New England Compounding Center Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection, Seeks to Establish Fund to Compensate those Affected by Meningitis Outbreak

New England Compounding Center announced today that the company has filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The filing, which was made in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts, seeks to establish a fund to compensate individuals and families affected by a nationwide meningitis outbreak. Buy Famvir (Famciclovir) pills online without prescription In papers filed with the court, the company said its goal is to provide a greater, quicker, fairer payout to its creditors than they could achieve through piecemeal litigation.

“We expect that a committee of meningitis claimants will be appointed to represent the entire group”

The company also announced the appointment of Keith D. Lowey as Independent Director of NECC and as the company’s Chief Restructuring Officer. Mr. Lowey will be responsible for NECC’s effort to establish the Compensation Fund and commence payments to affected parties.
“This will be a cooperative effort,” said Lowey, who is a Principal in the Financial Consulting firm Verdolino & Lowey. “We want to assemble a substantial fund, and then distribute it fairly and efficiently to those who are entitled to relief.”
Lowey said that NECC seeks to forge a consensual, comprehensive resolution of claims which will be funded by agreements reached among the claimants, the Company, its insurers and other parties with potential liability for the meningitis cases. All such claims will be addressed in U.S. Bankruptcy court.
Mr. Lowey will be in charge of NECC’s conduct of the Chapter 11 case and its effort to work cooperatively with those impacted by the meningitis outbreak.
“We want to confirm the Chapter 11 plan establishing the Compensation Fund as soon as possible,” Lowey said.
To accomplish this goal, NECC’s bankruptcy counsel, Daniel Cohn of Murtha Cullina LLP, emphasized that claimants and their lawyers will be actively involved. “We expect that a committee of meningitis claimants will be appointed to represent the entire group,” said Cohn. “That will help assure that an appropriate amount will be collected and contributed to the Compensation Fund, and that the money will be distributed fairly.”
“Many families across the U.S. have been impacted by this great tragedy, and it is difficult to comprehend the sense of loss so many people have experienced. Everyone associated with New England Compounding Center shares that sense of loss,” Lowey said. “We recognize the need to compensate those affected by the meningitis outbreak fairly and appropriately. We hope that by establishing this Fund under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, those families impacted by this tragedy may be compensated as quickly as is possible.”

Arrowhead Raises $6.2 Million Through Registered Direct Offering of Common Stock and Warrants

PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arrowhead Research Corporation (NASDAQ: ARWR) today announced that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement with institutional and individual investors to raise gross proceeds of approximately $6.2 million. Investors include several existing investors in the Company, including James Mellon, and a new fund dedicated to health care investments. The placement consisted of the sale of 2.3 million shares of its common stock, and warrants to purchase 1.7 million shares of common stock. The stock and warrants will be sold in units, at a price of $2.76 per unit, with each unit consisting of one share of common stock and a warrant to purchase 0.75 shares of common stock. The warrants have an exercise price of $3.25 per share of common stock, with a term of four years from the date of issuance and are exercisable commencing 6 months following the closing of the offering. Buy Accupril (Quinapril Hydrochloride) pills online without prescription
Rodman & Renshaw, LLC is acting as the exclusive placement agent for the offering. Use of proceeds includes general corporate, research and development, and clinical trial expenditures. The closing is expected to take place on or about August 16, 2012, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
The securities will be issued under Arrowhead’s shelf registration statement filed on Form S-3 (File No. 333-176159), which was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 17, 2011. The final prospectus supplement related to this offering will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities referred to herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.
The prospectus, forming part of the effective registration statement, and prospectus supplement relating to this offering contain this and other information about the Company.
About Arrowhead Research Corporation
Arrowhead Research Corporation is a clinical stage targeted therapeutics company with development programs in oncology, obesity, and infectious disease. The company leverages its platform technologies to design and develop peptide-drug conjugates (PDCs) which specifically home to cell types of interest while sparing off-target tissues, creates targeted drugs based on the gene silencing RNA interference (RNAi) mechanism, and works with partners to create improved versions of traditional small molecule drugs.

Antibiotics Disturb Normal Gut Bacteria, Increase Severity Of Allergic Asthma

Widely used antibiotics may increase incidence and severity of allergic asthma in early life, according to a University of British Columbia study.

The study, published in the journal EMBO reports, shows that certain antibiotics that affect intestinal bacteria also had a profound impact on allergic asthma. Buy Allegra pills online without prescription

"It has long been suspected that kids exposed to more antibiotics - like those in developed countries - are more prone to allergic asthma," says the study's author, UBC microbiologist Brett Finlay. "Our study is the first experimental proof that shows how."

Finlay's team at UBC's Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology and Michael Smith Laboratories examined how two widely used antibiotics - streptomycin and vancomycin - affected the bacterial "ecosystem" in the gut. They found that vancomycin profoundly alters the bacterial communities in the intestine and increases severity of asthma in mouse models.

The same antibiotics do not impact adult mice's susceptibility to asthma, indicating that early life is a critical period of establishing a healthy immune system.

Allergic asthma affects more than 100 million people worldwide and its prevalence is increasing on average by 50 per cent every decade, particularly among children in industrialized countries. According to the Asthma Society of Canada, asthma affects at least 12 per cent of Canadian children.

The human gut is colonized by approximately 100 trillion bacteria, and contains upwards of 1,000 bacterial species. While not fully understood, these micro-organisms, known as "gut flora," perform a host of useful functions, says Finlay.

"Modern societal practices, such as improved sanitation methods and widespread antibiotic use, are causing the disappearance of ancestral species of bacteria in our gut that may be critical to a healthy immune system," says Finlay.

"Our study shows this is the case with certain antibiotics and allergic asthma, and the gut-lung connection is also consistent with observations that incidence of asthma has not increased significantly in developing countries where antibiotic use is less prevalent - and in turn, the gut flora is permitted to fully develop."

The study is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) through the Canadian Microbiome Initiative, in partnership with Genome BC and the Allergy, Genes and Environment Network (AllerGen NCE).

Marc Ouellette, Scientific Director of CIHR's Institute of Infection and Immunity, noted the importance of the team's results: "It has been recognized that microbes play an important role in human health - and we are discovering that a disruption of these bugs is associated with a number of chronic health conditions. The important results from Prof. Finlay's team confirm that giving antibiotics to young children, which disturb their normal bacterial flora, should not be taken lightly."