Friday December 14, 2007
Gene Logic Inc. Completes Sale of Genomics Assets to Ocimum Biosolutions
Gene Logic Inc. Renamed Ore Pharmaceuticals Inc., Commitment to Drug Repositioning and Development Business Reaffirmed
GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gene Logic Inc. (NASDAQ:GLGC - News) announced today that it completed the sale of its Genomics assets to Ocimum Biosolutions Ltd., a global life sciences R&D enabling company. As a result of the sale, Gene Logic Inc. received $7 million in exchange for its genomics assets; an additional $3 million is payable pursuant to a promissory note due 18 months from the date of closing. Ocimum has assumed certain liabilities associated with the Genomics assets and business. The sale was approved by Gene Logic Inc. shareholders earlier this week. The Gene Logic name transfers to Ocimum Biosolutions and the Company, formerly named Gene Logic Inc., now is renamed Ore Pharmaceuticals Inc. The company’s stock will trade under the ticker symbol GLGC for a few days and then will trade under its new ticker symbol ORXE.
In addition to the drug repositioning and development business, the Company retains specified assets and capabilities related to molecular diagnostics and will continue to explore strategic alternatives for these assets.
The business of Ore Pharmaceuticals is now focused entirely on drug repositioning and development. The Company currently has eight pharmaceutical partners, including Pfizer, Roche, Abbott, Merck Serono, Organon, Solvay, and H. Lundbeck, for whom it is analyzing drug compounds by applying its proprietary indication seeking program. The Company also owns commercial rights to a clinical stage small molecule drug candidate, GL1001, that has demonstrated potential utility at relevant doses in in vivo testing for treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Based on the test results and market opportunities in IBD, the Company is seeking a partner for the clinical development of GL1001.
(snip)
I'm nearly 100% sure that GL1001 was MLN4760 for obesity.
Lou Tartaglia was the obesity guy, he came from mlnm,
and now is now is at Third Rock, a biotech VC outfit.
My guess is that after the quote changes to ORXE we see
a proposal for maybe a 3 for 1 or a 5 for 1 reverse split.
Then if ORXE is the sort of thing Wall Street goes for,
(and why not?) a new CEO is brought in--and also about
the same time there's a big round of dilution, maybe half
the company goes to a VC outfit.
If all that plays out, then that would have been the
better time to buy into this. I guess I was six months
or a year early.
Of course "Ore" is a goofy name, my earlier speculation
about a reverse merger with a Perlegen or a Melior
might not be bad guesswork---ORXE might just be a
temporary name and symbol. This is the sort of thing
you wonder about a stock when it declines 40% over
the year--and you wonder if the next year takes it
down another 40%. I for one am not throwing good
money after bad, and simply hope to see it recover
to the point where I'm even. |
