diaDexus, VaxGen deal

Diagnostic company diaDexus will reverse-merge with VaxGen in a stock deal. diaDexus shareholders will own 60.9% of the combined company, which will be known as diaDexus Inc., with VaxGen shareholders owning the remaining 39.1%. The officers of diaDexus will continue as officers of the combined company, including diaDexus President and CEO Patrick Plewman. At Dec. 31, VaxGen had $32.3 million in cash and a 12-month operating loss of $7.6 million. The deal is expected to close next quarter.

diaDexus markets its PLAC Test, which measures lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 ( Lp-PLA2) to assess the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and ischemic stroke in patients with atherosclerosis. VaxGen is eligible for $7 million in milestones, plus royalties, from Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS, Rockville, Md.) related to VaxGen's rPA102 anthrax vaccine. Emergent acquired the vaccine in 2008. ...