Agents (VEA), and Vascular Targeting Agents (VTA). The Company also has a direct tumor targeting agent called Oncolym(R) for the treatment of advanced non-Hodgkin's B-cell Lymphoma. Oncolym(R) has been licensed to Schering AG, Germany, which is now responsible for all existing and future Oncolym(R) clinical trial programs as well as marketing.
TerryD. - should we contact the SI managers regarding the name change? It would be nice to keep the content of this thread going, inspite of the name change.
Jim |
