Cortech and BioStar Sign Merger Agreement
Cortech, Inc., a Denver-based biopharmaceutical company, and BioStar, Inc., a privately held diagnostics company based in Boulder, Colo., have signed a definitive merger agreement. Under the agreement, which the companies expect to complete in the second quarter of 1998, Cortech will issue 28.5 million shares of its common stock to BioStar's stockholders in exchange for all equity interests in BioStar. BioStar will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cortech.
BioStar will maintain its existing facilities and staff and continue all of its operations in the development, manufacture and marketing of in vitro diagnostic tests that use the company's proprietary Optical ImmunoAssay (OIA) technology. BioStar's president and CEO, Teresa Ayers, will become the president and CEO of the combined company.
BioStar uses proprietary surface chemistries and optical detection technologies to develop high value diagnostic assays for the medical management of a variety of diseases. BioStar currently sells tests for the detection and diagnosis of infectious diseases such as Strep A, the cause of strep throat, Strep B, the leading cause of neonatal septicemia, and chlamydia, the leading cause of female infertility. The company is developing tests for the rapid detection and diagnosis of influenza, pneumonia and gonorrhea as well as several other infectious and non-infectious medical conditions.
Cortech's work has been focused on the discovery and development of therapeutics to treat a variety of inflammatory and other disorders. The company has directed its efforts principally towards protease inhibitors and bradykinin antagonists. In the protease area, Cortech has demonstrated that its proprietary technology has the potential to be applied to the synthesis of a range of therapeutically important protease inhibitors. In the area of bradykinin antagonism, Cortech believes that its lead compounds may have potential therapeutic importance in the treatment of traumatic brain injury and stroke..