Betting the company

Companies facing the decision to negotiate licenses on terms they deem unfavorable, or trying to fight back against patent infringement claims, may have to take a hard look at the example provided by CellPro Inc., which last week became one of the small number of biotech companies forced into bankruptcy.

After six years of legal struggle and $175 million invested in R&D, CPRO signed a letter of intent to sell its assets and intellectual property, including its Ceprate SC Stem Cell Concentration system, to Nexell Therapeutics Inc. Nexell is a jointly owned subsidiary of VimRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VMRX, Wilmington, Del.) and Baxter Healthcare Corp. (Deerfield, Ill.)...