BiolineRX Ltd. (TASE:BLRX) saw its share price jump today after New York asset manager Ramius LLC bid $4 share for Cypress Bioscience Inc. (Nasdaq: CYPB), which has an out-license to complete clinical trials and regulatory procedures for one of the Israeli company's drugs. At one point, Bioline's share price was up 8% on its opening price but it fell back to close up 3.2% on the day at NIS 3.51.
Ramius, which already holds 9.9% of San Diego drug producer Cypress Bioscience, proposed buying the rest of the company for $4 per share in cash, 60% above its Friday close of $2.50 per share, and 74% above its share price in mid-June when Cypress Bioscience bought the license for Bioline's schizophrenia treatment BL-1020.
In addition to its buy offer, Ramius said that it would consider a purchase structure that would enable the company's management to continue developing Bioline's BL-1020 and finance the phase II clinical trial either independently or with a third party as the funding body. Such a purchasing structutre could reach a 50% holding in BL-1020.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 19, 2010
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