Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Nasdaq stops trading of Acusphere stock today

By Mass High Tech staff

Watertown-based biotech firm Acusphere Inc. has announced that the company’s common stock will not be traded today on the Nasdaq Global Market while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration meets publicly to review the company’s Imagify for Injectable Suspension drug candidate.

Imagify is an investigational injectable imaging drug developed to detect coronary artery disease using ultrasound, which would compete with standard nuclear stress testing, company officials reported. Acusphere (Nasdaq: ACUS) submitted a New Drug Application for Imagify in April and filed in June.

In October, the company announced a $20 million debt offering agreement with biopharmaceutical firm Cephalon Inc. At the time, Acusphere CEO and president Sherri C. Oberg said in a statement that the agreement would help finance the FDA approval process of Imagify. The three-year, $15 million convertible note can be paid in cash or common stock, at Acusphere’s choosing. Cephalon may choose, before the end of the first year of the agreement, to convert the note into a license for Imagify, Acusphere common stock or a $15 million credit in anticipation of a FDA approval of AI-525.