Financing and Merger Deals Approved

Several key financing and merger deals were announced mid-week in the biotech sector. One deal, which had been announced in June and valued at $38 million finally got it's go ahead nod from shareholders.

Incyte Corporation (Nasdaq:INCY), a drug discovery and development company, said Wednesday it has closed on a public offering of 20.7 million shares at $6.75 each.

The sale had net proceeds of $132 million, after fees and discounts, which Incyte plans to use for research and development and general expenses. The underwriters bought 2.7 million shares. Goldman Sachs was the book-running manager. Morgan Stanley & Co. and JPMorgan Securities Inc. were co-managers.

The company also announced that it has completed its previously announced private placement of $400.0 million aggregate principal amount of 4.75% Convertible Senior Notes due 2015 and that it will present at the Fourth Annual JMP Securities Healthcare Focus Conference on Monday, October 5, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. ET. Presenting for Incyte Corporation will be Paul Friedman, M.D., president and chief executive officer.

The presentation will be webcast live and can be accessed at www.incyte.com under Investor Relations and a replay of the presentation will be available for 90 days.

XOMA Ltd. (Nasdaq:XOMA) announced the sale of 18 million of its common shares to Azimuth Opportunity Ltd. for gross proceeds of $13.9 million, or approximately $0.77 per share, under its existing committed equity financing facility with Azimuth. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from this sale to continue development of its XOMA 052 product candidate, for other general corporate purposes and for working capital. Based on its cash reserves including the proceeds from this offering, anticipated revenues from collaborations including a XOMA 052 corporate partnership, licensing transactions and biodefense contracts, XOMA believes it has sufficient cash resources to meet its anticipated net cash needs into 2011.

Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXA) said Wednesday it plans to raise $19.7 million in a private placement of its common stock.
The Mountain View company said it plans to sell approximately 8.1 million shares of common stock and warrants to purchase approximately 7.3 million shares of common stock at a total purchase price of $2.4325 per unit.

Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLDX) and CuraGen Corporation (Nasdaq: CRGN) announced that it's stockholders approved the issuance of shares of Celldex common stock pursuant to the previously disclosed Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of May 28, 2009, by and among Celldex, Cottrell Merger Sub, Inc. and CuraGen, and that CuraGen's stockholders approved the Agreement and Plan of Merger. Following the closing of the merger contemplated by the Agreement and Plan of Merger, each outstanding share of CuraGen common stock will convert into the right to receive 0.2739 shares of Celldex common stock and CuraGen will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Celldex.

BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPAX) and Cell Genesys, Inc. (NASDAQ:CEGE) announced that BioSante stockholders have approved the merger between the two companies with BioSante as the surviving company. Ninety percent (90%) of the Cell Genesys shares voted to date have been voted in favor of the merger proposal. This leaves Cell Genesys approximately five percent of its outstanding shares short of having stockholder approval of the merger. Therefore, Cell Genesys has adjourned its stockholders meeting until October 14, 2009 to provide Cell Genesys stockholders additional time to cast their votes regarding the merger proposal. To date, a total of approximately 49.3 million shares of Cell Genesys have voted in favor of the merger.

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