RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--Drug development company Intercardia here is aggressively expanding, with the company's most recent move being to sign a letter of intent to acquire combinatorial chemistry company Transcell Technologies, Monmouth Junction, NJ. Signed in November, the deal calls for Intercardia to pay approximately $15 million in stock for Transcell, which has a $48 million deal with Merck to discover and evaluate two antibacterial compounds.
The agreement specifies that Transcell shareholders will receive three installments of Intercardia stock worth a total of approximately $4 million. In addition, Inter cardia will issue stock options worth $3 million-$4 million to Transcell employees and issue $4 million of its stock to parent company Interneuron for other Transcell technology. Earlier last year, Intercardia acquired an 80 percent ownership of Renaissance Cell Technologies, which is focused on harnessing the growth potential of stem cells.