Trimeris investor pushes sale
Published: Mon, Feb. 04, 2008 02:36PM
Modified Mon, Feb. 04, 2008 02:39PM
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closeTrimeris' largest investor is redoubling its efforts to force the Morrisville drug company to put itself up for sale.
Although Trimeris announced in December it would halt its research and development activity and evaluate other options for boosting its stock price, New York investment firm HealthCor wants the company to move faster to sell itself.
In a letter to Trimeris executives filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission, HealthCor officials say they want to take two seats on the company's board of directors.
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"We are not in favor of strategic transactions other than those involving a sale of the business," HealthCor officials wrote in the letter dated Feb. 1.
The firm owns nearly 18 percent of Trimeris' shares.
Trimeris was one of the Triangle's most promising drug-development companies, with a new AIDS drug called Fuzeon that analysts expected would be a huge seller. But its steep price tag and slow acceptance among patients and physicians has led to disappointing sales.
Trimeris shares rose 19 cents to $6.61 in midday trading. The stock is down 52 percent in the past year.
alan.wolf@newsobserver.com at (919) 829-4572
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