Viropro, Inc. (VPRO)

[Two0nine209]

Oh just another company Ivor Royston brought to buyout!


SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Biotechnology company Corixa Corp. said after the closing bell Friday that has agreed to be acquired by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline Plc for $4.40 a share in cash, or $300 million.

After being halted, shares of Corixa rose to $4.20 in after-hours trading from a regular-session close at $3.09.

Corixa said the $4.40-a-share price represents a 48% premium over its closing share price of $2.98 on Thursday.

Seattle-based Corixa CRXA worked with GlaxoSmithKline GSK, +1.05% (GSK) to develop Bexxar, a drug used to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, as well as on other projects aimed at discovering and developing vaccine adjuvants and antigens.

Glaxo, in a separate statement, said it owns about 8% of Corixa shares and that the deal is of particular importance to its vaccines division.

Glaxo said one of the key features of the deal is the acquisition of Corixa's manufacturing facility in Hamilton, Mont., the production site of Monophosphoryl Lipid A, or MPL, an adjuvant contained in a number of vaccines in Glaxo's pipeline.

One of Glaxo's candidate vaccines is Cervarix, aimed at targeting infection with Human Papilloma Virus, one of the leading causes of cervical cancer.

The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter.

Shares of GlaxoSmithKline closed up 1.6% at $50.55 before the announcement.