Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Blank Check IPOs (SPACS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (2324)	1/3/2011 10:13:51 AM
From: Glenn Petersen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3862

The PIP-SIGA trial begins today: PharmAthene, Siga to Begin Trial Over Smallpox Drug Licensing Rights By Phil Milford and Sophia Pearson - Jan 2, 2011 11:01 PM CT PharmAthene Inc. and Siga Technologies Inc. will begin a trial today over rights to a drug that could be used to treat smallpox outbreaks from a terrorist attack. PharmAthene, of Annapolis, Maryland, sued New York-based Siga in 2006 asking a Delaware Chancery Court judge to affirm a purported licensing agreement for PharmAthene to make the drug, known as ST-246. Siga, which had worked with PharmAthene, contends there is no license, according to court papers. PharmAthene is trying “to lay claim to the fruits of Siga’s skills and labor” in developing a treatment “crucial to this country’s national security,” Siga lawyer Andre Bouchard said in a pretrial brief. In 2005, “Siga was out of cash and out of options,” and PharmAthene “lent Siga $3 million to fund their joint development” of the drug -- with PharmAthene “either to merge with Siga or else get an exclusive license,” PharmAthene lawyer Christopher Selzer told Judge Donald Parsons Jr. in his brief. Shares of PharmAthene, with a net loss of $32.2 million on 2009 sales of $27.5 million, have more than doubled in a year to more than $4. Siga, with a $17.6 million net loss on $13.8 million in 2009 revenue, has risen about 140 percent to more than $13 in a year. Both companies develop products used to combat biological warfare. In November 2010, Parsons denied a Siga request to limit the scope of the trial or to dismiss part of the case. License Negotiations The companies never completed a merger agreement, and Siga contends negotiations for a licensing agreement were non- binding, according to Parsons’s opinion. In October, Siga said the U.S. Health & Human Services Department selected it for a $500 million contract to produce 1.7 million treatments of its smallpox antiviral drug to protect the U.S. against a possible terrorist attack. In his brief, Selzer told Parsons that PharmAthene will prove it is entitled to either an “exclusive license” to the ST-246 technology or appropriate damages. Bouchard, representing Siga, said “PharmAthene agreed only to negotiate a potential collaboration” and it’s “far from proving a mutual agreement.” PharmAthene also wrongly claims Siga’s then-board chairman, Donald Drapkin, “orally guaranteed PharmAthene a license,” according to Bouchard’s brief. The case is PharmAthene Inc. v. Siga Technologies Inc., CA2627, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington). To contact the reporters on this story: Sophia Pearson in Wilmington, Delaware, at spearson3@bloomberg.net; Phil Milford in Wilmington, Delaware, at pmilford@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: David E. Rovella at drovella@bloomberg.net. bloomberg.com